Jesus’ Definition of Salvation

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house . . .” (Luke 19.9).After almost a whole month of being on the road, I’m happy to be sitting in a hotel this morning writing this eSight for next week. For those of you who have been missing these over the last four weeks, I have something to make up for it. We have a brand new series on the book of Revelation which I’m guessing will be a different approach to that book than what you may be used to. Out of all the major documents we possess today from the early Jesus community, John’s Revelation has received the least attention from scholars. The picture we get from the early Jesus story of the ?rst century is that of a traveling teacher, traversing the countryside pioneering a new moral ethic based on a radically different way of seeing God, ourselves, and others. Take away the lens of alarmist prediction, use instead the lens of the ethical teachings of Jesus, and Revelation becomes a whole new book! It ceases to be so much about predicting the future and becomes a message of hope, coming down to the followers of Jesus in the first century from a not-too-distant possible future. It promises new possibilities for people tomorrow if they will but listen today. Jesus gave us a way to heal our world. The question we must ask is whether the ethical teachings of Jesus and his unique picture of God, ourselves and others remains relevant to us in the 21st century. In the fourth century, Christianity, in signi?cant ways, laid aside the ethics of Jesus, its founder. Much good, but also much abuse, has since been done in Jesus’ name. The ethical teaching of Jesus are still calling to us today. The question that still haunts us is whether anyone, Christian or non-Christian, will pick those teachings back up and follow the Lamb.

You can find this new series at:

https://renewedheartministries.com/AudioPresentationSeries.aspx?series=35

Now, let’s get into this week’s eSight.

This week, I want to take a look at the story of Zacchaeus. Specifically, I want to take a look at a detail within the narrative that I believe gets passed over far too often today. I want to also encourage you to actually go back and reread the entire story in Luke 19.1-9.

The part that I’d like to focus on is the moment of decision for Zacchaeus and Jesus’ response.

We’ve already looked at Jesus’ radical inclusivity. Remember, the label “sinner” in first-century Judaism meant someone living outside the Torah and someone who had been “excommunicated” or “disfellowshipped” from the covenant community.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner” (Luke 19.7).

And in the very next passage, Luke reveals to us Zacchaeus’ converting moment:

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount” (Luke 19.8).

I have been told countless times by sincere people that they felt their ministry was not to reach the poor, but to reach the more affluent in our society. And while I do hear what they are saying, I think it is ironic that the conversion moment for this affluent man was a decision to help the poor. It could be that we don’t help the poor for what it does for them, but for what it does for us. It could be that we don’t help the poor in order to reach them; instead, we “reach” and bring salvation to the affluent by teaching them to partner with us in helping the poor.

Which leads me to my point:

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19.9).

Jesus, at least here, does not define salvation as some legal transaction. He does not here define Zacchaeus’ salvation as simply being pardoned or let off the hook. In this story, Jesus defines salvation rather as a healing which had come to Zacchaeus’ soul. Let me explain. When we view salvation as merely being forgiven, as if salvation was accomplished by convincing God to let us off the hook, we actually are defining salvation differently than Jesus did in the story. For Jesus, salvation was not getting a person from a state of being unforgiving to forgiven. No, Jesus’ forgiveness was an already done deal. And it was not the end goal. It, rather, was the means to reach his goal. Forgiveness, radically inclusive forgiveness, was actually the medicine Jesus used to bring about the healing and restoration of those he was endeavoring to reach. Again, salvation for Jesus was healing and restoration. Forgiveness was what he used to accomplish it. Remember, as we’ve said many times before, a person can be forgiven and still be lost. This is why it is important to realize how unconditional Jesus’ forgiveness really was, because only this type of forgiveness is powerful enough to heal. When salvation is defined as simply legal pardon, if it is only about getting free of some heavenly legal charges rather than healing and restoration, then even salvation that is labeled as “by grace” is just another form of LEGALISM. I’m quite sure that, if Zacchaeus was like any of us, he did not get it right every time after that. But what we see in his story is a person whom the religious of his day had written off as hopeless, one who made a radical change of direction in his life and became of follower of Jesus. It’s not the failures or successes, victories or mistakes, that make us a follower of Jesus, it’s the direction of our life. And what we see in Zacchaeus was a definite change of life direction.

There are two more things I want to mention, then we need to wrap up.

First, Jesus, through inclusive forgiveness of Zacchaeus, brought about his restoration. Then Jesus says to those who, just two verses earlier were standing in judgment against Zacchaeus, “this man, too, is a son of Abraham.” Zacchaeus may have been living outside of the requirements of the Torah, but when he responded to the ethics of Jesus, Jesus called him a “son of Abraham too.” (Remember, Moses only required 120% restitution. Zacchaeus, in following Jesus, pledged far above Moses’ requirement with a whopping 400%, plus giving half of all his possessions to the poor! Following Jesus, in this case, far exceeded Moses’ requirements.)

Secondly, Zacchaeus, although affluent, embraced what the religiously affluent had made fun of Jesus for two chapters previous (see Luke 16.14). Helping the poor is NOT an optional requirement for those who desire to become followers of Jesus. Helping the poor is at the core of the beauty of God’s love we are to display to the world around us. And Zacchaeus got this.

In the early church, they understood this too. They had no buildings to fund, they had no staff to support. The took up offerings, but they did not even spend the funds on evangelism. The early documents we have today prove that 100% of their offerings, with very few exceptions, were simply given to the poor.

Tertullian provides us with details of the church services in North Africa. He spoke of every person bringing money, “whenever he wishes and only if he is willing and able. It is a free will offering. You might call them the trust funds of piety. They are spent on the support and burial of the poor” (F. F. Bruce, The Spreading Flame, The Paternoster Church History, vol. 1, Exeter, Devon: Paternoster, 1958, 197).

Justin Martyr provides us with similar insight from the second century practice of the Roman church. Speaking of their services he says, “the money thus collected is deposited with the president who takes care of the orphans and widows and those who are in straits because of sickness or any other cause and those in prison, and visitors from other parts. In short, he looks after all who are in need” (Bruce, 196).

Justin explains that regular gifts were brought to the communion service to be used for the common fund. The church in the port city of Ostia, Italy, devoted as much space to storing goods to be redistributed to the needy as they did space for their worship services (Axel Boethius and J. B. Ward-Perkins, Etruscan and Roman Architecture, Pelican History of Art, Harmondsworth: Middx, 1970, 152–4).

The general rule, for both individuals and churches, was, according to Augustine, that “not to give to the needy what is superfluous is akin to fraud” and “when you possess the superfluous you possess what is not your own.”

The early church had only two great apologetics:

1) Their lives of nonviolence where they would rather die than inflict harm on another.

2) They not only took care of their own poor, but they took care of the poor who belonged to Rome as well.

In short, we need to take more seriously Jesus’ commands to help the poor if our authenticity about following Jesus is to be taken seriously in today’s cultural climate. We must be more than simply believers in Jesus. Jesus is inviting us to be FOLLOWERS of him as well.

Remember, the picture we get of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, is of an itinerant teacher, going around gathering those who will join him in a revolutionary way of doing life that he calls “the kingdom of God.” The “kingdom of God” is not some place in the heavens, nor is it a place some go to when they die. This “kingdom of God” is a radical rearrangement of how we see God, ourselves and everyone else. It leads to a radical rearrangement of how we do life in the here and now. It’s a radical rearrangement of how human beings arrange their society that is “of God” or “from God” . . . to us . . . through this person Jesus. To enter THIS way of doing life is entirely revolutionary. It is a radical break with life as we have known it, as it has been given to us, as we have been told, as we have been instructed is the natural way of life. It is a call to go against how we have been indoctrinated, to go against the scripts we have been handed, the rules we have been given on how to play the game. To “follow Jesus” is to break with all of that and say, “I want to live by an entirely different evaluation of what is important.” It’s radical. It’s revolutionary.

Today, Jesus is still extending the invitation to join his revolution. He is looking for those who are weak but daring, afraid but believing, unsure but willing to take a risk—people who are simply crazy enough to go for it with him.

To follow Jesus and live the Jesus way is the most revolutionary thing a human being can do. It’s not about getting a ticket to heaven. (How boring, tame, and domesticated.) It’s not about saying a simple prayer, going to a service once a week and then simply going back to the way things have always been done. To follow Jesus is to adopt a completely counter-intuitive way of doing life called The Way, of which Jesus is the template and upon which an entirely new way of looking at God is based. The “kingdom of God,” rightly understood, is an alternate society formed around Jesus, his teachings and his picture of God. It’s about learning to follow the Jesus practice of love, unconditional forgiveness toward others, restorative justice, mercy, nonviolence and fidelity to self-sacrificial other-centeredness. Jesus is still looking for followers today . . .

. . . and you just never know when someone might leap.

“Politics” is defined today as the arraignment of society deciding who get’s what, when and how. The Politics of Jesus are:

Give the poor the entire kingdom.

Give comfort to those who mourn.

Give the earth to the meek.

Give equity to those who hunger for things to be put right.

To the merciful, the peacemakers, and the persecuted a place with the Lamb on the throne.

The Kingdom is now. Love subversively.

HeartGroup Application

I want to share with each of our HeartGroups a document that was given to me recently by someone I highly respect. I want you to read it with an open mind. HeartGroups do not have all the baggage other forms have today. We can do this more easily then any other groups I am aware of. So I have only three steps for application this week.

1)Take some time to prayerfully read this study:

Click to access EmbezzlementPaper.pdf

(Don’t let the title scare you; it’s got some really good stuff in it. You’re going to love it.)

2)Take notes while you are reading of any thoughts that Jesus may impress upon you.

3)Use the notes you have taken as a springboard for each of you to share in your HeartGroup this week. Go to the head of our group (Jesus) and ask HIM to reveal to you how HE would like your group to respond to this. Some of you are already responding and this will be encouragement to you. Others of you are about to experience a whole new world. Let’s see if we can do something beautiful for the Kingdom. Also, if you are feeling extra zealous, let me recommend for you Trevor’s story entitled “Modesto, CA” on the news page of our website: https://renewedheartministries.com/news.aspx

And remember the words of Paul, “Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality.” (2 Corinthians 8.13)

For everyone else, keep living in love and loving like Christ. Now go enlarge the Kingdom!

I love you guys.

See you next week.

Older Brother Syndrome

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.” (Luke 15.28)This week I’d like to look at three events in Luke’s version of the Jesus story that reveal to us how radical Jesus’ Kingdom really is.

Let’s jump right in. The first event is the context of the most famous story Jesus ever told—the prodigal son. It seems everyone who knows about Jesus knows he told this story. But remember, I don’t want to look at the story so much as the context of the story. In other words, what was it that motivated Jesus to tell this story in the first place?

The answer is found in the first two verses of Luke, Chapter 15:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. BUT THE PHARISEES AND THE TEACHERS OF THE LAW MUTTERED, ‘THIS MAN WELCOMES SINNERS AND EATS WITH THEM.’” (Luke 15.1-2)

So Jesus tells three stories, the last of which is the story of the prodigal. Pay close attention to how this story closes:

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ THE OLDER BROTHER BECAME ANGRY AND REFUSED TO GO IN. SO HIS FATHER WENT OUT AND PLEADED WITH HIM. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son OF YOURS [notice the brother here does not say “brother of mine,” but rather “this son of yours”] who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15.20-32)

I used to believe that the only reason anyone would not be a part of Jesus’ Kingdom in the age to come was because they had rejected God’s love for themselves. But the longer I ponder this story, the more I feel that to be no longer true. If the context of this story shows us anything, it shows us this: If any are left in “outer darkness” (see Matthew 8.12; 22.13; 25.30) it will not be because they could not believe God’s love for themselves. Rather they, like the older brother in this story (and the Pharisees and teachers of the law who muttered at Jesus’ welcoming of “sinners”), reject God’s radically inclusive love for someone else that they feel should be excluded.

(This makes perfect sense if one stops to consider it. If one of my children could not believe I loved them, I would not reject them but rather I’d spend eternity trying to show them and convince them. On the other hand, if they will not embrace my love for someone else, I cannot change to be something other than I am. It is the rejection of love for others, even those who are different than us, that causes us to be so out of harmony with the love of which God is.)

Next let’s look at the story we looked at a few weeks ago, but in our context this week.

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian. ALL THE PEOPLE IN THE SYNAGOGUE WERE FURIOUS WHEN THEY HEARD THIS. THEY GOT UP, DROVE HIM OUT OF THE TOWN, AND TOOK HIM TO THE BROW OF THE HILL ON WHICH THE TOWN WAS BUILT, IN ORDER TO THROW HIM OFF THE CLIFF.” (Luke 4.25-29)

For the connection of Sidon and Syria to the Greek tortures under Antiochus Epiphanes toward the Jewish people, please see: https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/02-19-2013. In this story, Jesus has just read from Isaiah saying, this day, Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in their hearing.

“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God.” (Isaiah 61.1-2)

Yet when Jesus reads from the scroll, he leaves off that last phrase, “and the day of vengeance of our God”:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4.18-19, emphasis added.)

It was as if Jesus was announcing that he would be travelling abroad proclaiming God’s favor, and leaving off all that vengeful God stuff. (And this is exactly what we see Jesus doing throughout his entire ministry.) Now at this stage in the synagogue that morning, everyone was rejoicing.

“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.” (Luke 4.22) But they still weren’t “getting” what Jesus was saying. Oh they knew the passage in Isaiah. They knew it promised God’s favor on them and God’s vengeance finally on all of Israel’s enemies, but Jesus corrects them and virtually says, “No no. What I’m saying is that I will be announcing God’s favor not just for you, but on everyone, including your enemies.” Jesus was not going to walk the earth as the vengeance of God on all of Israel’s enemies, but rather, as G. K. Chesterton wrote, as “the pardon [and I would add favor] of God”, for all, including Israel’s most hated enemies. And how did they respond? They became furious and wanted to throw Jesus off the nearest cliff! (I would submit to you that if you have never had a moment where you were tempted to throw Jesus off a cliff, you probably haven’t met the right Jesus yet.)

Again, these folks rejected the kingdom, not because God’s love for them was too good to believe, but rather because God’s love for their enemies was too radically inclusive to embrace.

One last example should suffice.

“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ALL THE PEOPLE SAW THIS AND BEGAN TO MUTTER, ‘HE HAS GONE TO BE THE GUEST OF A SINNER.’” (Luke 19.5-7)

Here we have the famous story of Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector (see Luke 19.1-2). Typically if you are short, you simply go up to the curb to see a parade and all the taller people stand behind you. That is, they would unless by chance there were those who did not want you there and were shutting you out from getting to the front to see. So Zacchaeus, being resourceful, knew the procession route and ran ahead and climbed a tree. Remember, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to die, and one last time he stops to demonstrate what the radical, inclusive favor that would characterize his Kingdom is all about. You have to imagine the people objecting, saying to Jesus, “But Jesus, this man is a sinner!” And Zacchaeus standing right there waiting with baited breath to hear what Jesus would say.

“Will Jesus change his mind once the people tell him who and what I am?” wonders Zacchaeus. And then Zacchaeus feels Jesus’ hand squeeze his shoulder, while he says to the people there, “The only thing I care about is whether or not Zacchaeus’ wife can make good lamb chops.”

How did Zacchaeus respond to such radical, unconditional acceptance and love?

During dinner, while Jesus and he are sharing some hummus together, Zacchaeus becomes overwhelmed:

“Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount’” (Luke 19.8). (Moses only commanded twenty percent restitution. Zacchaeus pledges three hundred percent restitution.)

Remember just a few days earlier, Jesus had experienced the Pharisees responding to his call to give their possessions to the poor by “sneering” at him. (See Luke 16.13,14.) You have to imagine Jesus with tears of joy in his eyes at seeing the irony of this chief tax collector’s response, and saying, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19.9).

But again, how did the people respond to Jesus going to Zacchaeus’ house to begin with?

Those who are left outside are not the heathens, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, or the sinners. No, the ones outside are the ones who cannot handle the heathens, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, and the sinners being included in God’s Kingdom.

What is Jesus whispering to us this week?

If any are lost at last, it will not be because they could not believe in God’s love for themselves, but rather because they could not embrace God’s love for someone else—for someone whom they thought, for whatever reason, should not be included.

The age to come will, I’m sure, be existential bliss to those who have fallen in love with Jesus and what his Kingdom is all about. But consider what it would be like for a close friend of mine who considers himself a “gun-toting, Bible-banging, flag-waving, troop-supporting, standing with Israel, anti-abortion, Constitutional, Christian conservative.” If the age to come looks like Jesus, and Jesus looks like the one we find in the Jesus story itself, then, let’s just say, my friend MIGHT find himself making some pretty difficult adjustments when he discovers whose presence Jesus is celebrating.

HeartGroup Application:

1.Read prayerfully Luke 14.1-5, 15-23 in the context of this week’s eSight and write down any thoughts Jesus shares with you in your reading. Jesus didn’t just eat with sinners, but he included the Pharisees too. The only reason the Pharisees where eventually left out was that they could not handle who else was included with them.

2.Prayerfully consider this thought: Jesus practiced a boundary-pushing, kosher-challenging, line-crossing, Pharisee-infuriating, radical hospitality. The question we have to ask is, are we?

3.Brain storm with your HeartGroup how you as a group can apply Jesus’ radical inclusivity within your group. And then discuss with one another ways in which each of you can practice Jesus’ radical inclusivity in your personal interactions with others outside of your group throughout the week.

Keep living in love, loving like Christ, until the only world that remains is a world where love reigns. Now go enlarge the Kingdom.

I love you guys,

I’ll see you next week.

Enemy Love; A New Moral Ethic!

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” – Luke 6.27-36It is good to be back! I spent the last four weeks conducting two ten-day series in both Paradise, CA and Raymond, WI (a little north of Chicago), with only one day home in between both. Last week, I was catching up with my much-missed family. But this week, I’d like to continue where we left off with our third and final pass at Jesus’s words here in Luke 6.

Again, so much could be said about Jesus’s teachings on Active Nonviolence or Nonviolent Noncooperation. I want to encourage each of you, if you have not had the chance, to, at bare minimum, check out part 3 of the eSight series I wrote last year on this at https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/06-12-2012. In Part 3, I share the cultural context of turning the other cheek, giving away your tunic, and going the second mile.

Most of the world’s great leaders, ruling societies, or dominant cultures successfully united people around the rallying point of a common enemy. It’s effective and easy. Actually, it’s the easiest way known to us to produce unity. Produce a common enemy, and people who were once themselves enemies with each other, will unite and join together against their now-common enemy. An example of this is found where Shakespeare has Henry IV give similar advice to his son, who will become Henry V after him:

“Be it thy course to busy giddy minds

With foreign quarrels, that action, hence borne out,

May waste the memory of the former days.”

(Henry IV Part II, Act IV, scene V)

Another ironic example of this principle is found in the very story of the betrayal and murder of Jesus. A friendship was struck between Herod and Pilate, who, until Jesus appeared on the scene, were actually enemies.

“That day Herod and Pilate became friends — before this they had been enemies.” (Luke 23.12, emphasis added)

What I find breathtakingly amazing is that Jesus, in Luke 6, is announcing a new kind of society, a new way of living life together, a “kingdom” not centered around a common enemy, but around actually loving your enemies, whomever they may be. Love of the enemy, when one carefully combs the teachings of Jesus, is found to be at the core of everything Jesus was about as well as the kingdom he came to establish and enlarge.

This was a new commandment for sure.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus shares how love of the enemy goes above and beyond the commands that the Jews were used to — those received from Moses.

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness SURPASSES that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5.20)

Remember, Jesus is talking here not about “going to heaven,” but about being a part of his kingdom which is from heaven, and which is also a kingdom that is both here and now. The Kingdom of Heaven, of which Jesus here speaks, is not a kingdom in heaven, but a kingdom which is “of” heaven, or from heaven to Earth through Jesus. And to be a part of Jesus’s new kingdom here, now, you were going to have to embrace a morality that went far beyond that which was found in the old laws.

In the old laws, we do find a positive moral and ethical progression, starting with where Hebrew culture was at, and moving them forward along a trajectory. (They needed laws that limited their thirst for retributive vengeance as we’ll see next, but also laws that told them to not to sleep with their mothers, sisters and their livestock; see Deuteronomy 27.20-23.) Moses was the starting point. But the end point to which the Mosaic trajectory was pointing was Jesus and his teachings. Notice the trajectory in the following two passages:

“SHOW NO PITY: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Moses, Deuteronomy 19.21)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.” (Jesus, Matthew 5.38-44)

Paul also understood this when he wrote, “Christ is the culmination [ultimate destination] of the law.” (Romans 10.4) I want to be clear here: this is not in the slightest way saying that the law was something bad. Nor are we nullifying or invalidating the law by moving from it to follow the higher, more complete ethical teachings of Jesus. It is actually in perfect harmony with the original intention of the law; now that Jesus has arrived, you are genuinely following the original intention of the law fully only if you now move away from the level of morality the law commanded to the higher morality found in the teachings of Jesus and His ethic of “enemy love.”

“Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.” (Romans 3.31)

“So the law was put in charge of us until Christ came.” (Galatians 3.24)

A few years ago, I placed my 16-year-old daughter on an airplane and she flew from West Virginia to Colorado all by herself to visit her grandmother. The way flights worked then, especially with her being underage, she was assigned a flight attendant to watch over her. The intention of the attendant was to get her safely to her grandmother’s care. Once my daughter was in the company of her grandmother, it would have been foolish for her to cling to the flight attendant. Now before she reached her grandmother, it was imperative that she comply with everything the flight attendant asked her to do. But once she reached her grandmother, it would be in perfect harmony with the desires of the attendant that my daughter go with and listen to her grandmother.

But what if, over the course of the flight, my daughter had become fondly attached to this flight attendant, and when she arrived in Colorado, had refused to go with her grandmother, desiring to stay “under” the authority of the flight attendant? Though in one sense she would be desiring simply to stay “submitted” to the flight attendant, in actuality, she would have been in utter violation of the attendant’s original intention all along. You see, by staying under the law and refusing now go and live “under” the new “law of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 9.19-21), we are actually violating the original intention of the old law. The opposite is also true: in now following Jesus over and above the old law, we are not insulting, negating, or “nullifying” that law; actually, now that Jesus has come, we, in following Jesus, are following fully the original and ever-present intended purpose the law had all along.

Look at it this way — this is one of Paul’s statements that I consider to be a traditionally misunderstood passage.

“You are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6.14)

In the past (thank God things are changing today), most have seen this verse as saying, “We are no longer under those demanding and oppressive rules of the past. Now we are under God’s permissive grace and forgiveness for our continual shortcomings.” But this isn’t at all what the context implies. What Paul is contrasting are two moral or ethical standards that we can choose to allow to govern how we should live. Now that Jesus has come, I have two moral standards to choose from: 1) the old laws delivered by Moses (eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the retributive justice of the law), or 2) the new, higher standard of morality found in the teachings of Jesus concerning grace toward our enemies (love your enemies; the restorative justice of grace).

These are our options in deciding how to live: the “law” of Moses (which was an improvement from the way his people had lived previously), or the “grace” teachings of Jesus (which are an improvement upon the laws delivered by Moses).

Let me use an example. When I’m wronged by someone, I have two options at my disposal, both of which are, technically, Biblical: I can choose an eye for an eye (the law ethic of Moses), or I can choose to respond by praying for, loving, blessing, and giving to those who have wronged me (the grace ethic of Jesus). Now that Jesus has come, as His follower, I am under the ethical requirements of the grace of Jesus in the same way that I would have been under the ethical requirements of the law of Moses before Jesus. The way of grace is now the new moral standard by which I choose to live my life. It’s not lawlessness, it’s simply that Jesus’s enemy love example has become my law, my ethic, my standard by which I now choose to live. (This is the whole point of James’s letter in which he mentions both Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac and Rahab’s lie, acts considered by the Jews to be morally correct even though they were violations of the Ten Commandments. James was showing that following Jesus does not mean being lawless, but simply following a moral ethic higher and more imperative than the ethics found in Moses.)

Jesus Himself said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to COMPLETE them [fr. Greek pleroo – to take something incomplete or deficient and fill it out or make it complete and more whole.]” (Jesus, Matthew 5.17)

This is why John wrote, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” (John 1.17,18)

And what was at the core of these new ethical teachings? Again, enemy love.

Notice Jesus’s frustration as he bumped into resistance in folks moving from the old ethics to the new ethics:

“The law and the prophets were in effect until John came; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is attacking it. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one stroke of a letter in the law to be dropped.” (Luke 16.16-17)

Some things in the new ethics will overlap with the old ethics. In other words, some things both Jesus and Moses commanded, and they will remain the same. But even in these, I, as a follower of Jesus, will actually be following them because they were things Jesus taught, and it just so happens that Moses taught them too. Some things from Moses I will not follow (Deuteronomy 19.21 — “Show no pity. Eye for an eye, tooth for tooth” — being a prime example), because I am a follower of Jesus, and Jesus calls me to a different, but also higher, ethical standard of love of enemy rather than retaliation. In this example, I will choose the restorative justice of Jesus (grace) rather than the retributive justice of Moses (the law).

I’ll close this week with Jesus’s own words in John, a story from Luke’s Jesus story as well, and some background on Acts 2.

“I am giving you a NEW commandment, that you love [i.e. enemy love] one another. JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, you ALSO should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have THIS KIND of love for one another.” (John 13.34, 35 cf. Romans 5.10)

Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone. And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it … Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” [He is here speaking of the Cross, the enemy love core of what the Kingdom is all about.]

About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Two men, Moses and Elijah [who stood for “the law and the prophets” for first century Orthodox Jews such as Peter, James, and John], appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem … then a cloud appeared and covered them, and they [Peter, James and John] were afraid as they entered the cloud. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” [i.e. Just as you have based everything you believe about Me on Moses and Elijah, (the law and the prophets), just as you have based your moral ethic of how to live on these two, Moses and Elijah, now, this is my Son, follow HIM! Base everything you believe about Me and how you should live on HIM!] (Luke 9.21-35)

Lastly, the feast of Pentecost, celebrated fifty days from Passover, was a celebration of the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai some fifty days after the exodus. According to Jewish tradition, the law was supernaturally uttered from Sinai in the 70 languages of the nations of the world. But in Acts 2, what is proclaimed on this Pentecost is the life story of Jesus told by the apostles, and heard in every language present in Jerusalem that day.

Much to ponder, for sure.

HeartGroup Application

1.Prayerfully, go back over the verses shared in this eSight, paying special attention to the context of each.

2.Write down any thoughts, questions, or personal challenges with which you are faced, submitting each question and challenge in prayer to God, asking Him to give you deeper insight this week as you meditate on the Jesus teaching of love-of-enemy.

3.Divide up what you have written down into two categories, “Insights/ Personal Challenges” and “Questions.” Then be prepared to share each with your HeartGroup, especially any questions that have remained unanswered, and discuss these as a group.

“When they have come together, they teach one another the divine Word and one asks the other: “how do you understand this saying?” Thus there is among them a diligent living according to the divine Word.” (Ambrosius Spitelmaier, an Anabaptist under interrogation in 1527.)

“I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and COMPETENT TO INSTRUCT ONE ANOTHER.” (Paul, Romans 15.14)

Keep living in love, enemy love, loving like Christ. And keep enlarging the Kingdom. Till a world where love reigns is the only world that remains.

I love you guys.

I’ll see you next week.

White Horse, Red Horse, Black Horse, Pale. Loving your enemies, till Love prevails.

“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Luke 6:27–36)This week I want to continue from where we left off last week and hover over these verses for a bit more. But I want to take a slightly different tack and come at this from maybe what some would say is an unconventional, angle.

I want to look at a related passage in the Book of Revelation. Now, if you’re like me, the moment “Revelation” is mentioned, your eyes roll so far into the back of your head that you can actually see your brain. So, I’m making a promise to those who have suffered religious abuse by the manner in which some have used this book: what I’m about to share will be dramatically different.

What does the Book of Revelation have to show us about the teachings of Jesus, especially the love-your-enemy element? Everything! I’m convinced that unless we embrace the nonviolence of Jesus’ peace teachings, we can never truly begin to understand what the book of Revelation is really all about. (There are two ways to look at Revelation. The most common way over the last fifty years has been to obsess about the meaning and direction of history and to treat Revelation as a series of detailed predictions. I contest that version and argue that Revelation is much more concerned with how to move history in the direction of the Kingdom [and how not to—with which historically, Christianity has, sadly, been quite proficient].) Unless we do this, we have missed the whole point of the book and have ended up doing exactly what it warns us against; but that is an entirely different study for an entirely different time.

Let’s jump in.

What does the Book of Revelation have to do with the love-your-enemy and peace teachings of Jesus? Everything.

There is absolutely no consensus about the seven seals of the Revelation within Christianity today, so what better place to start that right there in Revelation 6 (white horse, red horse, black horse, pale horse). Remember, I promised you that this will be different. Hang in there.

With the breaking of the first seal in verse one, it’s as if all hades breaks loose. There are some (Kuper, Ladd, and Morris) who see this rider on the white horse in verse two as Christ. White, they argue, is always a symbol of Christ, or something associated with Christ, or of spiritual victory. F. A. Jennings rejects this adamantly:

“The whole context and character of these seals absolutely forbid our thinking of this rider being the Lord Jesus, as so many affirm. His reign shall not bring war, famine, and strife in its train.” (Studies in Revelation, p. 201)

But, I want to be quick to add, where many (including Jennings) then interpret this white rider as a false Christ, I want to ask that we stop and first place ourselves in the sandals of the original audience by asking what these images would have brought to their minds. If you were a part of one of the seven churches, who were the originally intended audience of this letter, how would you, back then, have understood these seals? What would you, in your culture, have initially associated with this image we see in this first seal of Revelation? Once we establish that, then maybe we can extrapolate principles that apply to Jesus’ followers in every generation.

But before we get there, let’s return to Luke 6. Any time I present the love-your-enemy chore of the teachings of Jesus (Jesus’ teaching on nonviolence), I am, without fail, met with the objection, “What about the threat of a foreign invasion.” It comes in one of two forms, one more personal: “What would you do if someone broke into your home,” and the other national: “What about national threats today such as Al-Qaida, or what would you have done with Hitler in World War II?” (For more information on these, please see the 11 part series on nonviolence at https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/05-27-2012.)

What I want you to notice is that this has been the objection in every age when the teachings of Jesus on this subject are encountered. In the sixteenth century, it was the Turks. Protestants used the threat of the Turks to reject Anabaptist teachings on the necessity for Jesus’ followers to actually follow His teachings on peace and nonviolence. They used this “foreign threat” (the Turks) to incite fear of the Anabaptists in the masses. (“If we follow what those Anabaptists are saying, the Turks will overrun Europe and our way of life as we know it will be over.”) This very same “foreign threat” argument was used to turn the populace against such Anabaptists as Michael Sattler, a significant contributor to the Schleitheim Confession, and to have Sattler arrested by Count Joachim von Zollern, regent of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Sattler was severely tortured and then executed on May 20, 1527.

Also, I believe that “foreign threat” was genuinely why Constantine allegedly embraced “Christianity.” Christianity was growing at such an exponential rate that if everybody in the Roman Empire became Christian (at this time in Christian history, that meant becoming a pacifist), then there would be no one to defend Rome’s borders and Rome would be overthrown. Christianity must be infiltrated and changed from within; thus, Constantine’s alleged vision and conversion and the Constantinian shift that changed everything within Christianity for the last 1,700 years.

“Foreign threat” was the basis for the original rejection of Jesus and His peace teachings by the Jews as well. In this case it was not a potential foreign threat but the current foreign threat of the Romans, by whom they were already oppressed and from whom they desperately desired to be liberated. The argument in Jesus’ day was that if they followed Jesus’ teaching on “loving our enemies,” they would never escape from the oppression of the Romans. This in turn caused them to reject the teachings of Jesus for a messiah who would be willing to take up the sword, and look much more like “The Hammer,” Judas Maccabaeus of old.

Now, let’s look at this first seal again, this white horse, which is followed by the red (bloody) horse with a sword. (This four-horse imagery was originally used in the prophecies of Zechariah.) This first seal is of a mounted archer on a white horse, crowned from conquest! What image would this have conjured up in the minds of the original audience of the Book of Revelation? The dreaded Parthian Empire was the “foreign threat” of the day when Revelation was delivered to the seven churches. The Parthian Empire was the most dreaded enemy of the Roman Empire at the time when Revelation was penned. The Parthians were to Roman citizens what Al-Qaida is to American Christians today, what Hitler was to the Allies in the twentieth century, and what the Turks were to Europe in the sixteenth century. They were the resident “foreign threat” of the day for the original audience of this vision. The Parthian Empire resided beyond the eastern borders of Rome’s dominion. And they were “the only mounted archers in the first century; white horses were their trademark” (Boring 1989: 122).

One possible interpretation or application of this vision of the seals could be that foreign threats from our enemies (first seal, whether Parthians, Turks, Hitler, or someone breaking into our home) in any era will cause us to question whether or not to follow Jesus’ teachings of nonviolence, and if we reject Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence, it will always lead to a red horse and all that this horse brings (6:3–4), which produces the next two horses and all that they bring (6:5–8), in any and every era. The question for us today is, will we, as Jesus followers, be found crying out from under the altar (6:9–11), or will we find ourselves mounting the red horse, and sometimes, even in Jesus’ name? I’m hoping the lights for some have just turned on.

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”— Jesus (Luke 9.23,24)

Again, the greatest significant objection from those to whom I present Jesus’ teachings on nonviolence is “foreign threat” from our enemies. Just last night after a presentation, I received this question, written on a piece of paper and handed to me:

“By living as Jesus did, we become vulnerable to being used or manipulated or deceived by others. Should we be “on guard” for this, and if so, how do we live generously and still protect ourselves from manipulations that can seriously hurt us?”

I’ll answer this question this week in a balanced way, but please notice the psychology of what took place in the heart and mind of the listener as we looked at the teachings of Jesus. Immediately, we most often move to the emotionally charged possibility of “foreign threat.” This has always been the “white horse” (or “foreign threat”) which has historically always led a red horse, which has led to a black horse, and then a pale horse.

If this is correct, then the white horse isn’t, as some would say, a false messiah; it’s the “wars and rumors of wars” that threaten us and make us choose a false messiah (which is actually the red horse) that will use the sword to protect us, rather than embracing the true Messiah and the way of the cross. The white horse rides through every day in each of our lives.

Will we choose the red horse, which leads to the black and then the pale? Or will we be found crying out from under an altar, having been slain for putting on display the beauty of the Father as seen in the teachings of Jesus. The relevance of our message concerning our God and the testimony of Jesus (Revelation 6:9) is dependent on answering this question correctly.

Israel chose the red horse, took up the sword, and died by the sword. Western Christianity, with only one exception that I am aware of historically, has done the same.

Something to ponder.

HeartGroup Application

1) Prayerfully and honestly consider what is your “foreign threat,” right now in your life, that causes you to be reluctant about following Jesus’ peace teachings in a practical way.

2) Prayerfully consider Part 3 and Part 8 of the eSight series, The Active Nonviolence of Jesus at:

https://renewedheartministries.com/series

3) Write down and be prepared to share any concerns, fears, convictions or paradigm shifts Jesus is leading you through on this subject currently. Be respectful of where each person is. And remember we are all in process. It’s a journey, and we are all at a different place.

Lastly for all, if you are interested in more information on this subject and answers to many frequently asked questions regarding the love-your-enemy teachings of Jesus, please see the series that begins at

https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/05-27-2012

We’ll take one more swipe at this passage in Luke 6 again next week.

Keep living in love and loving like Christ till a world where love reigns is the only world that remains. Now, go enlarge the Kingdom.

I love you guys!

I’ll see you next week.

Herb

A Seven Day Challenge

“But to you who are listening, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” –Luke 6.27–36I want to hover over these verses a bit for the next few e-Sights. Jesus’ teaching here is critical. The “love your enemy” ethic of Jesus was the deal breaker for many who initially desired to be His followers. Let’s look at some background first this week and then wrap up with a seven day challenge.

Let’s go back to Luke 4, which we covered a few weeks ago, where Jesus first began to teach “love your enemies” in the Gospel of Luke, and take another look. This will be from Luke 4.16–28:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

What I find profound is that if you go back and look at the original statement in Isaiah 61.1-2, Jesus was virtually saying, “I will be announcing the favor of God and leaving off all that ‘vengeful God’ stuff.” But what those in Jesus’ audience did not catch yet was that Jesus would be proclaiming God’s favor on all . . . even their enemies. Follow closely:

All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked. Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’” “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “prophets are not accepted in their hometowns. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

Initially, everyone was speaking well of Jesus at this stage, but it’s as if Jesus was saying, “You guys aren’t getting what I’m saying. Let me make it a little more clear.” So he dropped two stories from their history that, because of their location, were loaded: the widow of Sidon and Naaman the Syrian.

To really get the importance of what Jesus was doing here, we have to take into account what this was saying to those present. This was not so much about Elijah and Elisha as it was about Sidon and Syria. Jesus was referring to the history surrounding the Maccabean revolt. Here is just a little bit of history:

Judas Maccabeus’ father was Mattathias. Mattathias’ dying words to his sons were, “Pay back the Gentiles in full, and obey the commands of the law.” (1 Maccabees 2.68). Judas Maccabeus, in standing up to the Seleucids (Greeks), earns the nickname “The Hammer” for the very reason that he is fulfilling his father’s dying wish. A messiah, “Judas Maccabeus’” style was the expectation when Jesus arrived on the scene. Sidon was a significant city under the Seleucid Empire, and the memory of the torture of Hebrews by the hands of the Seleucids was recent history (Read 1 and 2 Maccabees). In addition, the gentiles of Sidon would have been associated with the history of the Seleucid tortures (1 Maccabees 5.15); Syria was where the Seleucid Empire was based. Rome simply referred to the Seleucid Empire as “Syria.” In Luke 4, when Jesus announced he would proclaim God’s favor but not God’s vengeance, and then drove it home by mentioning that it included even their tormentors, it was too much for them to take.

It was like telling Cubans that God’s favor applied to Fidel Castro, too. Or to Venezuelans that God’s favor applied to Hugo Chaves, too. Or to Israel that God’s favor applies to the Palestinians, too. Or to Americans that God’s favor applied to Bin Laden and Al-Qaida, too.

NO WONDER they wanted to throw him off the cliff.

“All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built in order to throw him off the cliff.”

At the heart of Jesus’ teaching about God, ourselves, and others (as well as how we are to live), was a loud cry to now love your enemies. It was as if Jesus were saying, “I know you’ve been taught to love your neighbor. Now I’m going to teach you how to love your enemies. I know it’s new. But then you’ll be like Him who sent me,” (Lev 19.18; Matthew 5.43–45; John 13.34).

This teaching of Jesus has, ever since the “conversion of Constantine” in the fourth century, never proven to be popular. Following Jesus has become tamed, domesticated, and conventional. But the picture we get of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John is of an itinerant going around and gathering those who will join him in a revolutionary way of living life that he calls “the Kingdom of God.” The “Kingdom of God” is not some place out in the heavens, nor is it a place some go to when they die. This “Kingdom of God” is a radical rearrangement of how we see God, ourselves, and everyone else that leads to a radical rearrangement of how we do life in the here and now. It is a radical rearrangement of how human beings arrange their society that is “of God” or “from God” . . . to us . . . through this person Jesus. To enter THIS is entirely revolutionary. It is a radical break with life as we have known it, as it has been given to us as we have been told; as we have been instructed is the natural way of life. It is a call to go against how we have been indoctrinated, to go against the scripts we have been handed, the rules we have been given on how to play the game (personal rights, tit for tat, etc.). To “follow Jesus” is to break with all of that and say, “I want to live by an entirely different evaluation of what is important.” It’s radical. It’s revolutionary.

Today, Jesus is still extending an ongoing invitation to join his revolution. He is looking for those who are weak but daring, afraid but believing, unsure but willing to take a risk; people who are simply crazy enough to go for it with Him. To follow Jesus and live the Jesus way is the most revolutionary thing a human being can do. It is not about a ticket to go to Heaven (how boring, tame, and domesticated). It is not about saying a simple prayer, going to church once a week, and then simply going back to the way things have always been done. To follow Jesus IS radical and revolutionary. It is to adopt a completely counterintuitive way of doing life called “The Way,” of which Jesus is the template. The “Kingdom of God,” rightly understood, is an alternate society formed around Jesus, His picture of God, and His teachings. It is about leaning to follow the Jesus practice of love, forgiveness, restorative justice, mercy, and fidelity to self-sacrificial, other-centeredness.

We are too skilled at taming revolutions and making them conventional. Too skilled at turning things like the Sermon on the Mount and the teachings of enemy love into a blasé blessing of the conventional life we have always known.

As Brian Zahnd was recently quoted as saying, “The seeds of revolution will always be present as long as the Jesus story is always around, and you just never know when someone might leap.”

HeartGroup Application

1)Prayerfully and thoughtfully reread Luke 6.27–36. Since I want to add something extracurricular, so to speak, I would like you to read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous Christmas sermon from 1967. You can find it at http://endsandmeans.org/2010/01/18/martin-luther-king-jrs-christmas-sermon-1967/

What I find interesting about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is that as a Baptist minister, Christianity had so domesticated the teachings of Jesus that he had to go to India and meet Gandhi to encounter the Jesus teachings of enemy love. Wow.

2) A Seven Day Challenge:

This part will not be easy for you. I want you to picture in your minds eye the person on this planet you like the least. Do you have them in your mind? Good. Now, I want you to simply pray for them for the next seven days. That is all. Once a day, for the next seven days, pray for them, sincerely. Pray blessings on them for just seven days. And then make sure you do number 3 next.

3)Prepare to share with your HeartGroup this week your struggles, your challenges, your insights, your convictions, and your commitments with regard to this aspect of Jesus’ teachings this week. Then, as a group, spend some time in prayer over what it truly means to follow Jesus.

Last, for everyone, I want to recommend the 11-part series from RHM that we did last year on the active non-violence (or enemy love) of Jesus. If you would like to listen to them, the title you will be looking for is The Active, Non-Violence of Jesus, Parts 1-11. You can find this podcast series at:

https://renewedheartministries.com/Podcasts.aspx

Or, if you would like to simply read through the series, you can find the same E-sight series at:

https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/05-27-2012

through

https://renewedheartministries.com/Esights/10-03-2012

Today, wherever this finds you, love subversively and dedicatedly. Do not wax cold until a world where love reigns is the only world that remains. Vive la resistance. LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!

The Good News of the Kingdom wasn’t “Good News” to the “Religious”

“He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. Looking at his disciples, he 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. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.’” (Luke 6.17-26)My two daughters, and I are presently going through the teachings of Jesus every morning as I drive them to school. I love hearing their thoughts, love to hear them openly share what Jesus must have meant to those in the culture of Jesus’ day as well as what he could mean to us today. Both my daughters go to our local public schools and it is exciting to let loose “little Jesuses” each morning onto a hurting world. I can’t help but be proud of them.

This week, we have been looking at Jesus’ sermon on the plain in Luke 6. What we’ve decided is that the good news of the Kingdom (as we looked at two eSights ago from Mark) wasn’t good news to everyone. Let me explain.

In this passage, Jesus is uttering both blessings AND woes! Let’s break this down.

When you look at the two groups that Jesus contrasts, what you begin to see—if you understand the contrast—is that these two groups are the “religious” of his day versus those whom the religious of his day have marginalized, that is:

The Poor,

The Hungry,

The Weepers,

The Hated,

The Excluded,

The Insulted,

versus

The Rich,

The Well Fed,

The Laughers,

The Spoken Well Of.

You see, according to Deuteronomy 28, if you obey then God will bless you. If you disobey, then God will punish you. The rich, the well fed, and those whose lives were filled with laughter became so because they were blessed by God, because they were righteous. These people were spoken well of.

On the other hand, those who were poor, hungry, and mourning were not less fortunate, but were morally inferior. They were sinners. In their world view, they were being punished by God because they were sinners and therefore hated, excluded, and insulted. These were not those looked on as less fortunate and in need of compassion and help, but rather those that the religious of Jesus’ day felt morally superior to.

However, here Jesus has turned the old order of things on its head! He has challenged people’s preconceived pictures of God and what God’s Kingdom is really all about. He has challenged the “boxed in” opinions people have about what type of a being God is. He has portrayed God in a way completely and utterly outside of their boxes. And for those who were poor, hungry, heartbroken, hated, excluded, and insulted, the coming of Jesus’ Kingdom WAS going to be good news. But those who were rich were going to be called to share with those they felt to be sinners. Those who were well fed, would be called to feed those whom they felt to be morally inferior. Those whose life was filled with laughter and celebration would be confronted with their judgment and condemnation of those they were now called to weep with. And those spoken well of would have to disregard the value they placed on people’s opinions of them, as they too were now called to eat with tax collectors and sinners.

Please remember, again, these woes were not words of condemnation. Jesus realized those who would reject him; he was lamenting their condition, not judging them. There is nothing wrong with being rich, having food to eat, and a life filled with laughter. Jesus wasn’t condemning people with those things. He was simply lamenting that they were going to be the ones hardest hit by the kingdom he had come to establish. His heart was breaking for those who had misunderstood what Deuteronomy 28 was all about. They would not understand, and they would reject him. They would claim his teachings to be too radical and dangerous, challenging the status quo and the way things had always been.

From the very beginning, Jesus stood in the shadow of the cross, knowing full well that the God he has come to demonstrate to us (John 14.9) would have him killed. But he goes through with it anyway, lamenting all along for those who are his enemies. (He speaks of these next in Luke 6.)

All of this leads me to the central point. If God looks like Jesus, then it changes everything for us today just as much as it did for people back then. But ultimately, it means that if any are “tossed out”, in the end it will because they have rejected God’s love for others. This applies even for those whom we deem are not living or believing the way we think they should. In reality this is a rejection of God’s unconditional love for themselves as well.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, so you must love one another.” (John 13.34)

When Jesus said “new” he meant it. It was new because they had never—even through Moses—been taught to love the way Jesus was going to teach them. It was all rooted and grounded in a radically different picture of God than what they had gotten through Moses and Elijah.

“For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” (John 17.1-8)

When Jesus said “new”, he meant it. Again, he meant it. He presented a God, who, contrary to everything they had been taught, didn’t look at them as transgressors deserving of punishment (contrary to the religion of both Jesus’ day and ours), but as victims who had been deceived, taken captive, and were in need of a Savior. He taught us to see others (as well as ourselves) the way God sees us. He revealed a God whose love was not only unconditional and indiscriminatory but—most importantly—non-condemning. This was a God whose justice was restorative rather than retributive; a God who, rather than demanding the death of his enemies, would rather die at their hands to set them free. The religiously superior, both in Jesus’ day and ours, will always have objections to this way of viewing God. It’s dangerous, they say, and they’ll crucify it every time if they can. But those who are poor, hungry, heartbroken, hated, insulted, judged, condemned, pushed down, and marginalized . . . well . . . they get it.

Nothing destroys one’s empathy for others more completely than seeing them as “hellbound,” under the judgment of God. Jesus would challenge their most cherished assumptions about their God. It was a time of deep upheaval for people, religiously. The kingdom Jesus had come to establish would be filled with paradigm shift after paradigm shift concerning God, themselves and others. It would not be a time of peace for some, but deep questioning and change as everything, again, was being turned on its head. (John the Baptist, in warning the religious leaders of this day, referred to the powder keg Jesus was about to light as “the wrath to come.” Matthew 3.7-12). Again, Jesus would challenge their most cherished beliefs. . . and the risen Jesus is still doing the very same thing . . . today.

HeartGroup Application:

1)Prayerfully and thoughtfully read through Matthew 5.1-11 and Luke 6.17-26.

2)Take some time and write down how Jesus had changed your own preconceived pictures of God, yourself and others since the time you began following Him.

3)Share at least one of the most significant changes Jesus has brought to your picture of God with the group this next week.

As always, keep living in love, loving like Christ, enlarging the Kingdom, till a world where love reigns is the only world that remains. (see Luke 13.18-19)

I love you guys,

I’ll see you next week.

Jesus’ Kingdom and Mutual Aid

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Luke 18.29,30)We will be continuing our focus on the life and teachings of Jesus this week. Remember that the purpose of our time in this series is to try and get into the actual headspace of Jesus and discover more deeply what His kingdom was to be all about.

Many have misunderstood Jesus’ words that we are looking at this week. They mistakingly think that He meant that if we give up something for Jesus in this life, we will somehow have more, materially, even in this life, than we could possibly imagine. This has led some to embrace what others have labeled a pseudo “prosperity gospel,” where if one follows Jesus one will have the best life now! This has created a source of puzzlement for others though, because this idea does not exactly match up with the ideas of those who chose to follow Jesus in the first century, and who, in losing all, even their very lives, clung tightly to the hope of a resurrection. And it does not match up with the experience of many today who have lost everything to follow Jesus.

What was Jesus saying in the above verse when he mentioned receiving many times as much, not just the age to come, but even in this age?

It may be helpful to look at Mark’s record of these words:

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. (Mark 10.29,30)

Did you catch it?

A hundred times back in this life, oh, along with persecutions!

Unlike us, today, in our individualistic, westernized, Americanized Christianity, the early church understood exactly what Jesus was saying. Look closely:

All the believers were together and HAD EVERYTHING IN COMMON. They sold property and possessions TO GIVE TO ANYONE WHO HAD NEED. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They BROKE BREAD IN THEIR HOMES AND ATE TOGETHER with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2.44-47)

Jesus’ followers in the first century formed tightly knit communities where people took care of each other. If I had lost my home for having followed Jesus, as I looked around the room there would have been ten other homes, possibly more, in the room that were mine to live in with my fellow brothers and sisters. If I had been rejected by a father or mother, as I looked around the room, I would have found possibly twenty fathers or mothers who would have stepped up to the plate to be a father or mother to me. This would have been the same with a brother or sister. And if I had lost my job for following Jesus, there were others in my Jesus community whom I could have leaned on till I got back on my feet and found other employment.

This is hard for many today to visualize because we are so individualistic in our contemporary culture, but this was not The Way of the first century followers of Jesus. They held all things in common, which simply meant, if someone lost something for following Jesus, within their own Jesus community there would be 10, 20, or 100 more at their disposal.

It is vital that we break out of our individualism to see this. Let me illustrate it this way.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matthew 6.19, 20)

How does one reconcile this teaching of Jesus with 401ks and other retirement accounts? Western individualism keeps us from truly being able to get our heads around this. Certainly, if we remain individualistic in our thinking and living, a retirement account is a must. But what if we were to actually begin to create communities of Jesus followers where we took care of each other again? I’m not saying, throw away your retirement account. What I am saying is, and it won’t happen overnight, but rather, over time, let us begin creating communities of Jesus followers where we actually stop living individualistically and start living together in such a way that retirement accounts become obsolete, and where the above teachings of Jesus in Mark and Luke can actually come true. They will never be true as long as we do not also practice the community element of Christ’s Kingdom.

Before we end this week, let me answer some questions that surface every time the teachings of Jesus begin to be taken seriously.

This sounds like socialism!

Remember that this is not something that is enforced by a kingdom of this world on unwilling subjects, but something that is voluntarily embraced, to one degree or another, by groups that covenant with each other to follow Jesus together and take care of one another.

Follow closely the words of Stuart Murray in this book The Naked Anabaptist:

“However, the majority of Anabaptists did not practice “community of goods” but “mutual aid.” This meant that they continued to own property and possessions, but made these available freely and gladly as they encountered others in need . . . economics and spirituality are connected for reasons of justice rather than charity. The backdrop to this conviction is a global economic order that is profoundly unjust, in which vast numbers are kept impoverished within a system that benefits and protects the powerful few. Charitable giving to offset some of the worst effects of this unjust system is laudable, but this can appease our consciences and distract us from working toward a more just world. The Anabaptist commitment to mutual aid recognizes the prior claim of others in need to what we possess-as a matter of justice, rather than charity . . . the practice of mutual aid confronts the pervasive individualism of contemporary western societies. Nowhere is individualism more apparent than in the economic sphere. Our property is private. Our possessions belong to us and are jealously safeguarded. Our homes are our castles, well-defended against any intruders. Most of us do not disclose the level of our salaries or savings to others, nor do we invite others to help us think through where we might live, what standard of living is appropriate, or how we might utilize our resources. It is quite unnecessary for our churches to conform to these cultural norms. If our churches are not institutions but communities, and if we recognize our need for each other’s help in discerning and resisting the economic pressures of our culture, mutual aid will consist not just in sharing resources but also in working out together how to be disciples of Jesus in the area of economics. This economic practice will impact our spirituality. (Kindle Edition, p. 122)

What about those who will abuse our sincere desire to follow Jesus?

It would be well to remember Paul’s words to the church in Corinth:

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be EQUALITY. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. THE GOAL IS EQUALITY, as it is written: “The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.” (2 Corinthians 8.13-15)

My helping them today means, once they are on their feet, they may have the opportunity to return something to help the group when they are back on their feet. But what if someone just starts mooching off the group?

Let’s look at Paul’s words to the church in Thessalonica:

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every BELIEVER who is IDLE and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were NOT IDLE when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we WORKED NIGHT AND DAY, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, NOT because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as A MODEL for you to IMITATE. For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Anyone who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” We hear that some among you are IDLE and disruptive. They are not busy; they are busybodies. Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and EARN THE BREAD THEY EAT. And as for you, brothers and sisters, NEVER TIRE OF DOING WHAT IS GOOD. (2 Thessalonians 3.6-13)

There are a few things that I want you to take note of. First, this is a dilemma, taking place among believers. This is how followers of Jesus did life with each other. The teachings of Jesus would not be abused if they were not actually being followed. Second, notice the solution. The solution is not to abandon the teachings of Jesus and to embrace a more individualistic approach. It is that those who are mooching should go out and work in order to contribute to the group. Paul was clear, though: not only are they to stop being idle, but the group is to still keep doing what they are doing, “never tiring of doing what is good.”

Remember that in the first century, Roman culture did not have many of the social safety nets that many have in their respective kingdoms of the world they belong to today, including America. But early followers of Jesus did not need them. They, within their community of fellow Jesus followers, took care of each other.

Stop for a moment and dream with me. What a powerful testimony on how Jesus calls those who actually follow him to live life differently than everyone else. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if Jesus followers today made the social nets of our contemporary society obsolete and even unnecessary?

These teachings are not for everyone. This is simply how Jesus called HIS followers to begin living.

If you are like most, the question you are asking is, how do we begin making this transition from western individualism to Kingdom living?

Well, do not go out a burn your 401ks and ROTH IRAs. No, it’s going to take time. Where we begin today is in starting to create community again among Jesus followers, where staunch individualism is abandoned and we begin viewing each other as brothers and sisters once again, and we are not simply passing through, but we are called to establish a new Kingdom where life is lived very differently, here, now, today. A perfect place to start this is in your own HeartGroup!

HeartGroup Application:

1.Go back and prayerfully reread the verses in this eSight and take time to actually write down the thoughts, questions, and insights Jesus brings to your mind as you read them.

2.Share what Jesus shows you with your HeartGroup this next week.

3.As a group, begin praying that God will change the way you look at others, how you think toward economics, your emotional attachment to “Stuff” and how you choose to live.

(An example of this (and it’s just one example), is that recently, a small HeartGroup that wanted to lower the debt among them and begin using more of their resources to help others in need, covenanted to not make any major purchases over a certain amount without first discussing it with an accountability partner. This is just what this group has chosen to do. Prayerfully ask Jesus, the Head of each group, what He wants your group to grow in this area.)

At Renewed Heart Ministries, we are in the process of creating what we are going to be calling the RHM Mutual Aid Network. We are still in the brainstorming phase, but what we are praying toward is a closed, online network where vested needs can be posted from around the globe and each group can log in and view the needs of others and prayerfully consider whether their group can supply some needed help.

For instance, right now, I know of a dear friend in Missouri who is trained in paralegal and insurance sales who has been out of work for over 18 months. He has exhausted his own area and is willing to move anywhere where he can find some work. He even offered to turn wrenches at an oil-changing garage last week. He and his family are desperate and about to go over their own financial cliff. (Seriously, if you know of anyone hiring right now, email me and I will put you in touch with this family.)

But what if we had a community of Jesus followers desiring to aid one another when hard times hit and a network that could actually facilitate this kind of other-centered, self-sacrificial love?

Are you interested? If you would like to be a part of Renewed Heart Ministries Mutual Aid Network, where you are simply able to see other’s needs and determine whether you or your group can offer some assistance, shoot me an email this week, and just let me know whether you think this would be something positive for the Kingdom.

Prayerfully consider the words of John, someone mentored by Jesus for three years:

If any one of you has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in you? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3.17,18)

I have three children, Ali, Emarya and Christian, and I guarantee that if I were to see one of them on the street as an adult, I would not stop until I drug them home with me to have a warm meal, a dry place to sleep, and some help. The thought that I cannot escape this week is that each person out there tonight is an Ali, an Emarya, and a Christian to God. I can’t save the world, but I must let this confront me and prayerfully ask Jesus, what percentage of this world’s pain and need DOES He want me to take responsibility for?

The Kingdom Jesus came to establish is centered on one thing: manifesting the beauty of God’s Character. It’s much more than simply preaching (or listening to) a sermon. It’s a way of life. It’s about humbly and lovingly serving the world the way Jesus did. It’s about loving the world the way Jesus did. It’s not so much about going to church, as it is about being the church.

Much to ponder for sure.

This week, keep living in love, and loving like Christ! Now go enlarge the Kingdom.

Let me know if you feel the RHM Mutual Aid Network is something that, if done properly, would be a great idea!

I love you guys,

I’ll see you next week.

The “Gospel” of The Kingdom!

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark 1.14–15, TNIV).Last week, we took a look at how Luke’s version of the Jesus story begins Jesus’ teaching ministry. This week, I’d like to take a look at how Mark, in his version of the Jesus story, denotes the opening of Jesus’ ministry; I pray it produces for you the paradigm shift that it has for me since I first caught a glimpse of it.

Mark, according to church tradition, is really Peter’s testimony of the events of Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry. Much different from Luke’s, Peter was actually one of the characters within the story. Mark (Peter) gives us a much more straight-to-the-point version. It’s what I call the “skinniest” Jesus story we have. Many details of the story are left to the other three gospel authors.

A word about the gospels, too, that I believe would be wise to keep in mind: Remember, once recorded, each of these documents—which we know were written within the 1st century—were given back to Jesus’ community. This was during a time before the sad history of Constantine and abandonment by Christianity of the ethical teachings of Jesus. This is a time when Christians were not a persecuting majority but still very much a persecuted minority. These communities of believers were dying for believing the story that had been told and retold through oral tradition within their communal gatherings. These new written versions better be the same story because following the person in this story would be costing them their lives. (For more on oral traditions and the historical reliability of the canonical gospels, please see the presentation Why Think This Is True at RenewedHeartMinistries.com.)

Now, let’s get into how Mark (Peter) begins the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus.

“After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. ‘The time has come,’ he said. ‘The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!’” (Mark 1.14–15).

Let’s break this down by looking at four elements found here:

1) The Time has come!

2) The Kingdom has come!

3) Repent!

4) Believe the euangelion!

The Time Has Come:

The long-awaited day had come. But as we discovered last week, the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah would, contrary to popular belief in Jesus’ day, not be simply delivering Israel from Roman oppression (by inviting them to embrace dying on a cross themselves rather than picking up a sword); the Messiah had come to deliver the entire human race from the oppression of their truest enemy, the Accuser (see Ephesians 6.12; Revelation 12.10).

Remember Jesus’ words that we read last week:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor [the good news that a NEW Kingdom has arrived]. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners [they are set free from the Kingdom of Darkness] and recovery of sight for the blind [through Jesus, we will once again be able to see through the Darkness of Lies that have been perpetrated by the Accuser about God and ourselves], to set the oppressed free [Humanity was about to be set free from the “charges”—see Colossians 2.14–15—being brought against them by the Accuser]” (Luke 4.18).

The Time had come for Humanity to be “rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son” (Colossians 1.13).

At this stage, it would also be well to remember the words of C. S. Lewis:

“I freely admit that real Christianity . . . goes much nearer to Dualism than people think . . . The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel” (Mere Christianity).

I know the idea of a “devil” has been abused by many, but as a Jesus’ follower, I cannot escape the reality that Jesus taught not just the existence of a God but also the existence of an enemy.

The Kingdom Has Come:

Remember in the Gospel of Luke, once again, the enemy makes a claim that Jesus does not refute:

“And he [the enemy, after showing Jesus all the kingdoms of this world] said to him [Jesus], ‘I will give you ALL THEIR AUTHORITY and splendor; it [this world] has been given to me [according to the Genesis narrative, by humanity], and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4.6–7, emphasis mine).

I find great comfort in the fact that after His death and resurrection, we find Jesus saying:

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘ALL AUTHORITY in heaven and ON EARTH has been given to ME. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations’” (Matthew 28.18–19, emphasis mine).

Remember the words of the author of Hebrews:

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, THE DEVIL [not an angry God, but the devil!]—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (Hebrews 2.14–15, emphasis mine).

Again, Jesus Himself said, looking at the purpose of His own death:

“NOW is the time for judgment on this world [I’m placing new evidence on the table, through my death, to be taken into account when considering ‘why’ Humanity has rebelled. And what will be the result?]; NOW the PRINCE OF THIS WORLD will be DRIVEN OUT” (John 12.31, emphasis mine).

John, one of the original followers of Jesus, shares this perspective on the results of Jesus’ death and resurrection:

“Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and THE KINGDOM of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down’” (Revelation 12.10, emphasis mine).

Even Paul, who was a Pharisee, realized that if God was like Jesus, that changed everything:

“Having CANCELED the charge [being brought against us by the Enemy] of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And HAVING DISARMED THE POWERS AND AUTHORITIES, HE MADE A PUBLIC SPECTACLE OF THEM, TRIUMPHING OVER THEM BY THE CROSS” (Colossians 2.14, emphasis mine).

“Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, [one man sold us into slavery] so also one righteous act resulted in ACQUITTAL [declaration of NOT Guilty—Innocent, Righteous, charges have been dropped, “cancelled,” null and void] and life for all” (Romans 5.18, emphasis mine).

Repent!

The word here used for “repentance” is actually a Roman military term, metanoeo. It was shouted out by commanding officers when they desired the marching soldiers to do an about-face. Jesus is saying, virtually, “You were moving in one direction, following the god of this world, under his kingdom, now, freedom has come! You have been set free! I have come to invite you to turn around and begin following me, and be a part of MY radically different kingdom.” A word of clarification: Metanoe is much less about feeling emotional sorrow and much more about changing life direction. An emotional state of sorrow can be the root of someone’s repentance, but I doubt any of the Roman soldiers really felt sorry for the original direction in which they were moving. When the command was given, they simply turned around. Repentance is much more than simply sorrow; it’s about falling in love with the radical teachings of Jesus and the picture of God He came to reveal. This may lead a person to deep sorrow for the direction their life originally has taken, but metanoeo is much more about moving in a radically different life direction than one was moving before they met Jesus. In other words, metanoeois about heart orientation. It’s about more than simply becoming a “believer” in Jesus but actually of follower of Jesus, His picture of God, and the radical Kingdom He has come to establish.

As a friend of mine says (and I’m fond of quoting this): “The Kingdom of God is centered on one thing: manifesting the beauty of God’s Character. It’s a beautiful revolution. It’s not so much about a list of beliefs as it is a way of life. It’s not about conquering the world for Jesus but humbly and lovingly serving the world like Jesus. It’s not about going to church, but about being the church. It’s not about confessing Jesus, but about loving the world like Jesus” (Gregory Boyd, The Myth of the Christian Religion).

Believe the Good News:

The gospel, according to Jesus, was the good news of the arrival of the Kingdom of God that had come to set free the citizens of God’s kingdom (the human race), those who had been deceived and taken captive by God’s enemy’s kingdom! He had come to establish a kingdom that, subversively, would undo the enemy’s hold.

The gospel is not some theological construct from 16th-century theological arguments surrounding the reformation. Disciples were sent out preaching the gospel before the death of Jesus had actually taken place. I do not mean that the death of Jesus has nothing to do with the gospel—for it was the death of Jesus that delivered us from being captives of God’s enemy’s kingdom—but the Gospel itself is the good news that God’s Kingdom has arrived on planet Earth in the person of Jesus Christ, and has come to set us free from him who held us captive (see Luke 11.21–22). For the disciples, that is. For us, the good news is that God’s Kingdom has arrived and we have been set free from him who held us captive. And the call is then made to embrace the freedom of the Kingdom in its arrival and walk in the gift of that freedom, living like citizens of the NEW Kingdom—the Kingdom of Christ. Remember, Jesus didn’t come to start a religion; Jesus came to reestablish His Kingdom here, within territory taken by His enemy, setting us free, and inviting us to be, once again, a part of a radically different Kingdom that does life very differently NOW as well as in the age to come (see Revelation 21–22.)

Pre-Christianity, even the words “gospel” or “good news,” just like metanoeo, were military terms. In the 1st century, whenever there was victory of one kingdom over another, a messenger was sent with the glad tidings that they had been victorious!

“Even after the battle at Mantinea, which Thucydides has described, the one who first announced the victory had no other reward for his glad tidings [euangelion – singular] than a piece of meat sent by the magistrates from the public mess” (Plutarch; Agesilaus, p. 33, 1st century, emphasis mine).

“Accordingly, when [Aristodemus] had come near, he stretched out his hand and cried with a loud voice: ‘Hail, King Antigonus, we have conquered Ptolemy in a sea-fight, and now hold Cyprus, with 12,800 soldiers as prisoners of war.’ To this, Antigonus replied: ‘Hail to thee also, by Heaven! but for torturing us in this way, thou shalt undergo punishment; the reward for thy good tidings [euangelion – plural] thou shalt be some time in getting’” (Plutarch; Demetrius, p. 17, 1st century, emphasis mine).

“Why, as we are told, the Spartans merely sent meat from the public commons to the man who brought glad tidings [euangelion] of the victory in Mantineia which Thucydides describes! And indeed the compilers of histories are, as it were, reporters of great exploits who are gifted with the faculty of felicitous speech, and achieve success in their writing through the beauty and force of their narration; and to them those who first encountered and recorded the events [e?a??????? – euangelion] are indebted for a pleasing retelling of them” (Plutarch; Moralia (Glory of Athens), p. 347, 1st century, emphasis mine).

Jesus and the Apostles lifted this word from their surrounding culture to announce that a new Kingdom had now arrived on the scene. It had taken, head on, the current ruler of this world. Through a radical move—a subversive move, through death and resurrection—this new Kingdom had been victorious, and we were now free! The gospel is the good news that we have been set free from the kingdoms of this world and their rulers; by the coming of a radically different Kingdom—Jesus’ Kingdom—we are now invited to follow Him as our new head of a new Kingdom, which at its core is about other-centered, self-sacrificial love.

What does it look like to embrace the arrival of God’s radically different and subversive Kingdom here on Earth? Not only are we now free from the claims and accusations of the Enemy, but Jesus also spent His entire ministry trying to effect paradigm shifts in three specific areas:

1)Our assumptions about God’s character

(God actually really does look exactly like Jesus; therefore, this changes even our assumptions about what God’s “Kingdom” really looks like.)

2)Our assumptions about ourselves

(God has never looked at you as a transgressor in need of punishment but as victim in need of a Savior. Whoever you are, reading this, God more than loves you; God adores you as His son or daughter. He has never held your sin against you. He has always known, in being deceived about Him, that you have never truly known what you were doing in your rebellion against Him. Regardless of what you have done, you are of inestimable, immeasurable, infinite worth to Him, and the Cross proves it!)

3)Our assumptions about everyone else around us, no matter how different they may be from ourselves

(Everything just said about you, look around wherever you are right now: It’s true of everyone around you too!)

Naturally flowing from each of these, those who were part of this newly arrived Kingdom would live radically different lives. It is with the goal of discovering this radically new way of seeing God, ourselves, and others—as well as discovering this radically different way of doing life—that we will be turning our attention to the teachings of Jesus in the upcoming weeks. Again, the God we see in Jesus changes everything. This new Kingdom is one of radical other-centered, self-sacrificial love . . . for all.

This was Jesus’ Gospel:

“I must preach the good news of the KINGDOM OF GOD to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent” (Luke 4:43, emphasis mine).

“Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of THE KINGDOM and healing every disease and sickness” (Matthew 9:35, emphasis mine).

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of THE KINGDOM” (Matthew 4:23, emphasis mine).

This was the same Gospel taught by the 11 apostles as well as the Apostle Paul!

“For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed THE KINGDOM OF GOD and taught about THE LORD JESUS CHRIST—with all boldness and without hindrance!” (Acts 28.30–31, emphasis mine).

These last three statements are simply for you to ponder:

“When we look at passages where Jesus sends the disciples out into the surrounding area to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, it doesn’t make sense to conclude that they were sharing with the community a message of substitutionary death for their sins. It also doesn’t fit with the text to assume that they offered salvation to those who repeated a carefully worded prayer of faith so that they could go to heaven when they died. Obviously, whatever it was that the disciples went out preaching, it wasn’t anything like this. The Gospel preached by the disciples didn’t have anything to do with the finer points of the doctrine of the atonement, a subject which they exhibited zero understanding about. So, what was it that the disciples went out preaching? We see the answer in Matthew 9:5, Luke 9:6 and Luke 10:9. It was simply the Gospel of the Kingdom. The disciples were sent out to proclaim ‘The Kingdom of God is near you, and then to demonstrate this by casting out demons and healing the sick. This was the very same message that we see Jesus publicly proclaiming over and over again in the Gospels” (Keith Giles, The Power of Weakness, pp. 9–10).

“If the victory over the powers constitutes the work of Christ, then it must also be a message for the church to proclaim” (John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus, p. 147).

“Paul’s statement [Ephesians 3.8–11] is made in connection that with the truth that since Christ a new force has made its entry on the stage of salvation history: the church . . . the very existence of the church, in which Gentiles and Jews, who heretofore walked according to the Stoicheia of the world, live together in Christ’s fellowship, is itself a proclamation, a sign, a token to the Powers that their unbroken dominion has come to an end” (Berkholf, Christ and the Powers, p. 41–42).

HeartGroups Application:

A.Go back and prayerfully reread Mark 2.14–15 and any other passages the Holy Spirit brings to your mind as you contemplate this passage.

B.What is God saying to you in this passage this week?

C.Now go and prepare something for your HeartGroup gathering this coming week that shares this with the others. If you’re artistic, it could be a poem, a song, or a picture. If you’re more left-brained, it could be as simple as just sharing the verses God shared with you as you meditated on the above passage. Be alert and open this week, and watch for where God might bring events into your life to illustrate what He is showing you. Be sure to include these, too, as you prepare to share.

Remember, HeartGroups are like potlucks: No one person does all the “cooking” or sharing. Let’s all bring to the “table” what Jesus is teaching each one of us in our lives this week, and let’s feast together—as a priesthood of all believers—on what God is doing and teaching us in each of our lives!

As always, keep living in love, and loving like Christ (Ephesians 5.2).

Keep following Jesus.

I love you guys,

I’ll see you next week.

Herb