Following Jesus means being God’s hands, feet, voice, and bank account for the oppressed and undeserved. How do we start to live out of the abundance of God’s kingdom versus adopting the fearful and selfish scarcity mentality of the unjust economies surrounding us – economies where the rich do get richer as the poor grow poorer?
Christians of all stripes or denominations would generally agree that the authority of Scripture is the basis for our faith, lifestyle, and missional calling. Yet we become complacent at best, or stone-throwers at worst, when we worship the Bible rather than the Living Word through whom all things were made. After all, Jesus didn’t leave us a book of rules defining the parameters of God’s will for all ages. Jesus gives us his living presence. The Holy Spirit is dynamic, moving, and expanding our understanding of God. God doesn’t change (see Hebrews 13:8), but our understanding of God does – or at least should. When did the Trinity for so many of us become God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Bible?
People are looking for something different! I am convinced that we are living in a time of seismic spiritual transition in the church. God is doing a new thing! Old institutional religious systems of governance are passing away. Denominational walls are falling down. Christ will be seen in the midst of a counterculture community, emptied of self, living immersed in God’s love.
Jesus’ first century followers lived in prophetic tension with the politics of state. The book of Acts describes how some of the early church’s opponents in Thessalonica turned the church’s faithfulness to God into a political accusation. “These people who have been disturbing the peace throughout the empire have also come here. …Every one of them does what is contrary to Caesar’s decrees by naming someone else as king: Jesus” (Acts 17:6-7, CEB).