Tag: Jesus

Swept Away

I saw The Great Commission with fresh eyes again today.  Here it is:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (NIV 2010)

As I read it, the words, “baptizing them” jumped off of the page at me.  The words seemed so forceful, almost violent.  Our Lord commands us to grab people and push them under the water.  It’s kind of scary.  Perhaps you’ve not seen it that way before.  Perhaps, baptism has become a safe religious ritual or a “symbol.”  Maybe its become these things because theologians over the centuries have succumbed to the temptation to soften the blow by redefining what’s really happening at baptism.

Even the word “baptism” was invented by theologians who were afraid to directly translate the Greek, baptizo, as “immerse.”  Baptism is immersion; immersion is baptism.  Immersion requires a 100% commitment. Look at definitions 3 and 4 for immersion from Dictionary.com:

3.  state of being deeply engaged or involved; absorption.

4.  baptism in which the whole body of the person is submerged in water

Coincidence? I don’t think so.  In telling his disciples to make disciples, Jesus built total commitment into the process.  Jesus never allowed people to audit discipleship.  “Follow me” meant leave all else, witholding nothing.  To be his disciple, a person must allow Jesus to literally and figuratively sweep them off their feet.  They must fall headlong into his agenda for them.  I’m not saying that the “sinner’s prayer” doesn’t work.  I’m just saying that besides the fact that it is no where precedented in Scripture, it is more likely to result in half-hearted professers rather than whole life disciples.

In fact, everything about the Great Commission implies that discipleship begins with full engagement, involvement, and absorption into Christ.  Look at it again:

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:18-20 NIV 2010, emphasis added)

To paraphrase, Jesus is saying,”I am the supreme ruler of the universe.  Invite people to accept my unconditional authority in their lives and then tell them what it is they signed up for.”

The Normal Christian Life

Watchman Nee, a twentieth century Chinese church planter and teacher, said:

“What is the normal Christian life?  We do well at the outset to ponder this question.  The object of these studies is to show that it is something very different from the life of the average Christian.  Indeed a consideration of the written Word of God — of the Sermon on the Mount for example — should lead us to ask whether such a life has ever in fact been lived upon the earth, save only by the Son of God Himself.  But in that last saving clause lies immediately the answer to our question.” – The Normal Christian Life

What comes to your mind when I say the word, “Christian”?  Do images of church services, moral prohibitions, or “family values” project themselves onto your consciousness?  According to a 2007 Barna study, here is what comes to mind when non-Christians who are age 16-29 hear that word:

  • 91% said antihomosexual
  • 87% said judgmental
  • 85% said hypocritical
  • 78% said old-fashioned
  • 75% said too involved in politics
  • 72% said out of touch with reality
  • 70% said insensitive to others

We might want to blame prejudice fostered in the media for these results, but 84% of the respondents said they had Christian friends.  To some degree, this distorted picture of Christianity on display in the minds of non-believers has been painted by the average Christian.

The American brand of Christianity repels those whom Christ came to save because it is abnormal.  Why would such a perversion exist?  Perhaps we could list many reasons but one stands at the root- consumerism.  Simply put, Christ calls people to “come and die;” the church calls people to come and sit.  Jesus confronted people and because of that, “many turned back and no longer followed him.”  We see no record of Jesus chasing them out the door to better explain what he meant.  He simply turned to the few who were left and invited them to leave if they wanted to.   The church on the other hand placates because the leaders fear that people will leave and take their money with them.  Should not a Christ-like church regularly experience defections of the disgruntled?

Those in church leadership must, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, hold up and aspire to the high bar of Christ-likeness.  That is the normal Christian life.  We must fearlessly confront average Christians and reject those who would pay us for a manufactured messiah.  We must invest in the few who are ready to give all and ignore the many who just want to give some.

It won’t be easy.  Few will choose this path of their own accord.  However, I believe there is coming a time when many will be forced to choose.  Lord, hasten the day!

The Parable of Fish


There once was a poor farming village.  The sandy ground bore little fruit despite the daily toil of the inhabitants.  They fought over the meager produce and the weak starved to death.  No one considered leaving the village because the leaders, out of desire to maintain control, had told everyone that they were surrounded for miles and miles by trackless desert.

One day, a stranger came to the village.  He was different.  He didn’t farm or fight for food.  Instead, he would regularly cross the berm which surrounded the village and come back with a mess of fish that he would share with those who were too weak to farm or fight.  It didn’t take long before he had inspired the admiration of the villagers and the disdain of the leaders.

Some followed him on his fishing trips and discovered that rather than being surrounded by desert, they were located by a vast ocean.  The Fisherman showed them how to cast a line into the dark depths and bring up a catch.  Every day the Fisherman would head out with his little troop of followers.  Some days they would bring in hundreds of fish.  Other days were more difficult.  The Fisherman explained that while this ocean would always yield plenty of fish, there would be days and weeks which would require more persistence to bring in the catch.

In time, the villagers lost interest in farming and fighting.  They got more interested in fishing.  The leaders, who sensed that they were losing control over the people, decided to have the Fisherman killed.  They gathered several of the best fighters and cornered the Fisherman.  They killed him in a back alley and threw his body in the ocean.

The damage had already been done, however.  The villagers had learned to fish and continued to do so.  As the Fisherman had predicted, however, some of their outings yielded little or no results.  When they would return empty-handed, the leaders and other villagers would laugh at them and offer them some of their produce.  The leaders would say, “You can’t expect to catch as much as that guy.  He was different from you.  You’re a farmer and you need to return to farming.”

The Fisherman’s followers thought this made sense but they didn’t want to dishonor the memory of their friend by giving up on what he had taught them.  They also had learned a unique and impressive skill which set them apart from the other villagers.  The leaders understood their reservations and made the fishermen an offer.  They would build a beautiful fountain in the middle of the village as a monument to the Fisherman where people could come and learn about how to fish from the followers.

At first, this plan worked beautifully.  Villagers regularly turned out to watch this sacred ritual and learn how to do it.  The fishermen were revered, respected, and sought after for their unique skills.  Villagers would pick their favorite fisherman based on his particular style or his elaborate equipment.  They would spend time arguing about who was best.

After a few years, though, the demands of farming and fighting began to pull interest away from this new curiosity.  Even the Fisherman’s followers struggled to find time to devote to fishing in the fountain.  So that the ritual wouldn’t die out altogether, they scheduled a weekly fishing session when the faithful would gather begrudgingly for an hour at the fountain to discuss fishing and watch the experts ply their trade.  Then everyone would go back to his fields for the rest of the week.

Lord, teach us again to pray.