Kingdom Ready Blog

by Steve Taylor

To lead is to serve. It’s as simple as that. There is no place for status-seeking, manipulation, and exploitation. The directives on this subject could not be more clear:

“And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called `Benefactors.’ “But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant.” (Luke 22:25-26)

I will start by saying I like ice cream very much. I like Klondike Bars as well. So my criticism of a new 15-sec commercial that I saw recently has nothing to do with the product involved, but instead that the culture that this ad is marketed towards is as true as the ad portrays it to be. Here is the commercial I am speaking about:

Wow. Powerful for sure. She speaks to a common misconception in the church today which makes people think that they cannot be holy. Yet page after page we see the call to “be holy as I am holy” and the like – with words which tell us the LORD will enable and empower us to do so. So which sin, which area of your life is too powerful or tied down which cannot be overcome and broken by the power of the God who can create a universe with a word?

Years ago when I first began to take a look at Messianic Judaism I was under the impression that they were Jewish yet believed that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Jewish Messiah. But I soon discovered that this was not the case. In fact modern Messianic Judaism – to use a Scriptural description – is really more like a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”.

Powerful words. Something to think about

Which Jesus do you follow? The one of Scripture and history or the one of you’re making and fantasy?

Last night, I watched this sermon by Shane Claiborne of the Simple Way, an intentional community in the “bad lands” of north Philadelphia. He shares his incredible story of how God has led him throughout his life to learn what it means to take Jesus’ words seriously and really follow him. He was born in east Tennessee and was raised as a Methodist. He went to a “get saved” meeting each year and got born again, again and again. Then he went to Eastern in Pennsylvania and found himself reading an article about homeless people who were being evicted from an abandoned Catholic church. He and 100 others got involved by moving into the church with the homeless and suffering with them while sharing the love of Messiah. I won’t give too much away, because it is a beautiful story. He also interned with Mother Theresa in Calcutta and has done some incredible things in Philadelphia since then.

Next week a number of us will be attending the Family Camp held at Silver Bay YMCA on Lake George, NY. The focus for the week will be the book of 1 John. In preparation for this I have been reading the book through repeatedly in order to acquaint myself with it. There is much to be said about the major themes of abiding, love, fellowship, truth, light, antichrist, and righteousness vs. sin. However, one section in particular has been very striking to me. Each time I read through it I get fascinated by its bold and convicting content.

Walter Brueggemann was a Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. A graduate of Elmhurst College, Professor Brueggemann went on to study at the Eden Theological Seminary, receiving his Doctorate of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and his Ph.D. from St. Louis University. He has devoted his life to a passionate exploration of Old Testament theology. An unequaled passion for his subject has resulted in the publication of more than 58 books and hundreds of articles. My introduction to Dr. Brueggemann was through a course I took on Old Testament Poetry, for which my teacher, Dr. Joe Martin (who studied under Brueggemann), used The Message of the Psalms.

Click here to listen to Modern Idolatry or The Other Gospel as presented by Chuck Jones, Apr 29 2008, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary by Sean Finnegan.

Chuck Jones is a pastor of a congregation in Pomona, California. His presentation focused on the subject of idolatry. First, he looked to the Old Testament to describe six examples of idolatry. Next he moved on to look at how idolatry is used, in a somewhat wider sense, in the New Testament. Finally he spoke about “false saviors and other gospels” and how we our prone to wander into putting our trust in goodness, power, wisdom, wealth, a need for significance, etc.

Recently, I have been reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The book was published in 1937 in Munich, Germany. The church had to a large degree lapsed into a doctrinal pride based on Luther’s view that justification occurs by faith alone apart from any works. Bonhoeffer writes with passion and confronts this luke-warm mentality. Though he confronted his fellow countryman in an effort to bring revival to the church, sadly, Bonhoeffer failed, and the church was whisked off her feet by a zealous new leader–Adolf Hitler. As time went on the church became more and more afraid of opposing the Nazi regime and Bonhoeffer and a few others eventually broke away forming “The Confessing Church” which opposed Nazism publicly. I find his words surprisingly relevant to the state of Christianity today.