5-PEACEFUL SIMPLICITY OF JESUS PLUS NOTHING

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This week I have been working my way through five essentials that will assist us in de-Christianizing Jesus in order to get to our final destination of lifting Jesus up to where He belongs.

· The 1st essential was the Preeminence of Jesus. · The 2nd essential is the Presence of the Kingdom. · The 3rd essential is the Power of the Few. · The 4th essential is the Practice of Persuasion Over Propaganda. · The 5th essential is the Peaceful Simplicity of Jesus Plus Nothing.

Paul said, "I'm afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness that your minds might be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." This is at the heart of the de-Christianization of Jesus. We seem to be terminal in our tendency to heap up lots of add-ons to our faith. But it's the add-ons that bury Jesus and our personal relationship with Him.

This has been a tendency since the beginning of time. Remember the incident of the golden calf? After being treated to a series of miracles from God Himself, they became very impatient with Moses taking so long to meet with Jehovah. So, they took their own gold and melted it down to sculpt a visible image of their god. That must have been an interesting pledge drive!

We aren't much different today. We want to add-on as many tangibles as we can. It seems to make us more comfortable. Give me a list of activities to check off or create an atmosphere with music and crosses and altars and smoke, so that I can almost touch God. Jesus was relentless in bringing everyone back to a personal relationship with Him. In each of His I AM statements it was clear that He was making it all about Him and how we respond to Him-Jesus plus nothing.

This is why Jesus went to great lengths teaching His disciples that we are like branches connected to the vine. And without the life-flowing nourishment from this vine there is no fruitfulness. Or as He said, "Without Me you can do nothing."

Nowhere is this principle of JESUS PLUS NOTHING violated more than in the way Christians believe they own Jesus. This could either be a 6th essential or a sub-essential under this one. I call it the Perforation of Christianity's Ownership of Jesus. Jesus isn't limited to the Western Christian culture. Jesus is not exclusive about who He will relate to. He will work with any culture-religious or non-religious. And, the Jesus movement continues to be breaking out in the most amazing places.

If you have been hanging out with us, you know what I am talking about as we work with the Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, Jews, Animists and even the non-religious. Sometimes I feel a bit alone as I share these stories of how people from a variety of cultural backgrounds are learning to follow Jesus and Jesus is transforming their lives. Yet these people aren't Christians.

My heart was thrilled, when I read the website of Dr. Ralph Winter. Dr. Winter is the Founder of the US Center for World Missions. He is one of the great men within Christianity who has a heart for the many cultures of the world. I've always appreciated his leadership and his openness to learn.

Check out what he reports: The Largest New Factor in Mission Strategy in the 21st Century is the following: "Churchless Christianity," is the title of a book compiled by a Bible-believing Missouri-Synod Lutheran missionary and theology professor. Thus, when I speak of C hurchless Christianity I am referring to that book. The book contains the results of a scientific survey of the largest city in Southern India, Madras it was called, and today Chennai. It gives the evidence that masses of Hindus have a high regard for Jesus Christ, and about 25% of that city of millions of people have given up their idols and are daily Bible-reading followers of Christ. The surprise is that the majority of these followers of Christ study the Bible and worship at the home level, continue to associate within the Hindu social sphere, and do not routinely associate with the somewhat "western" Christian churches. That is why the book is entitled Churchless Christianity.

In my perspective it would be more accurate to speak of "Christianity-less churches." Why? Because we are talking about fervent, Bible-believers who at least meet in "house churches," in that they do not normally meet in existing "Christian churches." This fact is itself very reminiscent of the New Testament worshipping households, such as that of Cornelius, Lydia, Crispus. Moreover, this is not a tiny, isolated phenomenon. We are talking about millions of believers who neither call themselves Christians and nor are called Christians by their Hindu neighbors.

This subject which I have labeled the "Churchless Christianity Factor" is, however, little recognized. I myself have long been unaware of it. It is so little understood that we may need to describe it more fully before commenting on it from a viewpoint of mission strategy-that is, what we can or cannot do about it.

Dr. Winter has now come to see that this is the Jesus strategy, since writing this newsletter. And, this is precisely what I've been seeing in our experience.

The mission strategy from Jesus' viewpoint is I AM. That's all that mattered to Jesus in relating to the cultures He encountered. He wasn't concerned about changing their cultures. No one from a non-Christian culture should have to convert from their own cultures in order to become a Christian. He wasn't concerned about any set of beliefs to be endorsed. He was only concerned about how each person related to Him-the I AM. After a faith encounter with Him, Jesus never stopped them to make sure they signed up for Judaism 101 or a Christian discipleship class. He never endorsed an add-on. It was the peaceful simplicity of Jesus plus nothing.

4-PRACTICE OF PERSUASION OVER PROPAGANDA

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I am working my way through five essentials that will assist us in de-Christianizing Jesus in order to get to our final destination of lifting Jesus up where He belongs. The 1st essential was the Preeminence of Jesus. The 2nd essential is the Presence of the Kingdom. The 3rd essential is the Power of the Few. The 4th is the Practice of Persuasion Over Propaganda.

There are two primary approaches to communication of any kind-persuasion and propaganda. Persuasion is moving people to action with proper reflection, so that the audience embraces it personally. Propaganda is moving people to action without proper reflection, just to get people to think, do and say whatever the propaganda calls for.

Propaganda is the basis for much of the political communication in our world today. Facts and fairness of information are not part of the process. Propaganda tweaks the facts to fit the premise being pushed. Propaganda speaks deductively, telling people what they want them to know. Thinking is not promoted within the propaganda process.

Persuasion is inductive and people-oriented. Persuasion grapples with the needs of the audience and walks them through a process of thinking the options through to find solutions.

In I Thessalonians 2 there is a powerful illustration of how persuasion works. There are three appeals when the act of persuasion is in action-ethical appeal, emotional appeal and logical appeal. Ethical appeal answers the question: "Can I trust you?" Emotional appeal answers the question: "Do you care for me?" Logical appeal answers the question: "Do you know what you are talking about?" NOTE how these three questions are answered by Paul, Silas and Timothy with the Thessalonians.

CAN I TRUST YOU? 1 You know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not without results. 2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition. 3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you. 4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed-God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from any human being, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our prerogatives. 7 Instead, we were like young children among you.

DO YOU CARE FOR ME? Just as a nursing mother cares for her children, 8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well. 9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. 11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, 12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT? 13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.

When they received the word of God, they accepted it not as a human word (just another religious experience or teaching), but as it actually is-THE WORD OF GOD-which is at work in you who believe. Because Paul, Silas and Timothy incorporated ethical and emotional appeals, those who heard from them fully accepted and welcomed the word of God as the real, authentic, and active word of God. Now, that's pure persuasion!

The de-Christianization factor here is based in the fact that persuasion's goal is to fully invest in another's life appealing to them to examine Jesus and embrace that relationship uniquely and personally. Persuasion only wants to stick to the message with great credibility, compassion and common sense. Propaganda is mostly interested in controlling the thinking of others. Persuasion is inductive with a desire to get you to think for yourself. This is why we want to introduce people to Jesus-to advance the conversation of Jesus. He will handle everything else in a person's life.

Propaganda is deductive with a desire to get you to think as they do. Persuasion assists you in developing the truth. Propaganda wants to dump the truth on you-their truth. Persuasion attracts. Propaganda promotes.

The practice of persuasion over propaganda goes a long way in de-Christianizing Jesus. You see, persuasion is people-centered and propaganda is content-centered. So when you are into propaganda, you are most comfortable with a content-centered approach that sells others on your set of beliefs-your content. When you are into persuasion, you are totally into people and therefore a personal relationship with Jesus makes more sense. Christianity tends to be mostly about doctrinal issues and a set of beliefs to buy into. Jesus is all about relationship. This is why we use the terminology that we use-JESUS PLUS NOTHING.

3-POWER OF THE FEW

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I am working my way through five essentials that will assist us in de-Christianizing Jesus in order to get to our final destination of lifting Jesus up to where He belongs. The 1st essential was the Preeminence of Jesus. The 2nd essential is the Presence of the Kingdom. The 3rd essential is the Power of the Few.

The primary example of the "power of the few" is found in Jesus' method of operation. Instead of using "Madison Avenue" marketing methods, Jesus launched His movement with a few-just three to be exact-Peter, James and John. He then selected nine more, then He sent out 72 in a 2 by 2 formation. Although Jesus spoke to large groups from time to time, He mostly hung out with a few at a time.

Jesus obviously believed the "few" were more powerful than the masses. Why is this? A long-time friend and mentor, Dr. Ed Neteland, used to say that he envisioned the concept like a rocket ship. In order to achieve blast off the power must all be put in a very small space.

Jesus not only practiced this principle faithfully, but He instructed His disciples to do the same. He sent them out in small groupings. And, even after the resurrection, we see the disciples of Jesus practicing this same principle.

The classic example is the threesome that walked into Thessalonica for about 3 and a half weeks. Their relationship was a powerful little fellowship of followers of Jesus, so powerful that the impact spread throughout Asia Minor. We miss the fact that all three men wrote the letters to the Thessalonians. We always think Paul did the writing, because most translations put that ascription at the beginning of the books. And, those notes and headings throughout the many translations are not Scripture, but man's interpretations and many times miss the real point of the passage.

Not only did Jesus use the power of the few most effectively and His disciples followed His example, but today it is so important that we catch the picture. This essential can be most helpful in getting our minds off of the massive shows and demonstrations of Christianity and focus on the life transforming dynamic of hanging out with a few in the name of Jesus. Jesus promised that He would show up whenever two or three gather together in His name.

I've spent so much energy producing the best possible communication to the masses. However I always knew that there are some universal principles at play in that sort of dynamic. Only 5 % really get it-a given message, 15% think they get it and 80% remain somewhere in the fog with no idea what was said. Oh, they will remember an illustration or two or a joke or two, but miss the essential point of the message. Now that I am into the power of the few, I am discovering that the few really, genuinely get it and embrace it for themselves. You see, when someone really gets what it means to walk with Jesus in His Kingdom presence, the message becomes contagious. To me, the power of the few is very effective in de-Christianizing Jesus and is a must for all who are serious about following Jesus.

The power of the few is what we have always sought within the organized church when we promote "small groups" of any kind. But even a small group may not get the results that we're talking about in the "power of the few". The real dynamic of the "power of the few" is genuine fellowship-participation in one another's lives in such a way so as to develop a personal support system. This support system becomes so strengthening that it serves as your inner security system. I am stronger as I live my life in relationship with other brothers and sisters.

For instance, this last weekend I had the assignment of speaking to about 400 high school and college students from all over the world. Since teens are not my normal audience, I was very concerned as to whether or not I could resonate with them. The small group we walk with agreed to pray for me. I went to this event in San Diego last Sunday, but I didn't go alone or just with my wife, I went with great strength from the fellowship standing with me with a prayerful concern and enjoyed a terrific response from these teens.

Now, whether we are talking about events such as these or simply moving through our day, we all need the powerful, interactive, relational support of other followers of Jesus in our lives. THE POWER OF THE FEW. You see, Jesus said that where two or three are gathered together, He will show up. The power of the few is the dwelling place of the presence of Jesus, Himself. Now, if you were convinced that Jesus was going to show up some place, wouldn't you go and make yourself available to see Him? This is why you will want to do whatever you can to participate in the power of the few. Either make the commitment to participate with a few and enjoy the power of Jesus in your life, loved ones and livelihood or ignore the power of the few and lose what you have.