PERSON OF JESUS: ALL-INCLUSIVE

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Now here is a revolutionary thought about the person of Jesus. Jesus is all-inclusive! Jesus made it a habit of reaching out to people from all kinds of religious and cultural backgrounds. Note just a few illustrations of how the approach of Jesus and his disciples was all-inclusive. This was really GOOD NEWS!  
The woman at the well-John 4:12: The woman at the well was a Samaritan with very different beliefs regarding the center of worship. He left her with cultural beliefs intact, except that He trumped the center of worship by saying that someday the center of worship will not be in a given location, but in your heart. Jesus was not promoting a new religion; he was offering a personal relationship with God. This personal relationship would transform both her religion and the Hebrew religion. When Jesus conversed with the Samaritan woman, He didn't make certain to warn her of her false beliefs and be sure to change the mountain where she worshipped. There was no renunciation of her false doctrines.
 
The Syrophoenician woman-Mark 7:26: She was a gentile from a godless culture. Her faith was evident in her persistent conversation with Jesus about her daughter. Jesus honored her faith, however He didn't pull her into a new religious system or study class, nor did He have her renounce her cultural upbringing. The presence of Jesus will change a person from the inside out to be like Jesus. God's presence will convict their hearts in His time of what needs to be changed in their personal and cultural ways; not us!
 
The trip to Gennesaret-Mark 6:45-7:23: Do you notice how many times the Gospel writers refer to going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee? Whenever they were on the Jewish side, they crossed over to the other side. Why? Jesus performed the same works among the gentile world. He never urged them to change their religious culture, but let them remain right where they grew up. However, they were drawn to Him.
 
The Roman Centurion-Matthew 8:5: No doubt the Roman Centurion grew up with the Roman gods, yet Jesus does not speak to this at all. His concern was his faith. When Jesus declared the Roman official's faith as outstanding, even greater than He had seen among the house of Israel, Jesus didn't tell this man to make sure to repent and renounce the many Roman deities or his great faith would be for naught. Further in the scene in the healing of the Roman Centurion's servant, Jesus says: "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." These are non-Jews or, in our vernacular, non-Christians.
 
"Other sheep"-John 10:16: Jesus mentions "other sheep" that are His. Who are these other sheep? Could it be that they are from the various cultures of the world? Could they be those spoken of in Romans 2:14-15 and 1 John 4:7?
 
The first Gentile followers of Jesus-Acts 15:1-29: The first followers of Jesus were all Jews. When the first gentiles (everyone else) came to Jesus, some religious Jews insisted that all followers of Jesus must become cultural Jews. The apostles clearly decided against this. All people could be Followers of Jesus without changing their culture.
 
Peter's experience with the non-Jews--Acts 10: After Peter was supernaturally led to the house of Cornelius by a radical vision from God, he told them: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Now, that's revolutionary talk and threatening to those who have life all figured out in their theological boxes. Jesus works outside our theological boxes.
 
Paul's message in Athens-Acts 17: "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." God made the nations-all nations-in such a way so that all men might seek and find God.

When Paul spoke before the Gentile audience in Athens, he didn't quote Scripture, didn't use Jesus' name at first, stroked them for their many idols of worship and proceeded to explain to them who this UNKNOWN GOD is that they commemorated. He didn't call for the renunciation of these "gods" and he used their "heathen" poems to explain what God is like (Acts 17:28), yet many believed in Jesus that day. What's that all about? I don't know many with this kind of approach.
 
Every tribe and tongue and people and nation-Revelation 5:9: Jesus came to reach all of these, not by exporting any given tribe, tongue, people or nation, but from within each of these faith in Jesus naturally emerges. Since the Creator-God is the source of all people, He has already marked all of these people groups. The word translated as "nations" is actually ethnos in the Greek. This is where we get the word "ethnic" from; in other words, there will be every cultural group with Jesus.

Jesus encountered people from other cultures and openly and freely gave them salvation. He didn't require them to become a Jew (or a Christian), because to Jesus it's all about a personal relationship with Him.

I believe and see it more clearly than ever Jesus' words, "I am the way, the truth and the life." I'm seeing how Jesus is the way for everyone, everywhere! Christianity isn't the way! The Church isn't the way! Jesus is! Jesus is not narrow and exclusive so that He can fit into anyone's box. Jesus is all-inclusive and will work with anyone! Jesus is the GOOD NEWS!

4 REVOLUTIONARY TALKING POINTS

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In a revolution there is always conflict, disagreements, choosing up sides, and a variety of adversarial moves to thwart the revolutionary movement that threatens to break-up or pull down the establishment. The spiritual revolution of Jesus is no exception. So far, in this intense Jesus journey, we have encountered 4 revolutionary talking points that on the surface seem to be simple truths, yet can be very threatening to the people of the establishment. By the way, these are the 4 primary themes I've been blogging about for 7 years.
Today, I want to offer a brief overview of the 4 and then take the next few days to unpack each one a little more.
 
Talking Point #1-PERSON OF JESUS. Since Christianity claims Jesus as its Founder, you would think that lifting Jesus up would be welcomed. Although we receive positive responses every day as we speak of simply Jesus or Jesus plus nothing, there is a significant resistance to this simplicity.

It is so common to add good things on to Jesus with good intentions. These additives diminish the primacy of Jesus-the name above all names. This kind of thing begs the question: "Is Jesus alone enough for you or do you need something else to make your relationship with God satisfactory?"

Jesus, the revolutionary, didn't come to do away with the Law and the Prophets. He said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished." Think of the Jewish Law and the Prophets as an empty container. Jesus came to fill it up or fill it full-to give that container meaning. In the same way, Jesus came to give life more meaning and fullness to the nations of the world. This is the "good news" Jesus came to offer to the world, yet faced major resistance, even to the point of death.

Jesus, the revolutionary, came to fill up the Jewish container-to rearticulate what it means to be the chosen people. A major dimension of being the chosen people was to be a blessing to the non-Jews-to all of the other nations of the world. Since the Jewish people of the first century were guilty of neglect in being a blessing to the nations of the world-to the non-Jews, they were highly defensive and reactionary against Jesus for bringing it up. At one point, they took Jesus out of the synagogue in Nazareth and attempted to throw him off a cliff.

Now, don't miss this! The religious Jews rejected the good news Jesus came to offer to the Jews and through them to the nations of the world. In fact, I believe the person of Jesus is the good news. Notice Jesus said, "Follow me!", because this spiritual walk and relationship is personal. They rejected Jesus who is the embodiment of the good news.

Jesus warned his followers (that would include us) that they would be hated and persecuted by the world in the same way he was hated and persecuted. What's most interesting is to note the identification of this "world". Jesus says the world will make you outcasts from the synagogue and when they take a stand against you, they will feel they are doing a special service to God. You see, the "world" Jesus is talking about is the religious community. As we do our best to follow Jesus, we get very little resistance from the non-believer world. We get more persecution and resistance from the synagogue (the Church) and its leadership than from those who don't yet know Jesus. This happens as you walk in the steps of Jesus, the revolutionary.

In the days ahead I will articulate how the person of Jesus alone is a definite threat to the religious establishment of our generation as it was with Jesus in the first century.
 
Talking Point#2-PRESENCE OF THE KINGDOM. Jesus' first words were to announce the presence of the Kingdom right here right now. He said it's near, here and among y'all, yet Bible teachers continue to reframe the simplicity of what Jesus taught about the Kingdom. Jesus only mentioned "church" on two occasions and most of his teachings were about the Kingdom, yet Bible teachers and leaders continue to promote planting, building and growing churches in all cultures. Jesus didn't come to plant an organized system of Churches throughout the world; he came to launch a spontaneous movement of his followers that could penetrate every culture.

For some reason this is a revolutionary and radical thought within the religious establishment. I think it's because it threatens so much of the infrastructure of the many organizations being established. In the next few days we'll examine these threats as we see how they compare with Jesus and his teachings.
 
Talking Point #3-PARTNERSHIP OF FELLOWSHIP. Jesus was quite clear in his teachings and his personal example that each follower must be connected to a few other followers. This dynamic involves doing life together in a partnership within an interactive fellowship. If you claim to be a follower of Jesus, then it is imperative that you are not to live your life alone, but in tandem with a few others. Being only a spectator at religious services or classes just won't cut it. This is one of the most powerful revolutionary talking points of all.
 
Talking Point #4-PROCESS OF DISCIPLESHIP. Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples of all nations. He didn't command them to go, to baptize, to teach or to convert all nations. Discipleship may be the most neglected and misunderstood revolutionary talking point of all. Even though there are hundreds of mega-Churches around the US, there is little impact upon our society. Discipleship is the only answer and yet true discipleship rubs against the grain of most religious organizations and strategies. It's just too difficult to make disciples; it's much easier to move people to make decisions and count them among the committed.

As I see it, these are the 4 primary revolutionary, talking points within the Jesus movement. Get a handle on these and you'll find yourself walking with Jesus more closely every day. Run away from these talking points and you'll find yourself walking away from Jesus and his teachings. 

REVOLUTION NOW

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Jesus was a revolutionary in the sense that He introduced new ideas, new thoughts and ways of doing things, and upset the establishment. He was a spiritual revolutionary. Take a thesaurus or dictionary and unpack what it means to be a revolutionary. A revolutionary is radical in that he takes you to the roots-the bottom-line-back to the foundational core of ideas and thinking. A revolutionary is groundbreaking-an activist-sometimes world shattering. A revolutionary is innovative, progressive, sometimes rebellious, new and different.
Jesus was all of these and more! This is precisely why he was a threat to the establishment. The establishment has everything figured out, packaged neatly, and is comfortable with its thinking and its traditions. Anything new and different can be a threat.

Just the thought of a revolutionary is unnerving to some people. Years ago my friend, Keith, and I were flying to DC to attend some meetings. We had been discussing several new ideas about Jesus and the Jesus movement and we were becoming more and more enthused as we progressed in our thinking. One of us said. "This is revolutionary! What we are talking about is a revolution!" A lady seated in our row on the plane, who hadn't spoken a word throughout the flight, turned to us and compassionately pleaded with us, "Oh, don't use that word. No, don't use the word revolution. It's filled with too many explosives." She was extremely uncomfortable with us even using the term "revolution" and to speak of Jesus and revolution in the same sentence was anathema to her.

In the 5th chapter of Luke Jesus did and said several things that immediately moves him in the category of a revolutionary. Let's briefly check out five of them here. FIRST-While Jesus was teaching on the shore of Sea of Galilee, the crowds were growing so much so that he actually climbed in a fishing boat to continue his teaching from that vantage point. Now that wasn't revolutionary. It was just a smart thing to do. When his teaching was over, he observed the fishermen washing their nets after fishing all night without a catch. Jesus urged them to take the boat out into the deep and cast their nets. They complained that they knew their business and there were no fish out there all night long. He persisted; these seasoned fishermen cast their nets and caught more than a boatload of fish, needing help from the others to haul them in. This new rabbi who had recently come on the scene proved that he was better at their profession than they were. What a shocker!

SECOND-While he had their full attention, Jesus told them that catching fish was nothing compared to what he could see for them-to become fishers of men. Jesus reached out to a group of young boys who were uneducated and untrained in religious matters-a family of fishermen-and they left everything in order to follow Jesus. This was unheard of! No rabbi would choose a group of men such as these common workers with the idea of making a spiritual difference in the world. Jesus was picking his revolutionary team from a group of teenagers-from the junior varsity-to change the world.

THIRD-In a nearby city in the Galilee area a leper, seeking healing from Jesus, approached Jesus. Jesus didn't walk away as was the custom and required by the law; Jesus touched the leper with a healing touch. The leper was miraculously healed and therefore now a clean man. Now that was revolutionary!

FOURTH-A paralytic was brought to Jesus so that he might heal him. His friends went to so much trouble to get their crippled friend in front of Jesus by lowering him through the roof of the house. It was obvious what the need was and why the paralytic was brought to Jesus. He needed physical healing. Instead of healing his paralysis-his physical problem, Jesus drilled down into his soul and forgave him of his sins-his spiritual problem. Talk about an act of revolution! Jesus, knowing the new and different approach he had taken said, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins have been forgiven you,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"-He said to the paralytic-"I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home." Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen remarkable things today." They had seen a revolutionary at work!

FIFTH-Jesus, the new rabbi in town, approached the hated tax collector, Matthew, and made an offer to him. Jesus said, "Follow Me." The very words spoke complete acceptance of Matthew as being approved-good enough-to follow the new rabbi-the goal of most young Jewish students. Matthew had never been viewed by any rabbi as acceptable and good enough to follow in the rabbi's steps, until now. Matthew was so thrilled that he threw a party with all of his "sinner", non-religious, friends.

These were all revolutionary actions by Jesus. yet now Jesus introduces a vivid image of how he viewed his revolutionary teachings. When Jesus is questioned about his unorthodox actions and non-traditional practices, he uses a fascinating image to explain himself and his thinking that motivates how he lives. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples. Jesus says, "It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins."

Jesus, the revolutionary, envisions his teachings and movement of followers as "new wine" and all other traditional establishment forms as "old wineskins". He warns that the new wine-his new way of thinking and even his new followers will, by their very nature, be unable to contain the new wine. In other words, Jesus' 'new wine' movement is so new and different-so revolutionary-that the traditional, man-made structures cannot contain the movement. In the next few days, I want to outline the four primary talking points of the Jesus revolution that is going on right now close to where you live. You see, the revolution of Jesus, the revolutionary, is still on today! Your job, should you accept it, is to see it and join it!

THE HOW OF MAKING DISCIPLES

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Here again are Jesus' words, giving a very direct command to those who want to continue following Him: And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
Remember, there is only one command here from Jesus and that is to make disciples-to make followers of Jesus of all nations. Also, keep in mind this is making followers of Jesus, not making followers of your religious persuasion. It's not making followers of your traditions and culture. This is all about making followers of Jesus, who supersedes all religious beliefs and systems and founders. This is Jesus without religious baggage of any kind.

Most people make the mistake of thinking the command here is to go, because of the English wording here. There is no commandment to go, to baptize or to teach. These are participles giving us guidelines on how to make followers of Jesus.

The first participle is BY GOING. This has to do with initiating the follow-through on the command to make disciples. I think this action is best described for us today as introducing everyone everywhere we can to Jesus. We are not to be taking mission trips for the purpose of conversion, but to advance the conversation of Jesus in whatever culture we enter. Jesus fits and is attractive to every culture; your religious system is not. When you go to convert people to your way of thinking, persecution is inevitable.

The second participle is BY BAPTIZING. To baptize means to immerse a person into something-literally to dip into. If you take a white cloth and dip it into a bucket of red dye, your cloth will have a new identification-red. This is the essence of baptism. It is the action of identifying a person with something. John was known as the baptizer. He baptized or identified people with repentance-changing their minds about their stance before God. Jesus identified Himself with John's baptism of repentance. Then Jesus baptized or identified or immersed people with His Spirit.

Listen to how John compared his baptism with that of Jesus: And he was preaching, and saying, "After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to stoop down and untie the thong of His sandals. I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:7-8)

The Gospel of John puts it this way: Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.' I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water." John testified saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.' I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God." (John 1:24-34)

Jesus extends this identification with His Spirit when He has His disciples wait for the Spirit to come upon them with power: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

NOTE the spread of the message of Jesus to make followers throughout the world is natural, when His Spirit comes upon you.

The third participle is BY TEACHING. This action of incarnating Jesus within the discipleship process is to teach all who will listen to observe and obey all that Jesus taught and commanded. It's learning to flesh out Jesus making Jesus your life's reference point and focal point. It's embracing Jesus as a lifestyle. This is not indoctrination, but incarnation of Jesus in every way possible.

Now, here is the key to the "how" of making disciples. There are two lines that cannot be overlooked. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

FIRST-"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Authority is the rights and power to do whatever He wants. How much is "all"? All means everything; no other authority that matters exists.

SECOND-"I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Get this! The same Jesus who has all authority, rights and power in the universe is the one who is with you always-even to the end of the world.

If you are going to be effective in making disciples or followers of Jesus, you must be a follower of the one who has all authority, rights and power and who is always present with you. If this Jesus is present with you, then those you touch will not only see it; they will sense Jesus in you!

MAKING DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS

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This week I want to revisit what it means to follow through with what Jesus commanded us to do. It has been called the "great commission." Don't get sidetracked from the primary command here. The only command is to "make disciples of all the nations." He offers three participles on how we are to make disciples-(1) by going, (2) by baptizing and (3) by teaching. Today I want to only deal with the command and tomorrow with the three participles.  
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

Who is the target on which we are to focus for making disciples? Who are we to disciple? Note that Jesus makes it clear that we are to disciple "all of the nations." Nations would be better to translate as "cultures." We are to make disciples of people from all of the cultures of the world who are not now disciples. Disciples of what? A certain religion? A specific theological system? No, we are to make disciples of Jesus-followers of Jesus. Our audience is made up of all people everywhere who are not now followers of Jesus.

The initial exposure to the nations of the world happened on one day at the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, recorded in Acts 2:4-6: And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. So, instantly the seed of the message of Jesus was planted in the hearts of men and women from the nations of the world.

Peter, trying to stick to his cultural traditions and religious Law was confounded by God to realize that God was willing and able to work with every nation or culture of the world. Check this out: Opening his mouth, Peter said: "I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The word which He sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus the Christ (He is Lord of all)-you yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
 
We are witnesses of all the things He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put Him to death by hanging Him on a cross. God raised Him up on the third day and granted that He become visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead. Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:34-43)

NOTE Peter realized quickly that "in every nation or culture the man who fears God and does what is right is welcome to Him." By the way, that means from every religion as well. God is already at work in people's hearts all over the world in every culture, not to join our culture and religious expression, but they are welcome to God for themselves!

Paul and Barnabas entered the city of Lystra, healed a man and the people believed they were gods-Zeus and Hermes, who had come to the city. Then after hearing them speak and reject their worshipping of them, the Jews attacked them. The crowds were stirred up to attack Paul and they actually stoned him, leaving him for dead. With the disciples there in Lystra, he amazingly had the strength to get up, went back into the city with the disciples and moved on with Barnabas the next day to another city, Derbe. NOTE that their end game was to make disciples of Jesus there: After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith. (Acts 14:21-22)

When Paul spoke to the people in the marketplace of Athens, he said, "The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we also are His children.' "Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, "We shall hear you again concerning this." So Paul went out of their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

NOTE God gave all people life and breath, making every nation or culture of the world. He determined each culture's boundaries and activities in order that they might seek God-by groping and finding Him, since God is not far from anyone. Then Paul says, since all created people are the children of God, we ought to be able to discover and connect with God through His further revelation. This revelation is not through some image or idol, but is in fact a man who was raised from the dead. His name? Jesus.

On several occasions in the book of Revelation the message of Jesus is said to have gone out to "a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." This can only happen if we are focused on making disciples of Jesus everywhere, not converting people to become a member of one of our religious systems. Jesus is above all of man's religious systems. Jesus, the incomparable and irresistible Jesus!