The Gospel according to Neil

 Listen to this conversation I had with Neil this morning: 

Neil: "I think Jesus was lonely." Me: "Why do you think that." Neil: "He didnt have kids and a wife" Me: "Yea, but did he have friends?" Neil: "He did but he also had enemies-wicked people from Nineveh"

Do you remember the story of Jonah? "Go to Ninveh, and tell them to repent!" Jonah, a prophet of God, would not go. In fact the book of the Bible with his name on it says, "He boarded a boat and went the opposite direction." He didn't go because he was afraid of them. He didn't go because he thought they would rejecct his message. He didn't go because he actually believed there was a chance they would repent and come to know God.

WOW! Who let that guy be a prophet?

This story is strange until we remember the culture that Jonah was living in. In his world, people were incredibly tribalist. This is having strong loyalty to one's own tribe or social group. WE ARE THE GOOD GUYS AND THEY ARE THE BAD GUYS!

And To BE HONEST..... our world is still filled with tribalism. Usually centered on religion or politics. Not much has changed....has it?

But God sent Jonah to the outsiders because God wanted them to know of his love. So he sends the prophet. It takes a while, including spending 3 days in the belly of a fish, before Jonah FINALLY proclaims the Good News that even they can turn from their wicknesses and be saved. AND THEY DO BELIEVE! They repent. They fast. They turn away from their wicknesses.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said it this way...

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 

The story of Jonah is foreshadowing Jesus. Just as Jonah was in the belly of a fish for 3 days so Jesus would go and die for 3 days. Just as Jonah went to preach forgiveness to his enemy, so Jesus would declare from the cross, "Father forgive them." 

The Gospel is so simple but we make it complicated. Love your enemy. Include the outsider. Be friends to the outcast. Why? Because it is what Jesus would have done in that moment. 

And Yes. Neil is right. Jesus missed out on being married and having kids of his own. I'm sure there were times when he was lonely and confused and frustrated. And Yes. He had friends. Like Peter, John, and James who believed in him (as best as they could) for 3.5 years of ministry. And He had enemies. 

But all those things didn't stop him from choosing to love and be a person of love. So happy Saturday. Go out and love someone who doesn't deserve it because the world could use a little more love today.

Let my children tell the story

Is the Bible true?

How bout that for a Friday morning loaded question. As a Christian, I would say YES! The Bible is true. But how we define “true” might be impacted by a few things. The most important of course would be our upbringing. What church, if any, did our parents bring us to? Which country, or part of the country, do we live in? Who has impacted our lives the most? Who carries weight in our change of mind currently? 

This question of “trueness” can be a touchy subject. Some do not care if any of the stories are factually true. They may say the only thing that matters to me is Jesus and the cross. To them, Jesus is the center of their faith and the other stories are less important because everything leads to the cross. On the other hand, there are people that are in the other camp. They believe everything in the bible HAS TO be 100% true or it is 100% false. 

Most people find themselves somewhere between those two camps. What do you do if you believe that Jesus really was the Son of God but God did not tell people to commit genocide over a whole people group? What do you do if you believe that Jesus was born of a virgin but maybe it wasn’t God’s idea to kill the firstborn of the Egyptians? 

Woah, woah, woah. Quit the cherry picking! Quit picking what you like about the Bible and throwing away the rest! 

I’m not saying we throw out parts of the text we don’t like. This is just an invitation to wrestle with the text. This is an invitation to say: “I don’t have to be certain of everything.” Because if I were certain why would I need faith. 

So let’s say some things in the Bible didn’t happen. Is that okay? Or should we throw out the baby with the bathwater. BTW that is the worst metaphor EVER! 

So Let’s start with a fun one! Did God murder every person on the planet with a giant flood (well except a family and 2 of every animal). Which begs the question, how did Cats and Birds coexist on the ark?

Did you know that when this story was told (not written btw for a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time) that there were multiple flood stories. This was just one of many.  Same with the creation story. Which makes us ask a deeper question. Why was the story of Genesis (the first book in our Bible) told in the first place? 

Scholars believe that it was written during the Babloyian exile. God’s people were away from home. They needed to remember who they were as a people. So they wrote their story. They told their oral history that had been passed down. Telling the story of creation, flood, and then Abraham. 

Remember Abraham? He had many sons and many sons had father Abraham? No…. just me..ok. 

He is considered the father of the Jewish faith. He was handpicked by God. To be what? The father of many nations. The problem? They didn’t have one child and his wife was “past child-bearing age.” Which is the nice way of saying.... She was old. 

But God came through. And Abraham had faith. Even though he didn’t for a lot of the story. Including giving away his wife because he was afraid of the Pharaoh. If you haven’t read Genesis you need to! It's an EPIC story! 

But eventually Abraham and Sarah have a son. Issac. And Isaac got married and they had twins. And so on and so forth. 

But remember this is God’s story of saving his people. We meet some awesome (but flawed people in the OLD TESTAMENT). Like Moses- Let my people Go. Some Prophets, some kings, and some down right evil people. God’s people tend to fall away and get rescued, fall away, get rescued. Sometimes they are in the promised land and others they are in exile. Sometimes they are in power and sometimes they are the underdog. And God uses it ALL! To progress his story. 

Until one day an angel visits a teenage girl named Mary and says, “Hail Mary- full of grace.” And this virgin gives birth to this bastard child named Jesus. Who would grow in wisdom with his people. But then he was baptized. And everything changed. He grew a following. He healed the sick. And he taught love and forgiveness. And his followers grew so large that those in power did not like it. So they tempted one of his followers, Judas, to betray him. And killed him. And he died on a cross.But death could not hold him down. The story of Easter is Jesus choosing the path of love and died only to rise 3 days later. 

From there his now 11 disciples (and later added a 12th) changed the world. They were filled with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.They preached the Gospel. They believed that God was not mad at us. That God loved us so much that he sent his son into the world to die for us and conquer death, sin, and the devil. And these “chicken of men”, could not stop talking about Jesus. And they got killed for it TOO! But every time someone died for their faith it continued to spark more interest like a wildfire across the globe. 

And even though church history has had some ups and downs at the core it has always been about Jesus. The focal point of the Christian story. 

What a story! 

But what if there are some parts that make me uncomfortable? 

Remember the global flood or the stories of Canaanite Conquest?

There have been many theories over time as to why these stories are in the Bible. I will give the 3 most logical reasons. 

1. God's ways are above our ways.. 

I get it. God is God and I am not. We cannot understand his ways. Even though there is much mystery in the world, this is such a cop-out answer. And please don’t tell someone who had a spouse die “You just need to trust God.” Don’t tell someone who had a child die “Wel, I guess God just needed another angel.” WHAT? STOP! 

Let’s agree there is mystery. We don’t see the whole picture. But we are smarter than this! Aren’t we? As a Christian, I always go back to Jesus. If Jesus didn’t act a certain way I know His Father didn’t act that way. 

Jesus is perfect revelation of the Father.

2. God changed. 

Maybe God was a jerk in the Old Testament. He had to be. He had to get rid of the evil people living in the promise land. So he told his people to rape and kill them.

God the Father is Bad COP and Jesus the son is Good COP.

No. 

What does that say about God that he could and would change his mind about something so big as his nature. Either he is a judgemental God, holding us over the fire or He is a God of love and forgiveness. HE CANNOT BE BOTH! 

3. We have changed. 

This is the view I want to share with you today. 

Have you ever had your child share a story with you. Maybe even an event where you were there? Is the story accurate? Kinda. I mean...not in the same way I would describe it. But I love when I hear my 4 year old tell a story. 

It’s so great. I’m always on the edge of my seat saying, “Yeah, then what happened?” 

I could stop him. Tell him he is wrong. That is not what really happened. But why? For him, the story he tells is what happened. And I need to give him the freedom to share his story.

And God is a MUCH BETTER FATHER than I am. 

I want to suggest: He lets his children tell the story. That is the Bible. The Bible is God’s children telling his story.

It isn't perfect. But it is GOOD. It is the progressive revelation of a God who is faithful to love his bride and teach us to love Him and each other. It's a story of inclusion and unity. Because ONE DAY we will all be welcomed back home and it will be good.