Soy Bacon
What’s all this about giving people a “Christian alternative?” Makes Jesus sound like soy bacon.
Posts tagged ‘jesus’
Mar 3
"Beam me up, Jesus!"
Even though they lived over 2,000 years ago, there are a number of striking parallels in the challenges the Jews in the time before Christ faced as they grappled with how to live inside a culture generally opposed to their beliefs and our own challenges as Christians living inside an unfriendly culture. We can learn from how they responded. Like these Jews, remaining distinctive inside a go-with-the-flow society is critical to our identity and our mission as believers. Like these Jews, we must respond to the pressures of our culture in a way that is informed by our faith and our understanding of the Scripture. And, like these Jews, we are presented with the option of withdrawing from the mix of ideas and beliefs and building our own sub-culture as a coping mechanism. While our places of worship may stand in close proximity to the culture at-large, in practice we create communities of our own far from the evil influences of pagan life where we can read, interact, speak, dine, watch, listen, and attend events – yes, even wear clothing – that indicate our disinterest in mingling with the world. Like the prophet Jonah, we seek a high and mighty vantage point from which we wait for the fire of God to fall. It’s true that we are not to be “of the world.” However, we are expected to be “in the world.” Jesus’ prayers for his disciples and for those who would follow after them (Jesus prayed for me!) specifically requested that we not resort to isolation as a method of responding to the challenges of our times: 
I love history. To me, it is fascinating how things like technology, country borders, and fashion change, but the basics of who we are as people, and the questions we face about life have changed so little. I was just reminded of that fact as I finished throwing up another post on my other blog called BibleDig about how the Jews in the years leading up to the time of Christ struggled to understand how to respond to the world around them and still keep their faith in tact. One of group of Jews, called the Essenes, decided the best plan of action was to remove themselves from all things pagan and basically wait for God to wipe out all the unrighteous people around them in monastery-like communities. (It’s a little nerdy, but if you want to check out was I’m talking about so this post makes sense, here it is.)
I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to the world just as I do not belong to the world. Set them apart in the truth; your word is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. (John 17:15-18)
How did God send his son into the world? As a person. A real, live, flesh and blood person with emotions and with a body that was not immune to fatigue. Jesus “humbled himself” and “made himself low” without thought for himself. And he hung out with a rough crowd in a backwater, far-flung speck on the Roman map. And he stuck it out until the time came to lay his life down. And he laid it down. He “emptied himself.” That is how God sent Jesus. That is how Jesus sends us.
Jesus does not pray that we will construct elaborate alternatives to the evils of culture so that we can prevent all contact with the unwashed masses. Jesus does not pray for us to be safe from the world, but that we’ll be safe in it. Jesus does not pray that we will be isolated from the world, but that we will be insulated from the eroding influence of sin by the truth. The truth from God about our purpose for being alive and about the unhappy ruin caused by living our lives for the passing pleasures of sin with no thought of the eternity that awaits us just beyond our final breath.
On one hand, it would have been nice if Jesus would have prayed that God would do a little, “Beam me up, Scotty,” the moment I trusted Christ so I wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble of living in this body in this world. On the other hand, that kind of living — living with something more than satisfying our own thirst for entertainment, ease, and recognition in view — will, as Jesus prayed, “set us apart.” That’s so different, it’s other worldly.
How many people do you know that really live that kind of life, yet still manage to be friendly, interesting, compassionate, and engaged in the real world around them? Now that’s different! So different, dare I say, it might even be something like a city on a hill? That sounds a lot like Jesus.
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How’s This for a Diet?
I’m on a diet. Sarah isn’t making me. I’m doing it because even though I had my last growth spurt as a freshman in high school I’m still a “growing boy” if you know what I mean. I’m going the no carbs / no sugar route.
The problem is, I really like food. But, a sermon has me doing some new thinking about this whole dieting thing. Like, maybe I’m missing the point of this whole breakfast, lunch and dinner thing. In fact, I don’t think I’ll ever eat the same way again. There will be the same hunting down my next meal, chewing and swallowing…but there will be a new addition to the routine.
Today’s sermon at church by Chuck Swindol was about the cross and Christ’s humble submission to a cross-like death. The cross, we learned, was such a horrific, ghastly method of execution that even the word itself was a curse word in polite society. Christ didn’t only submit to limiting his omnipotent powers and shoe-horning himself into the confines of a frail human body. He didn’t merely agree to willingly lay down his life for the sins of the world. God the Son consented to a cross kind of death.
We took communion today. The bread and juice were distributed among the crowd. Chuck reminded us of Jesus’ admonition to observe the Lord’s Supper, “in remembrance of Me.” And we ate and drank.
Some churches take communion monthly or quarterly. Other traditions encourage a daily observance of this symbolic act. But, as I tasted the wafer of bread on my tongue I wondered, how often did the disciples eat bread and drink wine? When Jesus, in that intimate moment before the storm of suffering and sacrifice, asked his small band of friends to remember him, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,” exactly how often was that? Perhaps more often than we think.
Bread and wine were the staples of first century diets. Bread was inexpensive and filling. Wine sanitized squalid water and made it more palatable. When Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life” he was saying, “I am the staple of survival. Without me, your souls go hungry.” The taste of bread was a sensation the common person experienced every time they were lucky enough to eat.
The Passover meal Jesus shared with his friends was a special experience – but eating and drinking weren’t. So, when Jesus said, “As often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me,” maybe he was not saying, “As often as you have this yearly, special meal” or “as often as you have your monthly communion service.” When our Savior, who had shoe-horned himself into a human body and was willingly consenting to a death so horrible that polite Romans — who relished the cruelties of the Colosseum as entertainment — would not dare to even mention the word “cross”, asked his disciples to remember him “as often as you do this” maybe he was asking them to reflect on his sacrifice and servant-heartedness every time they raised bread or wine to their lips.
Imagine how differently we would live if we reflected for a moment on the example of Christ every time we lifted food to our mouths. How would it dull the taste of sin to us if we pictured our Savior’s humility and sacrifice for an instant whenever liquid touched our tongues? Gratefulness would lead to compassion. Sorrow for sin would motivate holiness. The picture of humility would prompt imitation.
As we thank God for life-sustaining food, let’s thank him for the cross and embrace it as our own. As we eat, may we be reminded that it is Christ – the Bread – who gives us life. As we drink, may we remember it is Christ who satisfies our thirsty souls.
How’s that for putting our me-first selves on a restriction? Now that’s a diet.
