Just a quick thought today.
I was reading the other day in 1 Corinthians, and in response to the divisions and strife that are taking place in the Corinthian church, Paul says he can’t exclaims “Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you… Are you not acting like mere human beings?” (3:3).
If Paul could accuse the Corinthians of acting like “mere human beings,” then apparently his assumption was that they were, in actuality, not mere human beings. For Paul, a Christian is something more than a “mere human being.” And this is what Jesus seems to have had in mind, too. He talks to Nicodemus in John 3 about being “born from above,” and it’s is not a clever euphemism for becoming an adherent to the Christian religion or believing a few interesting facts about God. It means that we have been born into a new kind of life that goes beyond “mere” human life, in Paul’s words. It means that something about our nature has changed on a fundamental level.
So the challenge is to learn to become what we are. Now that we have received life “from above” we ought to learn how to “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4), to actually live out this “more-than-human” life. I am believing more and more that this is to be our primary witness to and evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. The question people ask is, “Does becoming a Christian actually do anything good for a human being?” If our lives aren’t displaying that, our message is hollow.
Sure! The question I always ask myself is: "Why would anyone want to be a Christian if they looked at my life?"
Great question, Clara. I also then extend it to: "Why would anyone want to be a Christian if they looked at my community?"
Well, then, here's a good quote: "Missionary writer Lesslie Newbigin talked about a congregation being a 'hermeneutic of the gospel', a fancy way of saying that how we act as followers of Jesus interprets for the larger culture the good news about Jesus. When we act individualistically, when we don't seem to be moving in concert with other followers of Jesus, that becomes a statement to those around us. It's hard to convince the world of the love of God when we have a hard time loving each other. It's hard to convince that world that Jesus cares when we don't." (from "Justice In The Burbs", by Will & Lisa Samson, pg.92)
Newbigin is a HUGE part of my thinking about church and mission!