Renewing the Church part 2

Jesus had a plan  -  His plan is ours

The ministry of Jesus was not just one of preaching and teaching.  On its own, that would have made a significant impact on the people he encountered along the road.  But the Good News of the Kingdom was not just simply a message, a set of credal beliefs.  From the beginning, it was about a new world, a different way of living.  Jesus set about forming a community, a people forming a transformed society, a community of disciples. 

This Jesus community was formed around a set of teachings and expectations which were not like the rules of a sect or organisation.  It was a way of life built upon the witness of Jesus himself.  To know what the Kingdom of God was, to understand all that it meant, required only hearing and obeying Jesus.   Fortunately for those seeking a transformed life in God, Jesus had spelt out for his followers a way of living.  That new way demanded more of them than the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mt Sinai.  It was a new covenant Jeremiah had envisaged (31:31) and God had promised:

31 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,    “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.32 It will not be like the covenant    I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant,    though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel    after that time,” declares the Lord.“I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God,   and they will be my people.34 No longer will they teach their neighbour,    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me,    from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.“For I will forgive their wickedness    and will remember their sins no more.”

His teachings highlighted the new way of living required by those called to form the reconstituted Israel.   The Old Law could speak of forgiving one’s neighbour, but the New Covenant expected the forgiving of others seventy-seven times, a biblical way of saying repeatedly without limits.  Rather than notice the faults and sins of others (splinters in their eyes), they were to turn their gaze inwards and acknowledge their own sins first (planks in their own eyes).  Christ’s disciples had to be servants and not lord it over others, and were to welcome even Samaritans as their neighbours.

Jesus knows this is not going to be easy, which is why he called his followers “disciples”.  The word in Greek means “student” indicating their way of life.   They were to be learning from the Master for the entirety of their lives.  That learning took place as they followed and imitated Jesus, always on the move, never staying in one place for too long.  If they were not made welcome, they were to move on.  They had no fixed abode and like the birds of the air and flowers in the field, were to trust in the providential love of God for their upkeep and wellbeing.  Theirs was not a calling to establish home bases from which they could provide a broad-based pastoral care.  Theirs was a call to take the Good News to the very ends of the earth. 

They stood out for another reason.  The reconstituted Israel was unlike the Kingdom of Israel espoused by the Zealots.  They wanted to destroy the Romans by force of arms, to obtain freedom through military encounters.  The Kingdom inaugurated by Jesus, however, was non-violent.  They were not even allowed to carry a staff for self-defence or have sandals on their feet that would enable them to flee in the face of conflict or better engage in violence against the Roman legions.  In life as in death, they were to remain as humble servants, washing the feet of even their enemies.

To make the distinction between different understandings of the New Israel even clearer, the disciples of Jesus were to leave their families and follow him.  The old understandings of family and clan were gone forever, and a new understanding of family began, a family beyond blood ties that encompassed every human person they encountered.  Families were no longer families by blood; they were families in Christ and around Christ.

In all this Jesus was not just a teacher, an instructor using words.  He modelled the life he invited all to embrace.    Even when his family tried to take him home, he rejected their efforts.  He separated himself from them and called all those who heard his words and obeyed them his brother and sister, his new family.  It was only then that Leviticus 19 was fulfilled. 

That family shared much more than just a common life. They shared a common destiny as well.  While much of the Jewish apocalyptic literature and prophecy could speak of all of the nations of the earth coming to worship God in the new Jerusalem, bringing with them gold and precious metals as a tribute, the fate of the disciples of Jesus was less glorious.  They were to follow him by taking up their crosses.   As he was criticised and persecuted, so too they were to face criticism and persecution; they would be despised and slandered. 

Imagine that on a recruiting poster today!  Imagine if these were the ingredients established for the renewal of our parish communities or the Church!  With Jesus, there was no attempt to keep the recruits happy or offer a message that was appealing to the masses.  Theirs was no ministry of compromise, watering down the fundamentals of the Kingdom in the hope of attracting lots of people.  And that is a message that needs reaffirming over and over again with each new generation of believers. 

Accommodation contributes nothing other than death to the Church, staleness and decay to the Good News of the Kingdom.  Jesus reiterated the same message of God to the people of Israel, who in the time of Samuel were demanding a king of their own.  What they wanted was to be like the other nations (1 Sam 8:5, 20).  This, even though they had been called by God to stand out among the other peoples, set aside to give witness to the glories of God so that others may come to know, love and serve Yahweh.  They were to be the people through whom all the nations of the earth could be blessed by God.  Jesus had insisted that the way of the world was not to be the way of the disciple.  They were to be salt, light and leaven, and they could not fulfil that vocation if they lived no differently from those around them. 

It is for this reason that the Church need to always and in all things, build its life, and the lives of the individual believer on Jesus himself.  A Jesus unaffected by watering down his message and its expectations, a Jesus of the Gospel and not a Jesus of personal preference.   Jesus spoke of Christianity as being a “way”, a lifestyle, a mode of living in the world.  It was a community, a family shaped by and living according to the witness and teachings of Jesus. 

That is uncompromising, and it is why it takes courage to be a genuine disciple of Jesus.  Nothing other than a whole-of-life commitment will bring about the blessings of the Kingdom of God.  It may well help explain in some way why it is that the Church of today struggles.  Christians were never called to be pale imitations of Jesus, living and proclaiming a message that leaves out the need for the cross. 

Contextualise not compromise:

There is another “c” word that is applicable to our vocation as disciples, one that sits more comfortably with the person and teaching of Jesus: contextual.  Contextualisation is the practice of adapting the gospel to a specific era and culture in a way that makes it understandable and relevant. It allows the timeless truth of God’s Word to speak to people in their unique cultural settings, enabling the Good News to reach as many as possible for Christ by becoming all things to all people.  These words of Paul express the notion of contextualisation with great clarity:

Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.

But contextualisation comes with a risk: the temptation to prioritise cultural relevance or emotional appeal over the integrity of biblical truth.

Instead of letting God’s Word shape our emotions, we allow our emotions to dictate our beliefs. This idea that our feelings can define what is true has become an increasing problem in our culture, where the way someone feels often takes precedence over reality. Yet our emotions are not the enemy; they are a vital part of who we are. Our emotions are created by God and meant to be sanctified by his grace.  Instead of letting God’s Word shape our emotions, we allow our emotions to dictate our beliefs.

However, when feelings take the lead, our capacity to discern objective truth diminishes. We trust our emotional responses more than we trust God’s revealed Word. Compromise looms, especially when contextualization aims to make the gospel more palatable to ever-changing postmodern sensibilities.

We face pressure to downplay the more difficult aspects of Christian teaching, so we’ll remain culturally relevant and emotionally appealing. If we publicly condemn certain sins in our culture, we risk losing our good standing. This creates a powerful temptation to address people’s emotional needs and unquestionably affirm their lifestyle choices with something less demanding than the gospel, which is a message that always calls for faith, repentance, and humble obedience.

Conclusion:

We are told in James 1:8 that “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Or as Jesus put it, “No man can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). This is also true of entire groups of people, and of nations. If we live lives of compromise, we will suffer for it. If we seek to please various lords, we will please none and do the Kingdom of God a great disservice.

When we choose the path of compromise, whether out of convenience or fear, we inadvertently begin a journey toward spiritual apathy. Our fervour for following Christ wholeheartedly starts to wane as we repeatedly trade our convictions for comfort. The fire that once burned brightly within us dims, leading to complacency and a growing distance from God. This gradual erosion of passion can leave us spiritually adrift, lacking the zeal and vitality that once defined our walk with Christ.

Compromise not only affects our spiritual journey but also undermines our ability to bear witness to the transformative power of Christ before the world. When society sees Christians embracing compromise, it weakens the credibility of our testimony. The lines between right and wrong blur, and our actions no longer reflect the unwavering convictions we claim to hold. Our witness becomes diluted, and our message loses its potency, making it difficult for others to see the true light of Christ shining through us.

Bishop Michael Hough                                                                                  June 2025