Friday, December 6, 2013

Join the Christmas Party!




The two big highlights of my childhood occurred annually on Christmas day and Flag Day. Christmas, because of the many presents under the tree, and Flag Day because that’s my birthday. I love having birthday parties and I really loved getting birthday presents at my birthday parties. I will never forget getting a Mongoose California BMX bike for my 13th Birthday; it was so cool! As a kid, there was nothing better than birthday parties, birthday hats, cake, presents and party games!

Christmas is the traditional day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ. It is a day of celebration because God loves us humans so much that that he took on the condition of humanity. He left the glory of heaven and freely chose to become like us, fully human and in the mystery of what we call the Incarnation, fully God. Christmas is the Birthday of love becoming human! The disciple John understood, perhaps more than most, how love is the central theme of the Christmas Birthday.

1 John 4:16
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

God is love, and Christ, being God, is love in human form. Earlier, John is clear that real love, authentic love, is what God did when he became man. He was born in Bethlehem but he didn’t stay in Bethlehem. He grew first in that small town, then in exile in Egypt, and finally as an adult in Nazareth and the surrounding region. And this man/God Jesus, this author of love, was put to death on a cross so that we could have life, forgiveness, and an eternity with him. That sacrifice is love.

1 John 4:10
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

If God is love and it is perfectly experienced in Christ, then Christmas is the ultimate celebration of love’s Birthday. And if our birthdays typically have cake and presents, what is present at the Birthday of love?

In Luke 2:8-12, Dr. Luke records what is at this party.

An angel announces the good news of the birth of Jesus in Luke. This would be like watching your favorite Christmas special and the broadcast getting interrupted by an unplanned presidential statement. You would take notice. No one would interrupt It’s a Wonderful Life unless it was of crucial importance. For the Shepherds, the good news was all about the most important of announcements. Take notice, pay attention, shepherds! Everything will change because of this news report.

The shepherds know immediately that the good news is positive as the angel exclaims that this is news of great joy! Joy is so elusive in our day. Joy is the experience of faith in Christ, when we understand that joy is authored in Christ, joy is possible because of Christ, and that Christ is the focal point of our joy. When we get this, we get Christ. From a prison cell the Apostle Paul writes, “I will say it again: Rejoice!” Joy that is anchored in Jesus Christ is tireless. One author writes, “It’s like a little child squealing, ‘Do it again, Daddy!’ to which our heavenly Daddy replies heartily, ‘Yes, let’s do it again! And again and again!’” Because of Christ, that kind of Joy is possible.

And the angel doesn’t stop there. In verse 11, this angel proclaims, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you.” Connecting David with Savior was significant for these shepherds. David was the greatest king that Israel had ever had. When the shepherds heard stories of the golden years, they would have been referring to the reign of King David. He rescued them from their enemies and established a secure kingdom. This Savior, at least from the perspective of the shepherds would, like David, rescue them from the oppression and occupation of the Roman Empire that had been ruling their land. This truly was some good news.

Yet this Jesus was so much more because the angel does not end with the word Savior. He is also Christ. Jesus was a common name in those days but Christ was all about the anointed one, the chosen one. The Messiah. This was the person whom all the ancient writers pointed to, the one who was sent by God to culminate God’s plans for the Jewish people. Nothing would ever be the same again.

This savior Christ is the Lord, the Supreme Authority. The current king of the land, Herod, was not the supreme authority. The supreme ruler of the vast Roman Empire, Caesar Augustus, was not the supreme authority. No – it was this baby surrounded by family and animals; he was the Supreme Authority over all lands.

The shepherds could not fully grasp all that the angel was saying. This was not some mere mortal. This was God becoming man, offering humanity the way of love. The love of a God who provided the way of life, of healing, and of relationship. This was the way that the Creator of all things would provide a way for each of us to be in relationship with Jesus Christ and to see his Kingdom and his purposes be birthed in our life and in the world. That is the party we are invited to. As I tell my kids on Christmas morning, we give gifts at Christmas because God gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ. And because of the gift of Jesus Christ, we have purpose in our life; we have forgiveness of all our sins (all the garbage in our life). In this gift of love, Jesus, we can experience God’s incredible heavenly reality now and into forever. That is all possible because God loved us so much to send us his son Jesus Christ. That is what we celebrate on Christmas day!

Who can come to that kind of party? You would think just a few chosen people. But this birthday was for all people. This act of love was for all humanity. I have been passed over, by-passed and skipped when it comes to party invitations. We all know what that feels like, especially as a small child realizing that everybody else in the class was invited, but not you. Truly devastating. God doesn’t do that. He never forgets, never skips you. Everyone, no matter their past, ethnicity, economic status; everyone, no matter the choices you have made or are making in life. Everyone - no exception - is invited to the party. Is invited to be in relationship with the God of Love!

If we are all invited, how do we come to this party? How can we be in relationship with the God of all Creation? We must identify with the shepherds. God could have chosen to first announce the birth of his son Jesus Christ to kings, leaders, rulers, priests, centurions and Caesars. But instead, God chose this greatest of news to be revealed to a class of people one step above the lowest class. Shepherds were despised, and considered religiously unclean and outsiders in their day.

When we, no matter our position in society, identify with the shepherds, we are welcome to come to Jesus, to come to the party. God does not come to the self-sufficient. The message of Christ is for those who know they need Jesus. If you are in need, you are welcome to come to Jesus. Jesus said:

Matt 11:28
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

John 6:29
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

If this Christmas you are not sure that you are part of God’s party; if you are not sure that you truly know Jesus Christ, and if you sense your need for him, you are welcome to enter the party. Come to him and he will give you rest, believe in Him and find life. Trust Him and find a love that will last forever.

Jason Esposito,
Lead Pastor, Crossway Church, www.crosswaygt.org  

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Christianity Is Not For Spectators

In Hebrew, a disciple is called a talmid, which means student or learner. When a group of talmid followed a rabbi, it would be called talmidim, the process of making disciples. The objective of the disciple was to be like the rabbi. A disciple did not follow a rabbi alone but was part of a larger group, a learning community called yeshiva. It was in the context of the yeshiva community that a disciple would be formed. A disciple would engage in life’s activities along with the rabbi (we see this with Jesus and his disciples throughout the gospels) with keen observance of how the rabbi lived out the interpretation of the Scriptures. Out of this teaching method a well-known saying emerged, “covering yourself in his dust.” You should follow the rabbi so closely as he lived and taught that the dust of his sandals would stick to your body. Brady Young observes:
In rabbinic literature the disciples of the sages neglect their business and sacrifice much to acquire Torah learning. The disciple is expected to serve his master teacher in caring for personal needs. By serving the master the disciple learns how to conduct his affairs in everyday life situations. He listens to his master’s teaching while doing menial chores to assist his mentor. Because a disciple should have broad knowledge, he would usually study with one rabbi for a number of years and then go study under another sage. The master teacher was a mentor whose purpose was to raise up disciples who would not only memorize his teaching but also to live out the teachings in practical ways.[1]
Walking with the rabbi was not just about literally following him, though it was that too; “your walk” refers to the totality of your lifestyle becoming like the rabbi who was interpreting the Torah in word and deed.[2] For a disciple, to be accepted by a rabbi meant they agreed to follow the rabbi, submit fully to the rabbi’s authority and become like him. This included not just his teaching but also imitating how the rabbi ate, his mannerisms, preferences and prejudices. A disciple was eager to endure any hardship for the sake of learning from the rabbi. One did not commit to be a disciple unless the commitment was made to literally be like the rabbi. The choice to become a disciple of Rabbi Jesus was one that required self-sacrifice, difficulty, and risk. When it came to the rich ruler in Luke 18:18-23, he was not willing to go all the way in his followership of Jesus:
A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
“Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’”
“All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy.
His wealth was his personal barrier to truly being a disciple of the Rabbi Jesus. The commitment of a disciple to his rabbi was so great that the love of parents seemed like hatred, comparatively. This is in part what Jesus was saying in Luke 14:26:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.”
A rabbi-and-disciple relationship was a clear mimetic relationship on every level.
Understanding the Hebrew view of knowledge is of great importance to break with the Hellenistic thinking of our modern-day discipleship models. In modern society, knowledge is generally understood to be information that is cognitively known. You “know” a person in society if you can tell someone their name, address, vocation, family size and what kind of car they drive. If we “know” the Bible, we assume that means we can articulate the 66 books, 4 gospels and find the location of the flood narrative. However, in Hebrew thinking, to “know” something was to experience it, not just to intellectualize it. To “know” someone was to share in an intimate relationship with them. The Hebrew word yada, “to know,” means to encounter, experience, and share in an intimate way.[3] When the Bible says that a man may know a woman, it is speaking about sexual intercourse, not just cognitive information. To know something is fully experiential and highly intimate (though not necessarily sexual).
“We think of knowledge in terms of facts – used towards proving or disproving. That sort of knowledge runs into problems quickly in Scripture. There is no concern with disproving or proving the fact of – or the existence of God. God simply is. The Bible’s concern is with relationship – knowing God deeply – even intimately. 'The Hebrew view is that “knowledge of God” (da’at elohim) is having a life in relationship with him.'”[4]           
The Hebrew understanding of knowing intersects with the philosophy of rabbi and disciple. The word yada, on seven occasions, is translated “to teach,” “to instruct,” or “to lead.” In the Old Testament, on two occasions, the word yada is specifically connected to the physical actions of flailing and using or playing a musical instrument.[5] It would not even be considered that a disciple just intellectually knew what the rabbi knew and therefore was “a disciple.” Learning, being, and doing for the disciple are always fused together in the intimate experiential relationship between rabbi, disciple and the yeshiva.
If we are going to be authentic disciples of Jesus Christ, then our relationship with Christ must permeate every aspect of our life from our finances, to our relationships, to our time; how we perform our vocation and entertain ourselves on the weekends. To be Christian is to put every aspect of our lives into the hands of our Rabbi Jesus.
Jason Esposito,
Lead Pastor

            [1] Brad H. Young, Meet the Rabbis, 30.
            [2] Lois Tverberg, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 28.
            [3] Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham, 287-288.
            [4] Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, Listening to the Language of the Bible. (Holland, MI: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2004), 5.
            [5] Marvin R. Wilson, Our Father Abraham, 288.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Vision or Culture


One of the misguided emphases in many of our churches has been the obsession over vision. As a lead pastor, I have often been asked the question, “What is your vision for the church?” I understand why this question is asked as vision has been the buzzword in corporate America and corporate church leadership for several decades. Vision is important, and if you have heard any pastor discuss vision, invariably Proverbs 29:18 is quoted that when vision is absent, the people perish. Building a robust theology about vision off one verse and a singular Hebrew word (chazon) that can be translated several different ways is suspect. A clear and compelling vision is central to driving any form of corporate change; but the emphasis on church vision, apart from church culture, is misguided.
Churches need a vision, and yet the overarching vision for any biblically-informed church has already been given. When Jesus charged the disciples, past and present, to go into the entire world and make disciples, the vision for the Church was established for all time. As a church, we are to go into the world and make disciples. Disciples are followers; and specifically in the Christian context, followers of Jesus. That is the vision of every church, a vision given to us by Christ himself. How that vision is articulated is as diverse as the number of individual congregations on Planet Earth. And, the “how” is a much more interesting and important discussion as it engages the culture of a given church. Regardless of how the church vision is stated, when broken down, it must be about going into the world and making disciples, as Jesus commanded us to do.
The vision of the church that I was raised in (G.E.L.C) was the same vision as that of CrossWay Church. G.E.L.C. would not have talked vision language, but if you had asked the pastor what the church was about, he would have answered, “The Great Commission.” CrossWay has a vision statement that reads: Intersecting Lives with Christ. This is our vision, but it is just a modern way of stating the Great Commission given to us by Jesus, to go into the entire world and make disciples. We cannot choose a vision for the church as it has been chosen for us. Despite having the same vision, G.E.L.C. and CrossWay Church could not be more different. The difference does not emerge from diametrically opposed visions, but from a radically different culture. It is culture that eventually becomes the driver of any church community, and not the vision. It is the culture that will ultimately determine if a particular church is fulfilling the Christ-commanded vision of making disciples.
The culture I experienced in church drove many in the congregation to talk the same, look the same, and do the same things. Though this culture was unhealthy and viral when it came to reaching people outside the church, it did illustrate the power of culture to influence a larger group. That you could be an authentic Christian and not theologically hold to their specific beliefs, was rarely questioned. Walking into church without your Sunday best on would inevitably ostracize you from the masses, and if you didn’t comply with the culture of formal Sunday dress, your time at church would be short-lived.
The power of culture can be measured in companies like IBM, which nearly perished because of a culture of inflexibility. Under CEO Jack Welch, General Electric became a culture of differentiation and training; if you landed in the lower percentage of efficiency in the company, you were let go. Facebook and Google have cultures of innovation, casualness, and intensity. My first formal introduction to the power of culture was when I read a study done by business author, Jim Collins, who researched what he calls “cult-like” cultures in companies that have been successful for at least a hundred years. As I read about corporate culture, I reflected on the power of culture in my own family. My identity as a first-generation Italian American established a specific family culture that valued everything Italian, at times to the detriment of other cultures. My father’s early vision for our family would have been for us to get good grades, graduate, go to college, get married and make a lot of money. That is also the vision of many American families, but it was the Italian culture woven into those elements that was very defining in our early formation.
The vision for every Christ-centered, biblically-based church has already been given, so the question should not be, “What is our vision?” but, “What is the culture we are called to create to fulfill the vision?” It is the culture that will drive the church, draw a particular kind of person to the church, and determine the kingdom impact of the church. When it comes to being a church culture that progressively reaches today’s North American society, we need church cultures for the curious. We need many people, all part of the body of Christ, yet with many distinctions, unified in their mutual love for Christ, each other, and the world; people who have dedicated their lives to imitate the Rabbi, Jesus Christ, holistically in their lives. It is such people who will create a cultural reality in which un-churched, curious people will find the freedom to explore Christ, and Christ-followers will find opportunity to grow as curious Christians, exploring the vastness of the Christian story. Jesus has given us the vision and now we have the opportunity to create a culture for the curious, fulfilling His vision.
On the Journey Together,
Jason Esposito

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Embracing Modern Wisdom from the Rule of St Benedict


Benedict of Nursia (480 - 542AD) grew up on a wealthy estate in Italy that was occupied by Ostrogoths. He studied the Roman classics and enrolled in a school of liberal sciences.[1] After several years of study, at the age of twenty, he realized he had little in common with his classmates who indulged in a cycle of study and drunken partying. Eventually, he left school and found his way to a cave 30 miles east of Rome, where he lived alone. He was determined to devote himself alone to the Lord. He desired no contact with anyone, having a monk deliver food to him by lowering a rope with a bell on it to the top of his cave. Over time, people heard about Benedict and sought him out for wise, godly counsel.
Ultimately, some monks visited him from a nearby monastery. Their abbot had recently died and they wanted Benedict to become their abbot. He refused but they continued to beg him, and eventually he relented. These young monks disliked his rules so much that eventually they tried to kill him by poisoning his wine. As the story goes, Benedict was praying over his cup of wine and when he made the sign of the cross over it, the cup shattered. At that moment he realized that his monks had attempted to kill him. Benedict turned to the monks who were filled with fear and said, “Almighty God of His mercy forgive you, Brethren, why have you dealt thus with me? Did not I foretell you that my manner of life and yours would not agree? Go, and seek a Superior to your liking; for you can have me no longer with you.”[2]
With that he left happy to live alone. Word quickly spread that he was again alone and many made their way to see him. Finally, Benedict realized that he must house and care for these spiritual seekers. This began his second attempt at a communal lifestyle at Monte Cassino, a place so remote that pagans still used a sacred grove of trees there as a location for worship. He destroyed the trees and pagan altars and built a monastery. He built twelve monasteries with twelve individuals in each and took on his own group of thirteen. From this he developed his Rule, now known as “The Rule of St. Benedict,” which became the standard rules for western monastic living.
His monasteries prevailed, in part, because his Rule provided stability and order. “The Rule strikes a balance between severity and moderation, structure and flexibility, general principles and specific rules, and it uses Scriptures throughout the entire document to support the guidelines it lays out.”[3] In addition, he added a vow to the traditional monastic vows. This vow of stability provided a long period called "novitiate" to determine if the person was serious about being in a monastery, and once an affirmative commitment was made, he gave them a lifelong placement. The stable monastic communities built on Benedict’s Rule contributed significantly to the spread and growth of Christianity during the Middle Ages. His Rule is a supremely helpful document to bridge New Testament discipleship to modern-day disciple making.
Listening
In the prologue of The Rule of St Benedict, he begins by positioning the monks (the learners) in the same place that a New Testament disciple would be in.
"Listen, my son, and with your heart hear the principles of your Master. Readily accept and fitfully follow the advice of a loving Father, so that through the labor of obedience you may return to him from who you have withdrawn because of the laziness of disobedience. My words are meant for you, whoever you are, who laying aside your own will, take up the fight under the true King, The Lord Jesus Christ."[4]
Without listening, there is no discipleship. At the heart of being a disciple is to fully submit your mind, heart and body to the one directing you toward God. To listen is central to the understanding and application of Scripture as it is to following our earthly rabbis (leaders), who in turn, as Paul wrote, are following The Rabbi, Jesus Christ. It is in listening that we can hear the voice of God, the voice of community and the voice in our self. This listening is closely associated to 2 Corinthians 3:18 and the question Francis of Assisi asked, “Who are you Lord, and who am I?”
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
The dynamics of formation as a disciple of Christ will only occur in the context of communal presence, intra/inter-personal presence and devotional presence (listening to community, listening to self, listening to God).[5] This trilateral of listening is woven into the Benedictine Rule fleshed out in communal monastic living. It is in listening that we become true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Jason Esposito
Lead Pastor

            [1] Pope Gregory the Great, The Life of Our Most Holy Father Saint Benedict. Translated by Paul de Ferrariis. (Ignacio Hills Press, 1959), Kindle location 71-72.
            [2] Pope Gregory the Great, The Life of Our Most Holy Father Saint Benedict. Translated by Paul de Ferrariis. (Ignacio Hills Press, 1959), Kindle location 137-146.
            [3] Gerald L. Sittser, Water from a Deep Well. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007),106-107.
            [4] St. Benedict, The Rule of St. Benedict. Translated by Anthony Meisel and M.L. del Mastro. (New York: Image Book, 1943), Kindle location 593.
            [5] Corne J Bekker Lecture SP 890 Bethel University, 2013.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Pastor Jason's Summer Reading List


1. After You Believe by N.T. Wright 
            Why Christian Character Matters 
 2. Conformed to His Image by Kenneth Boa 
            Biblical and Practical Approaches to Spiritual Formation 
 3. The 3 Big Questions For a Frantic Family By Patrick Lencioni 
A Leadership Fable...about restoring sanity to the most important organization in your life.
 4. Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard 
            Why We Can Trust Spiritual Knowledge 
 5. Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership by Ruth Haley Barton 
            Seeing God in the Crucible of Ministry 
 6. Monk Habits For Everyday People by Dennis Okholm 
            Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants 
 7. The Post-Church Christian by J. Paul and Carson Nyquist 
            Dealing with the Generational Baggage of our Faith 
 8. Letters from a Skeptic by Gregory and Edward Boyd 
            A Son Wrestles with His Father's Questions about Christianity 
 9. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller 
            What I Learned while Editing my Life 
 10. Spiritual Theology by Simon Chan 
            A Systematic Study of the Christian Life 
 11. The Contemporaries Meet the Classics on Prayer by Randall Harris 
            Nouwen, Luther, Chambers, Spurgeon, and more 

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Leave Church Changed


What does it mean to leave church changed? The story of Peter denying Christ three times is placed directly before the story of Judas confessing his grave mistake to the religious leaders and ultimately killing himself. Matthew, the author, is making a clear point. Peter denies Christ and weeps bitterly. But in John 21, he is restored to fellowship with the resurrected Jesus by Jesus himself. He then preaches the Holy Spirit-filled sermon in Acts 2 that leads to 3,000 people being baptized and the birth of the church.

What is the difference between Peter and Judas? Why does one become the Rock of the church and one of the greatest men of church history, while the other kills himself, forever associated with the pure evil of the betrayal of Jesus? The difference is thatremorse is not repentance. Judas showed remorse but Peter engaged repentance. It is important that remorse is never confused with repentance, or change beyond the walls of the church will never occur.

In Matthew 27:3, it says that Judas was seized with remorse. Not with repentance. In the Greek language, the words for ‘remorse’ and ‘repentance’ are close but not exactly the same. Remorse and repentance start in the same place but quickly divide into two very distinct paths. Remorse is a torturing sense of guilt for one’s actions. Judas experienced remorse. He knew that what he had done was wrong, that it was sin. It tortured him so much that he eventually took his own life.

All of us have done things in our lives over which we are remorseful. We feel really bad that we got drunk - again. We are so sorry that we allowed our anger to swell up and wreck another relationship. We are weeping, broken because we got our third speeding ticket and we will now lose our driver’s license. Remorse left to itself ends in self-hatred and a clear absence of change. When you stay remorseful over something you have done it always leads to mental, emotional, physical and spiritual self-abuse. In a state of remorse, we never recognize the forgiveness that Jesus has offered each and every one of us on the cross. Remorse keeps you focused on your own sin, your own junk, your own mistakes, your own addictions, and never moves out from self and sin to Christ and forgiveness.

Peter, like Judas, experienced remorse. He wept bitterly, but his remorse led to repentance, to real change. The word used for repent in the New Testament is “metaneo,” the same word Peter used in Acts 2:38 when he preached about Jesus at the birth of the church. It’s the word John the Baptist used when he prepared the way for Jesus, and it is the word Jesus used in his ministry. That word literally means to rethink, to change your mind about something. Repentance is thinking about something in such a way that your allegiance jumps from one team to another. When a new Roman leader would come to power the soldiers needed to “metaneo” their allegiance to a new leader, a new way, a new path.[1]

One of the missteps we make regarding repentance is to think that it is about focusing on a sin in our life and recognizing that it is wrong. But that is not repentance, that is just remorse. Remorse focuses on the sin and feels genuinely broken. Remorse moves to repentance when our thinking changes about whose team we are on. And, like in biblical culture, when our thinking genuinely changes our allegiance, our actions change. You will never experience sustained change in your life by focusing on what needs to be changed instead of what you need to be changed into. Repentance recognizes the sin in our life that needs to be changed, but then moves our focus to the Christ whom we need to be changed into.

Repentance needs to start at the same place as Peter and Judas. You need to recognize your sin. Peter recognized that he had not stood by his master Rabbi in his greatest time of need, and wept. Judas realized that Jesus was innocent and was deeply remorseful. When you begin to engage repentance, you speak with clarity about what you have done. You have not truly engaged repentance until you are clear about your junk and no longer play the rationalization game. This clarity must birth a time of confession to God and also to others, as we are charged in James 5. Repentance also dictates that, if possible, some form of restitution should occur. This path leads to a true change of allegiance.

When we repent, we change teams. We are no longer loyal to our sinful nature. We are no longer loyal to the sin in our life, but we are now submitted to Christ and our allegiance resides with Him. Peter had been more interested in protecting his own skin than standing with Jesus. But that would change. Peter would boldly proclaim and stand with Jesus. And church history tells us that Peter would die for Christ, being crucified upside down. That is authentic repentance. An attitude, an action, a perspective was changed. It’s not that Peter never struggled again. He did. On one occasion the Apostle Paul had to put him back in line. Peter still struggled. When we truly repent and change our allegiance to Christ, we will still struggle. We will still sin. But in authentic repentance, the rhythm of our life begins to change; we begin to celebrate more victories, and the path of our life truly turns from our issues to the person of Jesus our Leader and Lord. In authentic repentance, we leave changed, and leaving changed is always at the heart of the church experience.

Jason Esposito
Lead Pastor

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Come As You Are


In Luke 14 we find Jesus at a meal that takes place at the home of a prominent Pharisee. A very important and resourced religious leader is throwing a Passover party and Jesus is invited. We are not sure about the motives behind the invitation because Luke tells us that Jesus was being carefully watched. He begins by healing a guy with dropsy and from that point, systematically offends everyone in the room. He starts by challenging their interpretation of the biblical law that they had dedicated their life to, and moves to an indictment on how they sit at the table, a sign of honor and pride in ancient culture. He ends his rant by telling them they should not invite their friends and family because friends and family can repay them; instead, he instructs them to invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind who cannot possibly repay them.
In Luke 14:15 one of the guests at the table hears this and says, “Blessed is the man who will eat the feast in the kingdom of God.” This guy is hoping that this statement will bring a great cheer of celebration because what he is saying is, “Look at us. We are all feasting together and we are special because we will also feast in the new kingdom, the new Jerusalem that God will establish someday. We are in, we are good, so let’s party!” Jesus doesn’t celebrate this comment, but he does tell one of his imaginative parables.
A certain man was preparing the most extravagant banquet. In Jesus’ day a wealthy man who threw this kind of party would send out two invitations. The initial invite is sent out and everyone accepts the invite. You would never have this kind of party without sending out two invitations. No one would attend a party with just one invitation because of the honor and shame code of the day. What if you received the invitation by accident and it was never the intened for you to be invited? You would patiently wait for the second invitation as the servant went out and reported that the meal was ready, the table was set, the food was hot and the music was rocking.[1]
Jesus gives us three examples in the common story-telling fashion of his day, highlighting how the people invited responded. Remember, all of these people have already received and responded positively to the invitation, but now, when the servant arrives, they give some very lame excuses as to why they cannot attend the great banquet. The first man says he must go and see a field that he just purchased. The next guy just bought five oxen, about 20,000 pounds of animal. Both are lies that try to soften the rejection. The final guy has a different excuse that seems legitimate at first glance. He is possibly using the law in Deuteronomy that gives a guy permission to not go to war for a year after marriage to defend his reasons for not coming to the party. This seems reasonable until you realize that no Palestinian village would have two major banquets at the same time. And no one would quickly get married between the first and second invitation. This guy was creative with his excuse, but he is also lying.
The servant returns to the master to report the bad news. The master tells his servants to go out into the community and invite the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The food should not be wasted and the house should be full with hungry appetites being satisfied. All the “important” people have had their opportunity, so now invite those who never get invited to this kind of party. Unlike the original invitees, the invisible people of their society do show up.
Philip Yancey, in his book What’s So Amazing about Grace, tells a true story that he found in the Boston Globe from 1990 that highlights this biblical truth:
            "Accompanied by her fiancĂ©, a woman went to the Hyatt hotel in Boston and ordered the meal [for the wedding reception]. They both had expensive taste, and the bill came to thirteen thousand… The day the announcements were supposed to hit the mailbox, the potential groom got cold feet. When his angry fiancĂ©e returned to the Hyatt to cancel the banquet, the Events Manager could not have been more understanding. But about the refund, she had bad news. The contract is binding. You’re only entitled to thirteen hundred dollars back. You have two options: to forfeit the rest of the down payment, or go ahead with the banquet. I’m sorry. Really, I am. It seemed crazy, but the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea of going ahead with the party - not a wedding banquet but a big blowout. Ten years before, this same woman had been living in a homeless shelter. She had gotten back on her feet, found a good job and set aside a sizable nest egg. Now she had the wild notion of using her savings to treat the down-and-outs of Boston to a night on the town. And so it was that in June of 1990, the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Boston hosted a party such as it had never seen before. She sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to peeling half-gnawed pizza off the cardboard dined instead on chicken cordon bleu. Hyatt waiters in tuxedos served hors d’oeuvres to senior citizens propped up by crutches and aluminum walkers. Bag ladies, vagrants, and addicts took one night off from the hard life on the sidewalks outside and instead sipped champagne, ate chocolate wedding cake, and danced to big-band melodies late into the night."[2]
The servant returns to the master and tells him that what he had ordered had been done; that the wounded and broken and outcasts of society had arrived. But there is still room at the party. Then the master tells the servant to go back out and invite everyone to come in.
We see the heart of God, who is the party-throwing master, in the story. He does not make it hard for people to come to him. And he does not force people to come to him, but he does everything to compel people to attend the great banquet. He doesn’t want just a select few to be in his house, but everyone to receive the invitation. The banquet in Jewish society was about fellowship, authentic hospitality, protection and being part of the family. The invite is for all to move from the outside to the inside; for people to come as they are to the community of faith and ultimately to Christ.
God invites the rich and the poor, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, all people to the family banquet. God is not concerned with the choices we have made, nor the past that we have lived, but he is concerned that we respond to his invitation and come into the family. As God is a “come just as you are” God, the church should be a “come just as you are” community.
Jason Esposito,
Lead Pastor
            [1] Bailey, Kenneth, Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1983), 95-99.
            [2] Yancey Philip, What’s So Amazing About Grace? (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 1997), 48-49.

Monday, April 1, 2013

What Goes On In Church Can't Stay In Church


This phrase (“What Goes On in Church Can’t Stay in Church”) is the antithesis to many of the ways the church has responded to the culture around it, and is core for the church to be a community of the curious. Historically there are three general responses by the church to the society in which it resides.
The first response is the “Let’s find a cave”perspective. It espouses that if we are to be true followers of Jesus Christ, then we must disassociate from the evils and problems of the world. We have seen many movements like this through the years such as the Amish, who separate themselves from the culture, locking themselves into the early nineteenth-century settlers’ mode. Or the compound people who buy a large plot of land in Montana, put up a big fence, stockpile food and some guns with a big “KEEP OUT OR GET SHOT” sign. Individually, we also do this by creating a Christian subculture that isolates us from the world. If you want to, you can attend a Christian school, transact only with Christian businesses, have a Christian doctor, listen to Christian music, watch Christian TV, and go online with a Christian browser. It’s not that any of these things in and of itself is entirely bad, but the fact that we have the capacity to create a “Christian” ghetto. This is not only a non-biblical response, it doesn’t work.
Second, we can have the “We are all one” response. That is, the “Can’t we all get along?” attitude. Within this philosophy, the choice is made not to isolate from the world, but to blend into the world. In fact, eliminating the distinctions between following Christ and living in the world is the goal of this perspective. In Germany, during WWII, the official church did this by supporting Hitler and the Nazi Party. In Europe today, where Christianity was paramount for 1,500 years, most of the beautiful churches are no different from the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. They are just tourist attractions because the church has lost its distinction.
The final unhealthy response is the “Storm the beaches” approach. There was an old Marine shirt that said, “Kill them all and let God sort them out.” Unfortunately, some Christ followers and churches have that military mentality: Let’s Bible-bash the culture. If they don’t get it, open their mouth wide and crank open the fire hydrant of theology; if we berate them enough, perhaps they will finally cave in and surrender to our ways. These are the churches that legalistically present the, “My way or the high way” approach to secondary and non-essential theological issues.
So how are we to respond to our culture? We do what God did. He stepped out of heaven and into the world.
What amazes me about Luke 2:6-7 is the highly regular nature of Jesus’ birth. God, in human form, enters history. He penetrates the culture and enters just like each and every one of us did as a fragile, crying baby. In verse 6, it says the time came for the baby to be born. Mary had to carry Jesus for nine months, plus or minus a few weeks just like all of us. Jesus was fully human. The Christmas song, Away in a Manger, was wrong when it said, “no crying he makes.” He did, in fact, cry, and he needed to be wrapped, just like other babies in that day, fed, and provided for.
Not only did God become man, but he also entered the world in very humble conditions. He was not the son of the wealthy and powerful, but of a common carpenter and a teenage girl. Jesus wasn’t born in a million dollar birthing room with sanitary walls, heat lamps, nose suckers and professionally trained nurses and doctors. There weren’t any proud grandparents sitting in the waiting room. He didn’t receive a baby shower, cards and balloons. There was no emergency infant ICU just in case. No, Jesus was born much like many babies all over the world today in impoverished nations. He was a human baby born to a poor family in adverse conditions. God became man and dwelt among us.
In John 1:14, the author is not only telling us that God became man, but also that he was, in fact, God. The Word orLogos became flesh and the Greek word Logos was used by ancient Greek philosophers to express the central principle of the universe. John is saying, in a language that his audience could understand, that the central principle of the universe, God himself, the Creator, became human. This man Jesus was God in flesh. He walked, he talked, he slept; but he also healed, fed thousands, and rose from the dead. Professor Leonard Sweet writes,
            "He dressed himself in the customary garb of the day where he lived. He spoke the language of the day in which he lived. He fully inhabited the cultural space of the first century…If our Savior joins us where we are, notwhere we ought to be, what excuse do we have to not join people where they are, while insisting on where they ought to be?"[1]
We must be a people who step beyond the walls of the Christian community and enter the arena that God has set before us. As a community of faith, we are challenged that what goes on in church can’t stay in church. The seventy minutes on Sunday morning is not the zenith of the Christian experience. Church service is not church, but a part of a much more potent and cultural transforming organism called church. No, what happens here (in service) doesn’t stay here, but transforms our life and community far beyond the walls of the church. We must not hide from, assimilate into, or try to destroy the people around us. But, like Christ, we must seek to understand the culture, serve people, and speak in a way that all can understand the hope that is found in Jesus. That is what is meant by, “What goes on in church can’t stay in church.”
Jason Esposito
Lead Pastor
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            [1] Leonard Sweet. Aqua Church. (Loveland: Group Publishing, 1999), 79.