{"id":5069,"date":"2018-02-01T10:55:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T16:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=5069"},"modified":"2018-02-01T10:55:06","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T16:55:06","slug":"what-church-looks-like-when-we-actually-follow-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2018\/02\/what-church-looks-like-when-we-actually-follow-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"What Church Looks Like When We Actually Follow Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

What would it look like if we reformed ourselves to look like the Kingdom Jesus spoke about, if we lived the pure, undefiled religion James wrote about? How could we reshape our churches into real communities of faith in which Beatitudes people were viewed as the treasure of the church? Our church world would certainly be turned upside down. Anything could happen!<\/p>\n

We\u2019d Actually Follow Jesus<\/h4>\n

A little while ago, I was invited to meet with a small group of people from a church that wanted to learn how to reach out more effectively in its neighborhood. In an effort to \u201ctake the temperature\u201d of the group and the church they represented, I asked, \u201cWhat are the kinds of things we expect Jesus followers to do?\u201d They grinned awkwardly, knowing as they spoke the words the answer was lame: \u201cPray and read your Bible every day, go to church, don\u2019t lie, be faithful to your spouse .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSo what would we do if we actually did follow Jesus?\u201d<\/p>\n

After a short pause, this simple and profound response: \u201cWe\u2019d go where he went and do what he did.\u201d Brilliant.<\/p>\n

Where did he go?<\/p>\n

From the place of ultimate power, privilege, and security, he went to an oppressed nation, a poor family among poor people, and the vulnerability of living among\u2014speaking, walking, working, teaching, healing, challenging\u2014and in full sight of people who would want what they could get from him, who would try to co-opt him for their own purposes, who would briefly adore and then criticize, betray, condemn, torture, and murder him. He sought out the people who did not deserve what he had to offer and the people who nobody else wanted to get close to\u2014the religiously \u201cunclean,\u201d the diseased, the demon possessed, the traitors, the immoral, the foreigners, and even the oppressors.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t stay safely in his village or save his religious passion for the synagogue. He went. Galilee, Samaria, the Decapolis, Judea\u2014through the dusty hills, into bitter little redneck towns, among the tombs, into the city alleys and enclaves where the broken, the beggars, the discarded ones eked out their miserable existences. And before he left his disciples, he told them to go, too. Out into the world.<\/p>\n

If we were following Jesus, we\u2019d be known as people who go to the dangerous, poor, unpleasant places.<\/strong> Not just a few select missionaries to other countries; we\u2019d go as congregations, as communities of disciples\u2014followers\u2014to the most difficult spots in our own cities and towns.<\/p>\n

What did he do?<\/p>\n

He announced Good News for people who are poor and broken. He proclaimed God\u2019s pleasure in them. He taught the surprising, revolutionary character of the Kingdom of Heaven to people who were sure\u2014until they heard him\u2014that they didn\u2019t belong in it. He illustrated that Kingdom\u2019s character by feeding the hungry, healing the sick, touching the untouchable, casting out demons, and raising the dead. He overturned the money changers\u2019 tables; called out the leaders who promoted an empty, form-first religion; and refused to be intimidated by them or by the most powerful political and military empire in history. He laid down his life for the people he had come to call his friends.<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t we look different if we actually did what Jesus did?<\/strong> What would it look like if we, in our time and circumstances, \u201craised the dead,\u201d or \u201coverturned the money changers\u2019 tables\u201d? If we didn\u2019t just criticize the church, but instead went out there and actually lived like the body of Christ in the world? If we submitted our politics and economics to our religion, instead of the other way around, and gave our lives to raise up people who were hopeless, helpless, lost, teaching them that the Kingdom belongs to them?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Click the book to read chapter one or learn more.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019d be a dangerous people, a threat to the powers of this world. We\u2019d be magnetic, intoxicating to be around. We\u2019d be loving and joyful; we\u2019d be the epicenter of a cultural and economic revolution. We\u2019d be so comfortable eating and drinking with outcasts and sinners that we wouldn\u2019t be intimidated by the occasional invitation to do the same with the power brokers.<\/p>\n

We\u2019d be an irresistible force<\/strong>, lifting up those who have been oppressed, setting free those who have been imprisoned, returning sight to those who were blind\u2014the power within us would liberate rather than dominate, create rather than consume, and would render us vulnerable rather than unassailable.<\/p>\n

Others would look at us and say, \u201cSo that\u2019s what Jesus looks like .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

You’ve been reading with Greg Paul from Resurrecting Religion: Finding Our Way Back to the Good News<\/em>. Read chapter one here.<\/a> Learn more about Greg and his church at resurrectingreligion.com.<\/a>
\n“With raw vulnerability and buckets full of hope, Greg Paul will restore your faith in the church.”<\/strong><\/em> – Steve Wiens, Pastor and Author. See more praise for Resurrecting Religion<\/em> here.<\/a><\/p>\n

GET THE BOOK<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What would it look like if we reformed ourselves to look like the Kingdom Jesus spoke about, if we lived the pure, undefiled religion James wrote about? How could we reshape our churches into real communities of faith in which … <\/p>\n

Read moreWhat Church Looks Like When We Actually Follow Jesus<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Church Looks Like When We Actually Follow Jesus - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2018\/02\/what-church-looks-like-when-we-actually-follow-jesus\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Church Looks Like When We Actually Follow Jesus - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What would it look like if we reformed ourselves to look like the Kingdom Jesus spoke about, if we lived the pure, undefiled religion James wrote about? 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