People Who Inspire Me: Jesus Christ

In this series on people who inspire me, I have gone in chronological order from William Wilberforce to Corrie ten Boom. In my final post on the subject, I will go back to the one who inspired them and me: Jesus Christ. In each of the people who inspire me, one can see characteristics of the Lord. One can see his kindness, his courage, his perseverance, his compassion, and many other qualities. However, there is one thing in the character of Christ that cannot be imitated by anyone else. Why does Jesus inspire me? As the sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ died in my place, taking the wrath of God for my sins, and was resurrected in order to save me from the fate I deserved.

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

"Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! For if, when we were still God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation" (Romans 5:6-11, New International Version).

Who Are God's Chosen People?

For some reason, I have been asked this question three times by extended family members during the past week. I am not raising this question in order to be controversial. Nor am I raising it in order to resolve all the problems surrounding the Israeli-Arab conflict. (I do not even know all of the issues involved in their conflict.) I am addressing it because I have been asked about it a number of times over the last few days, and because my understanding of the identity of God's chosen people seems to be new to many people.

I believe that God's chosen people include both Jewish and Gentile believers in Christ (the Messiah). In the past, the Jewish people alone were considered God's chosen people. However, Jesus expanded the composition of the chosen people to include both Jewish and Gentile believers. As the apostle Paul wrote, "In him (Christ) we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory" (Ephesians 1:11-14). In effect, Paul was saying that God's chosen people are those who have "heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation," have "believed," and have received the Holy Spirit as "a seal...guaranteeing our inheritance."

The apostle went on to write, "Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called 'uncircumcised' by those who call themselves 'the circumcision' (that done in the body by the hands of men)--remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility...Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household...This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:11-16; 2:19; 3:6).

Also, please notice the point made by the apostle Paul when he wrote, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Galatians 3:26-29).

In Romans 9-11, Paul expresses his desire for all of Israel to be saved. He explains that many have abandoned God by refusing to believe in their Messiah, but he also expresses the hope that they will return to their God in the future. In the meantime, the believing Jewish people remain the remnant of people in a covenant with God, and believing Gentiles have been "grafted" into the covenant relationship with God through their trust in Jesus the Messiah.

In Christ, God has brought together Jews and Gentiles as believers. Together, they constitute God's chosen people. The chosen people are defined by their faith, rather than their ethnic backgrounds, cultures, or heritages.

(Although my understanding may seem new to many people, I believe it is as old as the New Testament. Furthermore, I am not alone in seeing God's chosen people as Jewish and Gentile followers of Christ. Please see the works of scholars like Dr. John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, for similar views. One of his sermons--www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/1992/810_Israel_and_Us_Reconciled_in_One_Body/-- would be an excellent place to start.)

Peacemaking for Families: A Biblical Framework

These are the notes for my next Bible class at the Contact Church of Christ:

*Human conflict has a long history. It started with the disobedience of Adam and Eve. This put them in conflict with their Creator and each other. Their relationships were strained. They were at odds with each other. To this day, everyone of us lives under the influence of their sin. Each of us deals with the results of their sin. We even imitate their sin. As a result, we struggle with how to relate to God and to other people.

*God was not satisfied with leaving us alone in our messed-up world. He knew that we faced hell apart from himself. He cared too much to let us remain in conflict with himself, so he sent Jesus Christ to save us (John 3:16). "For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit" (1 Peter 3:18, NIV). "God presented him as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away sin, through faith in his blood" (Romans 3:25a, alternative reading in the NIV). When we trust in what Christ has done to forgive us, to bring us back to God, and to give us new life, we change. We turn away from everything we know to be in conflict with God in order to follow his Son. We allow our old lives to be buried in baptism, so that we can live new lives for God's glory (Romans 6:1-4). Having been reconciled to God by Christ, we are on a mission to spread reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).

*If our mission is reconciliation, how should Christians view conflict? As an opportunity to show God's power in a difficult situation. "Glorifying God is the highest calling of a Christian" (Ken Sande and Tom Raabe, Peacemaking for Families, p. 35). When we keep in mind what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, we will approach conflict (and all of life) thinking about how we can please and honor God in it. We will find ourselves motivated to resist pride and resentment while seeking to do the right thing in love.

*Jesus said, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5, NIV). If we are going to make peace in a God-honoring way, we must examine our words, actions, and attitudes to determine what must change within ourselves before helping others in areas where they need to change. Have I used words to hurt when it was not necessary? Have I used sarcasm to belittle? Have I been complaining or nagging? Have I lied? Have I jumped to conclusions and then shared those unfounded conclusions in gossip? Have I been lazy or negligent in the relationship? Have I failed to keep commitments? Have I withheld kindness or affection? Have I been selfish? If so, I need to change my thinking, confess my wrongs, and ask for forgiveness. I must not stand in the way of reconciliation.

*After dealing with ourselves, we are ready to confront another person's problems. Confronting the sins of others should not be done with eager anticipation, but neither should it be passively avoided if the offense has seriously dishonored God, seriously damaged a relationship, hurt others, or hurt the person who committed it. Sometimes the offender would love to change, but needs someone to come along with helpful advice. It can lead to repentance and a healthier way of living (Matthew 18:15; Galatians 6:1). "Loving confrontation can serve as a positive example to others. Whether you realize it or not, people are constantly watching how you handle adversity and treat those who wrong you. How you comport yourself gives others a chance to either mock Christians and reject Christ or become open to hearing the gospel. Christians watching your behavior, on the other hand, will either feel justified in responding improperly to conflict or be encouraged to honor God in their own reactions as well. Because imitation is a form of love, this last point has tremendous spillover effect with children. Kids study how their parents react to conflict, and will often imitate them when conflict arises in their lives as well"(Peacemaking for Families, p. 39).

*Finally, after a conflict has been dealt with, forgiveness must be the God-honoring resolution (Matthew 6:12; Luke 11:4; Matthew 18:23-35). "Here are four concrete promises one must make to truly forgive another:
~I will not thnk about this incident.
~I will not bring up this incident again and use it against you.
~I will not talk to others about this incident.
~I will not allow this incident to stand between us or hinder our personal relationship" (Peacemaking for Families, p. 41).

*After the pain and heartache that Christ endured to bring about peace between us and God, we can endure some discomfort in making peace in our families. After all, the final result of the process will be a God-honoring joy for all involved.

John Perkins and Urban Ministry

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:16-20, NIV).

Today, I read an article about John Perkins on the Christianity Today website (http://christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/march/35.48.html). It brought back memories of meeting Dr. Perkins almost 5 years ago at the Urban Ministry Conference of the Churches of Christ. He was a famous and impressive speaker, but many of us did not know who he was until he spoke that evening. (In fact, he was getting some food and coffee from the kitchen when Evelyn Jennings met him. She told me that she thought that he was just a man who had wandered in from the streets for some food. It happens often at the Contact Church of Christ.) Dr. Perkins was a preacher, a former labor union organizer, a civil rights activist, an advocate for the poor and hungry, a pro-life advocate, and a former advisor to President Reagan, but he was a humble and unassuming man at the same time.

After reading the article from Christianity Today, I thought that I would post an article that I wrote for our former congregation. This is a portion of an article from the November 2002 newsletter of Jenks Church:

URBAN MINISTRY LEADERS GATHER AT CONTACT CHURCH
By Terry Laudett

Urban ministry leaders gathered in Tulsa from October 24-26 at the Contact Church of Christ for the national Urban Ministry Conference of the Churches of Christ. The annual meeting provides a forum for Christians to share ideas, information, and encouragement in sharing God's love and message of grace with people in urban surroundings, especially those living in poverty...

On Friday, Dr. John Perkins, chairman of the Christian Community Development Association, built upon the conference theme of developing holistic Christian community within urban churches. He taught that the whole gospel is the love of God demonstrated to the whole world. "Don't overlook anyone," Dr. Perkins warned. Everyone needs reconciliation with God and with other people. Christians must reach across racial, economic, and cultural barriers as God's ambassadors to bring the message of reconciliation. Dr. Perkins noted, "To receive the grace of God, but not to be a reconciler, is to receive the grace of God in vain."

It was an honor to have met and talked with Dr. John Perkins.