BLOG 4/17/18. “BY THIS TIME YOU OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS OF OTHERS”
OK, let’s get this on the table right up front: Christ’s followers are called to be contagious with the reality of God’s New Creation, which he came to inaugurate. Yes, everyone who is baptized into Christ as his follower/disciple is called to be a fervent communicator of that reality. A non-communicating Christian is an oxymoron. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews underscores this with a rebuke to those in whatever community he was addressing this letter to: “…you have become dull of hearing. For by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God” (Hebrews 6:11ff.).
The Christian community is not a place (though it does need a common place to meet), nor a gifted professional teacher (though such do emerge within living communities). No. The Christian community is that company who have responded, and are responding in obedience and faith to the life and teachings of Jesus. When Jesus Christ is invited into one’s life, he indwells that person in his role as the demonstration and communicator of that mission of God. That means that the church which is faithful, is a community of those capable of teaching and admonishing one another (Colossians 3:16 in loc).
The church was tragically subverted when is began to define itself as an institution, and when it became dependent on professional clergy. That self-understanding allowed its members to be passive-dependent observers of ecclesiastical rites, rather than being engaged in the mission of God. That being so, one can ever so comfortable as a church member and never become part of what Jesus called his church to be and to do. One needs to remember that in Jesus’ earliest teaching were the beatitudes, the purpose of which was to demonstrate in the lives of his followers that New Creation/Kingdom, i.e., “that men may see your good works and glorify God.” The church understood that it was on a mission, and that its lifestyle was to elicit curiosity that men and women would inquire as to what it was that produced such a life.
To make the lame excuse that: “O, I’m only a layman,” or “I’m no preacher” betrays a total shameful misunderstanding of Christ’s calling. It is further interesting that in our engagement as Christ’s followers, and our lives in the Spirit, we are in nose-to-nose engagement with “wiles of the devil” who seeks to subvert the mission, and so we are taught to daily put on the whole armor of God, which armor begins with our knowledge of the person and work of Jesus, but right away includes our lifestyle, i.e., the breastplate of righteousness, the we are to put on, as shoes, the readiness of the gospel of peace, … then after our resource of defense, which is the body-shield of faith, we are to put on the helmet of salvation, i.e. we are to think (have our minds formed) like New Creation/Kingdom people. But, careful (now) then we are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the ability to communicate the message of Christ (Ephesians 6).
“OK, Henderson, are you trying to make us feel guilty?” Answer (with a chuckle): “Probably.” I’ve been a pastor-teacher in Christian communities for a couple of generations, and I’ve seen my share of church-shoppers, always looking for the perfect church to satisfy some set of definitions they have. But the participants in the Christian community who make a difference, are those who find in their times gathered, the nurture and encouragement from each other, that enables them to be more effective communicators in all the non-glamorous settings of their 24/7 incarnations. Such have the DNA of Christ in them, and are on the cutting-edge of the mission of God, and the love of God, in this very broken world. It is thrilling mission, and it is what we are called to be by Christ, and what we are baptized into as we have come to him. Contagious. Communicators. Incarnations of God’s new humanity in Christ. Got it? Run with it!
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