Urban Mission Blog

Incarnating Jesus in the Concrete Jungle

September 29, 2009 • 13:57 2

How Can You Ignore Jesus When He is Naked?

“Do you wish to honour the body of Christ? Do not ignore him when he is naked. Do not pay him homage in the temple clad in silk, only then to neglect him outside where he is cold and ill-clad. He who said: “This is my body” is the same who said: “You saw me hungry and you gave me no food”, and “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers you did also to me”… What good is it if the Eucharistic table is overloaded with golden chalices when your brother is dying of hunger? Start by satisfying his hunger and then with what is left you may adorn the altar as well.” -John Chrysostom

This quote is from the 3rd century, and interestingly this quote seems to be addressing something the Church then was struggling with, and it seems it is not different from how she struggles now. There is this tendency we have to “adorn the altar” while the sick, hungry, and helpless remain that way all around us. to quote a modern poet and scholar/rapper, my friend Sho Baraka, “the churches gettin bigger, but the block don’t change.”

Essentially these two men, from different era’s, different centuries, different cultures, are saying the same thing. The Church, as a whole, is an internally focused hospital for the well while the sick and dying continue to be sick and die. Jesus said that he came for the sinner, that those who are well needed no physician. Jesus came making wrongs right, crooked straight, and broken whole. Healing the sick, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, healing the broken hearted, and clothing the naked.

So what are the gospel implications…that the gospel is bigger than saving us from our sin sickness. There are social, ethical, and justice related indictments that are inherent in Christ’ gospel, and if we are not involved in them, but our “alters” are covered with “gold” then we have failed to incarnate the Jesus of the bible…at least fully.

Filed under: Gospel, Growth and Journey, Jesus, Justice, Mission

September 28, 2009 • 16:02 0

Disposable Jesus

There are many things in this life that have been deemed “disposable” in one sense or another. Relationships(if you care to challenge that look up this years divorce rates), jobs, material goods, people in general. Though you may push back against this it is clear, from the facts that surround us, that we are such an inwardly focused people who most things in our lives only hold value as long as we give it value.

So the question that looms is, can faith be counted among these other items? According to a friend and member of our fledgling gospel community it certainly can, or at least that’s what she learned when she was growing up, and it has severely impacted how she views Jesus, and His gospel…and those who say they represent Him.

Last night we continued to explore the book of John, and in the latter part of chapter 6 we came to this statement, “66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” Presumably these were people who followed Jesus relatively closely, and yet because He said something difficult to them, you will have to go and read it, too much detail to go into here, they decided He was no longer worth following. Amazing…these were not people dependent on the written scriptures to know Jesus intimately, they had Him, incarnate God in flesh, and yet…their faith…was disposable.

This was my friend Audrey’s experience growing up, and even now with some of her friends and family who profess to follow Jesus…Jesus was and is a function of their life, when convienant…and when He is not, when there are things that they refuse to let go of to follow, or things said in the scriptures that they want to resist, she explained that they simply ceased to follow, and ceased to take her to worship with the church when she was a child.

Is Jesus really that easy to get hooked too and unhooked from? Surely not! But this is how many who call on His name treat Him and His gospel, and it, along with fools on television begging for money, are the primary reason why many of friends are skeptics, doubters, agnostics, and atheist. It is these people who turn them away from Christ. They offend before the gospel ever has a chance to.

Ghandi is famous for saying, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” This is telling. I wish I could show him 1 John 2:19, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.”

Here is reality, many of Jesus disciples turned away, because they were never truly his…many treat Jesus and His gospel as disposable because they don’t truly belong to Him. If you are a skeptic, and have made an impression of all Christ followers because of one of theses “many” I am sorry, truly. If you say you are a follower of Jesus, are you? Or will you turn away? Is your Jesus disposable

Filed under: Atlanta, Controversy, Gospel, Grant Park, Renovation Church, Spiritual Growth, Worldview

September 24, 2009 • 15:18 1

You Don’t Want Jesus because You Love the Praise of Men

Filed under: Discipleship, Gospel, Growth and Journey, Worldview

• 14:43 1

There Will Never Be Enough Evidence to Prove Jesus Is God

Initially, if you are a follower of Jesus, you may have pushed back when you read this title, because like me, you see that the evidence for the historical Jesus being God is overwhelming…the most critical of that evidence being that He continually called Himself God. So why the choice in title? Because reality is that though the evidence for Jesus being the living God and the only way to everlasting life is overwhelming, it won’t be the evidence that leads to a skeptics heart changing, and it won’t be the evidence that leads to saving faith.

Skeptics, doubters, and revilers of God are some of my favorite people, mostly because they are straight forward and more honest than the nominal Christian, or cultural Christian who say’s they believe in Jesus, but their lives do not match their words…and what I continually encounter is that no matter the level, depth, and breadth of historical, theological, and sociological evidence that I present for the person and work of Jesus as God, and THE WAY to eternal life, there is never enough to persuade or sway someone to believe and follow.

Lest you believe this is just opinion on my part, you can turn to John 6 in the scriptures and see the same thing. Jesus has just fed an estimated 20,000 people with a few fish and pieces of bread…and they had left overs. In verse 22 Jesus took off, and they followed Him still over to Capernaum. When they got there they began a discourse which ultimately leads them to ask Jesus, “What can we do to do the work of God,” in other words, how can we be good and do good things…and Jesus response is simple, believe in me,and that I have been sent from God. And what is their response to this, verse 30 records “So they said to him, Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?” In other words, show us something, and we will believe. Give us proof, give us evidence, do something to make us believe in You. Now here is the irony, by chapter 6 of John, Jesus had done many things to “show them something” including turning water into wine, prophesying, healing the sick, and feeding thousands with very little…they had seen all that would be necessary to believe that this Man who continues to say He is God, He is sent from heaven, He is the Son of God, is exactly who He says He is. Even in this discourse He is telling them that though they are looking for food to fill and immediate hunger, that He is the bread of eternal life, that if they would consume Him, or have their lives totally given over to His person and work, being indwelt by Him in every fiber of their being, they are overlooking what is right before their faces…though the evidence is stacked, the Messiah goes unseen.

The point is this, that evidence, proof, facts, history, will never be enough…they are empty vestiges without the work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart. Jesus says it clearly Himself in this same section of scripture in verse 44″No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Salvation is the work of God, and we have simply been invited to play a role in His redemptive work, through His gospel. Am I saying don’t defend, don’t present facts, don’t have long, 3+ hours conversations with people you love who are skeptics regarding the person and work of Jesus…absolutely not. What I am saying is remember always that these are simply tools God has given us to play a part in transforming work in His creation. They are useful, and should be practiced with skill and efficiency, presenting all evidence and facts, but always with the understanding that unless I pray that the Holy Spirit empower every word, and begins a work in this person’s heart, it will make no difference, because evidence is simply not enough…

Filed under: Biblical Insight, Gospel, Growth and Journey, Mission, Worldview

September 23, 2009 • 08:14 2

Mike Vick, Mission, and the Gospel Kingdom

Life presents unique opportunities or mission, in all settings and all places…the hope is that your eyes are wide open to see what is right in front of you.

Nearly ten years ago Dr. Frank Igwe, a long time friend and brother now, had a late night conversation, dreaming about what it would look like to leverage my then budding athletic career to get access to students in the public school system, to give them a strong message of hope, life beyond their circumstances, and the gospel veiled in language that would not get us kicked out of the school permanently.

That late night conversation in a run down campus apartment has blossomed into the not for profit City A.C.E.S. Though we birthed this together I have since taken a secondary role, primarily acting as consultant and lead speaker at events, while Dr. Igwe acts as C.E.O. We had our first pilot event in Harrisburg, PA two years ago, and have since then gone back to Harrisburg, where we served 1800 inner city schools, and today Philadelphia, where we served nearly 1000 more.

This was an amazing opportunity, that brought with it a clear message…that these students could be more than the soil that produced them. That they were designed, and created with purpose, and that the seed of greatness has been placed deep in their hearts by the great designer who gave them life. I had the opportunity to share the gospel in a manner of speaking, and it penetrated, even the principal and several teachers who informed me they were on the verge of, or fully gave in to tears. This is not an opportunity to pat my self on the back, but to give praise to the Holy Spirit who was so evidently and clearly at work…it was amazing! Th gospel…bringing teachers and student to tears…in a public school…only a great God could do something so spectacular.

This particular event I also had the opportunity to share the stage with Michael Vick, once great Falcon football player, and now NFL hopeful, who is trying to reset his life. Backstage we had a moment of semi-rich conversation where we discussed our brief stint as “team mates”, and I was able to genuinely ask him how he was doing. I saw what seemed to be genuine brokenness in his eyes, and had the opportunity to briefly share the gospel. It was a great day indeed, filled with promise for Christ Kingdom going forward in many lives.-19125_564873916466_48504819_33099023_1963098_n

Mission is most often not wrapped up in professional’s (Pastor’s) directing non-professionals(The congregation) in what to say and do on a Sunday morning in the building where the church gathers, but rather, it is where we do life…where we turn what seems to be work or even play into an opportunity to see one more heart introduced to the seed of the gospel. It’s your turn, where is the Holy Spirit directing you?

Filed under: Gospel, Life, Mission

September 3, 2009 • 22:04 1

Another Senseless Death…this time a College Student

Twenty three hours ago a young woman died on the campus of Clark Atlanta University….her death is the third in recent history on or around the Atlanta University Center Campuses, which is comprised of several historic African American Colleges.

This young woman moved here to attend school, and flee the violence and danger of her home town. She came here, paying tens of thousands of dollars to be educated, not to lose her life.

In nearly every historic district or area of this city there is a high level of police presence to ensure he safety of the people who live there, those who have chosen life in the city to revitalize the city. Are the students of the AUC not as valuable? Do they not deserve that same protection and safety as they seek to grow through education?

I am grieved by her death, another life lost to he violence and unrest of my beloved Atlanta…but as much as I am grieved I am disappointed in the system that failed to protect or serve her. This is no justice at all….please pray Jesus would bring shalom to this city.

Filed under: Atlanta, Controversy, Justice

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