January 1, 2007
By David Bunch

 

Jesus Christ once said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another” (John 13:35). There is quite simply no other characteristic more important for a Christian to display. In this postmodern age, hurting people are looking for someone who authentically cares, yet the Christian culture often fails them by offering a structured religious tradition rather than the genuine love of Christ. If we honestly survey the example Jesus Christ offered, it is clear that true Christianity is demonstrated when we bring the love of God to a hurting world rather than requiring a hurting world to come to God on our terms.

 

Recently, I was forced to rethink my paradigm of Christian ministry when I learned that a local non-denominational church booked their worship team to play at a popular college hangout. Would people be there with alcohol? Very likely. Would the air be tinged with the aroma of pot? Probably. Would the local religious establishment cast stones at this organization’s bold move? Without a doubt. Yet to ask one more question (that though extraordinarily overused is extremely relevant), what would Jesus do?

 

Would Jesus Attend Your Church?

He was ostracized by the religious establishment of His day because He ministered to those that no one else wanted to be around, yet Jesus Christ made such godly compassion the singular focus of His life. In one instance, He took a detour to spend some time with a lady who had been rejected by the Jews (John 4:6-30) because she did not have a full Jewish pedigree. The Samaritans further cast her away because she was immoral. Yet Jesus met her at the well as she was drawing water, counted it as nothing to stoop and meet her at her station in life, ministered to her, and changed her life forever. On another occasion, Jesus found 10 men who were leprous - men who were physically and figuratively turned out of society (Luke 17:11-19). No doubt there were those who criticized Jesus for even getting near them (it was a violation of the law of Moses, as recorded in Leviticus 22:3-5). Jesus loved His way into their lives and completely restored them.

 

I am afraid that the church today often seeks, or claims, relevance to this generation but instead offers it a hollow set of traditions, asking those it seeks to influence to play by its rules as though they can secure their all-day pass to the Kingdom by pleasing us. Jesus condemned the religious movement of His day for this, and instead showed them what displaying Kingdom love was all about - seeking out and ministering to those who had the greatest need. Jesus once blasted religious zealots for only hanging out with their own by saying, “They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick” (Luke 5:31).

 

In his book Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller offers a touching story that succinctly illustrates this point:

 

(The Navy SEALs) were performing a covert operation, freeing hostages from a building in some dark part of the world. (The) team flew in by helicopter, made their way to the compound and stormed into the room where the hostages had been imprisoned for months. The room was filthy dark. The hostages were curled up in a corner, terrified. When the SEALs entered the room, they heard the gasps of the hostages. They stood at the door and called to the prisoners, telling them they were Americans. The SEALs asked the hostages to follow them, but they wouldn’t. They sat there on the floor and hid their eyes in fear. They were not of healthy mind and didn’t believe their rescuers were really Americans. One of the SEALs put down his weapon, took off his helmet, and curled up tightly next to the other hostages, getting so close his body was touching some of theirs. He softened the look on his face and put his arms around them. He was trying to show that he was one of them. None of the prison guards would have done this. He stayed there for a little while until some of the hostages started to look at him, finally meeting his eyes. The Navy SEAL whispered that they were Americans and were there to rescue them. “Will you follow us,” he said. The hero stood to his feet and one of the hostages did the same, then another, until all of them were willing to go.¹

 

You Can Do It

So what can we do to bring Jesus' brand of ministry to the world around us? We must start by realizing that our commission is to do just that--minister to the world around us. Our world. Your daily interactions with people that present opportunities for ministry are different from mine. Yet your call is to work in your world, as I must work in mine. Once we begin to view our daily routines as opportunities for ministry, several ways to minister become clear:

 

1. Get Involved in Your Community--One of the greatest ways to let your light shine is to get involved in community outreach projects. Maybe you could walk a mile during the local walk-a-thon that raises cancer awareness. Or take the youth group out for a day of city beautification work. Whatever your choice, get out and let the community know what the love of Jesus looks like.
2. Volunteer--Closely related to community involvement is the notion of volunteer work. Spend time at the soup kitchen during the holidays. Help at a homeless shelter or orphanage. Spend half a day one Saturday visiting with people at a nursing home. (This one is challenging because I often tell myself that I do volunteer work at the church. That’s noble, but getting outside of our four walls, and our comfort zone, is what Jesus had in mind for us.)
3. Make Friends--You know those interactions you have with people at Starbucks or the grocery store? The ones that make you think, “Wow, that was a really nice person”? Leverage those as opportunities to network with people. Try to find creative ways to get the person's name and contact information.

 

This may seem a bit intrusive, but recently a woman started a conversation with my wife and within five minutes had invited her to the monthly "learn to write kid's books" meeting at the library. This individual was passionate about her hobby, and that type of example should inspire us to renew our passion for sharing God's love. And if it is just too uncomfortable to exchange email addresses, then use those few moments of conversation to let God work through you. Who knows what He might be doing in the Spirit realm while we are simply being a friend in the natural.

 

His Love Our Answer

If Jesus Christ was willing to step out of His comfort zone, come to where we were, and redeem us with sacred love, shouldn’t we be seeking out opportunities to meet those around us at the point of their need?

 

The Christ given Kingdom answer is an emphatic “yes.” After all, His love remains the supreme form of cultural relevance.

 

ninetyandnine.com

 

Ó 2007, David Bunch

 

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David Bunch spent his last week as a 20something assessing how well he has fulfilled Christ’s mission in the past and how he can better fulfill it in the future. He is a contributing blogger to 90&9s Collideoscope.

 

1. Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller, 2003 Thomas Nelson Publishers, pg 33-34