A Shelter In The Storm

A Shelter in the StormReexamining the Mission of the Church The Bible frequently uses metaphors. They are a means to communicate new ideas and visions of God and the future I am the bread of life Jn.6:35 I am the true vine Jn.15:1 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, Isa.65:25 Much of the genius of the Bible is its skillful use of metaphors The church is a body For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Eph.5:23 The church is a bride “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. Eph.5:31-32 The church is a temple Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. Eph.2:20-21 In the sermon on the mount, Jesus gives 3 successive metaphors. Mt.7:1328 1. The two roads. One is wide and easy, but leads to destruction. The other is narrow and hard, but it leads to life 2. The two trees. One bears good fruit and lives on, while the other bears bad fruit and is cut down and burned. 3. The two houses. One is built on the rock so that it withstands the wind, rain, and flood; the other is built on the sand and collapses in the storm. Three times Isaiah uses the “shelter from the storm” metaphor as He prophesies the coming of the Messianic age. Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain. Isa. 4:5-6 You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. Isa.25:4 See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, Isa. 32:1-2 Jesus had borrowed this metaphor from Isaiah and understood that he and his followers were ushering in the long awaited kingdom of God and they were building what Isaiah described as a shelter from the storm. A shelter in the storm is a beautiful metaphor of what the church is to be between the launch and realization of the kingdom of God. In the conclusion of his sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches us that if we will live his teaching, we will build a house upon the rock-solid foundation that will stand when the rains fall, the winds blow, and the floods rise. An eightfold declaration of the nature of the kingdom of God and who it is who will be most blessed with its arrival. The Blessings… For the poor in spirit For those who mourn On those who are meek For the ones who hunger for justice On those who extend mercy to others The ones having pure hearts Those who seek to make peace On those, who because of their alignment with the kingdom of God, are persecuted The Beatitudes are subversive to the established order—they are the subversive values of the kingdom of God. The inauguration of the kingdom of God brings a radical change to the accepted order of how the world has always been run. The beatitudes announce that change. “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Mt.20:16 “If we are not shocked by the Beatitudes, it’s only because we have tamed them with a patronizing sentimentality– and being sentimental about Jesus is the religious way of ignoring Jesus.” Brian Zahnd Blessed are the impoverished (think about those to whom Jesus was speaking) in Jesus' time “blessed” was a common way of describing someone who is wealthy. Blessed are those who don’t have it together….the majority of the “have nots.” Jesus meets us at our point of poverty, not our place of strength. The truth is , those who “got it together” will find it difficult to enter the kingdom. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. Luke 1:53 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Mk.10:23 Luke 15-16 Mt.25:31-46 Where do we find Jesus in the world? Go to the marginalized Warning: Beware of a “savior complex” We have become a people more willing to give money than ourselves. Why? There’s no “risk” in charity. “If we’re not embodying the world we’re trying to create then there is a disjoint.” Richard Beck What is the greatest danger of affluence? You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Rev.3:17 For our churches to be shelters from the storm, we must welcome the marginalized, but first we must be willing to see them