Revolutionize

Introduction

Revolutionize is Our final step in this journey of the 5. We have realized the trash, the not good in our lives, we strive to repent, to begin thinking differently, that Jesus is the one in charge, because Jesus is King we then look to regenerate, to throw off the old self and put on the new, we do this by changing out disciplines, our way of life, and last night we looked at reinforce, how do we endure when times get hard, we know where our hope lie. Now the question is we have step into the Kingdom, we are now citizens of the Kingdom, now how do we live that out? What does that look like? What does it look like for us to be little pockets of the Kingdom wherever we go? Pockets of goodness in a world filled with trash?

Alex mentioned last night that camp is an awesome experience because it gives a little taste of heaven. What if we could take that taste of heaven and pass it along to the rest of the world? But that is difficult, it is easy to talk about showing love, care, value, bringing heaven to earth while we are at camp in a room together. But we will all go back to our home, schools, teams and realize not a whole lot changed. It can be difficult to be heaven on earth when the world around us is filled with death, pain, and suffering.

So the only way to do this is, with Jesus together.

One of the darkest times in human history, lead by one of the darkest people in human history was in the early 1900’s with WW2 and Adolf Hitler. Who has come to be known just as Hitler.

- Hitler kick started world war 2 and instituted what came to be known as the Holocaust.

o It is estimated that 11 to 16 million people were murdered during this time. People who were killed because of their race, ethnicity, where they lived, their disabilities, etc. This was men, women, and children. Nobody was safe from the movement kick started by Hitler.

In our first talk we looked at the idea of trash, how trash is not good. But we create trash when we try to define good on our own rather than let God define and lead us in good. Remember how we described defining good on our own, then listen to this quote.

The History channel says “To Hitler, the Jews were an inferior race, an alien threat to German racial purity and community. After years of Nazi rule in Germany, during which Jews were consistently persecuted, Hitlers “final solution” came to fruition under the cover of World War 2”

Did you catch that? Hitler believed that other people were inferior to the German race, therefore they should be killed. Or said another way, Hitler though the German race was good and everyone else was not good. One man, decided to define good on his own and it lead to the death of millions.

We cringe at these stories, they make us sick, we think about how horrible it must have been back then, I couldn’t imagine living in that time. Even the thought of looking at picture of kids in jump suits, in concentration camps, gives us, gives me anxiety, causes my heart to break because of such evil. We may even be pressed to think of how grateful we are that this could never happen today.

Psychology today wrote an article about Hitler in regards to his “not goodness” and it said “Hitler was completely indifferent to the pain and destruction his actions caused.”

We look at a person like Hitler or stalin or whoever and think they are the most evil of evil.

Here is a quote from the Psychology today article that said was the main issue with Hitler: Hitler only cared about himself, only about how he felt, only cared about his goals and what he wanted. Wow, that sounds like me on a Tuesday.

They said Hitlers problem was all he cared about was himself, only cared about he felt. We look at Hitler, see what he did, think we could never be that bad, we think our world is not that bad. Yet look at the root of Hitlers hatred, he thought good was what he defined it as.

This is why the other night we saw that Jesus raises the standard on life in the Kingdom. Its not enough to simply change your outward actions. Jesus knows that our hearts are jacked up, Jesus knows that at the source we are sick. Thats why the Bible speaks of a new heart, a total transformation because “doing good” doesn't cut it. Because when it comes down to it, we all sound a little more like hitler than we would want to realize.

We should not take lightly going back from this camp, we should not take lightly even our own intuitions and desires. They will lead us to begin to define good on our own rather than walk with our creator.

I raise this point because the question then is where do we go from here? How do we, as imperfect people, go out into the world and make a difference? How can we follow Jesus to revolutionize, to show people there is a better way?

Give some context for Ephesians.

In Ephesians 1:15-16 Paul says

- 5 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

As we lay the foundations of revolutionizing from this camp. We need to understand it's going to revolve around allegiance to Jesus, studying Jesus, spending time with Jesus, because in having faith in Jesus our worldview has changed.

We also need to understand that this is a community effort, there is a modern idea of spirituality that is hyper individualistic. Revolves around the individual, what they feel, what they want. Following Jesus is a communal offer

“Spirituality, for a Christian, can never be an individualist quest, the pursuit of God outside of community, family, and church. The God of the incarnation tells us that anyone who says he or she loves an invisible God in heaven and is unwilling to deal with a visible neighbor on earth is a liar since no one can love God who cannot be seen if he or she cannot love a neighbor who can be seen. Hence a Christian spirituality is always as much about dealing with each other as it is about dealing with God.” Ronald Rolheiser.

As we move forward, as we look into what Revolutionize is going to be about we do it together. Individual Christianity is not Christianity, there is no such thing.

But then what does the community do? How is Paul able to write to this church and say I have “heard” about your faith. How did he hear about their faith?

Bible Project Video

In our modern time we tend to view faith as this thing that I think, something that is going on in our minds. Now this is part of it but faith in the Bible is as one pastor puts it

“Faith means to have full allegiance and clinging onto for dear life. Faith in Jesus is full allegiance to him which is going on in brain but it is clinging to Jesus for all I have”

It's a lifestyle that Paul then says flows right into love. This love is a love that views the needs of another above my own.

In our modern world we are really good at create this mystic version of faith, we view it as this separate thing in my life that I read the Bible to grow more morally superior, morally righteous, whatever it may be. This could not be further from what the Bible says. Following Jesus is a whole new way of life. So when Paul says he has heard of their love, defined as thinking of another’s needs above my own. Paul is saying a lifestyle of love, not once in awhile giving money to a houseless person on the side of the road because you feel guilty and the pastor said something about love. Love requires having eyes to see people so that we may meet the needs they have, whether they speak them out or not. And its done together.

During this time when Hitler was wreaking havoc on the world, there was a guy by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. This is a picture of him behind me. Dietrich was a pastor and theologian during the time of WW2. Dietrich was known for his stance against the Nazi regime and was especially known for being outspoken about Hitler. This is important because Dietrich was a German. This actually lead to the imprisonment and hanging of Dietrich.

Now in Germany at this time was a community called “Bethel”. “Bethel” was started by the dad of a guy named Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Bonhoeffers friend. It was a community that served hundreds of people with disabilities. This was important because people with disabilities were high on the Nazi list for needing to be executed. Nazis even a few times tried to come to the place and do what they called “Mercy Killings” of the disabled.

The author of Bonhoeffers biography describes Bethel as “the antithesis of the (Nazi) worldview that exalted power and strength. It made the gospel visible, a fairy-tale landscape of grace, where the weak and helpless were care for in a palpably Christian atmosphere.”

In a world where Hitler is running around, exalting the powerful, the strong, the mighty. This community, the Bodelshwingh community comes along and exalts the weak, the helpless, those who would have died if they did not have this community. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer sees this happening and says this community makes the reality of Jesus visble, it is a fairytale landscape of grace. This is what we are called to do.

Whatever powers that may exist and the values of my world and culture those no longer have power over me and no longer over the community. Paul’s prayer is saying we are called the create “Fairytale lands of grace (the bodel).”

V. 21b Christian worldview is saying that the physical world as it presents itself to us is not the whole story. This is tough with the 21st century view of what you see touch taste and swallow is all there is. What do these authorities and power actually have to do with going to world tomorrow? What are these powers and what does it mean to wake up to these powers at work?

This is what Paul is talking about. In a world of trash. The church, the followers of Jesus, they cling to Jesus together being a fairytale landscape of grace for those in the world that are being crapped on by the trash of the world.

it won’t be easy, living in unity sounds easier said than done at times. That’s why Paul is writing this letter to remind them

Ephesians 2:19-21 – “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together grows into a holy temple in the lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

“Ideologies, no matter how noble are attempts to usher in the Kingdom of God without God. How do we stay faithful to Jesus and eve practice when everyone is walking away? How do we stay true to Jesus mental maps of reality and honor God with out body and entire life? Especially in a world of plurality.”

Together

From Comer - 3 Ways for the Future Church

We need a radical new commitment to Jesus as Lord. We need to give up any of these foolish attempts to be a conservative christian, progressive christian, or American christian or anything before christian. We need to give our full self to Jesus as Lord as our way of life, not just ticket out of here but as Lord.

Radical new commitment to Jesus as the way. Jesus as the way to live. Living in a way that will set us up to flourish in a way of the dead soil of secularism. Average millennial does 150 hours of christian stuff of their average 3000 hours of content. We need more than that. Our church, our way of life, our discipleship to Jesus needs to be stronger than secularisms title for us, a life built around Jesus as the only way forward.

We need a sweeping renewal of the HS, across THE CHURCH. Do not buy the church as being a slow decline in American, its eb and flow, the tide is out now but it can come in. Our only hope is a sweeping move of God.