The How to of the Hook - Christmas

If you've read my earlier two posts (hook for humans) you may be thinking yeah, yeah, yeah I know that stuff. Jesus and His mission are the only real food for searching hungry hearts, but how do you actually draw someone in with the Gospel bait. In a word - Christmas. I'm not talking about some sort of cool Christmas outreach. I'm talking about the theology behind Christmas.

Christmas is a time when we celebrate when God took on human flesh so He could do several things, one of which, is hang out with humans. There's a story in the first chapter of the book of John that seems so insignificant. You may even wonder why it's there. It's (soon to be disciples of Jesus) John and Andrew. They've been hanging out with John the Baptist which incidentally had to be a weird ride. John tips them off that the whole reason he has been in ministry has just walked by in a robe and sandals.

John and Andrew abruptly start stalking Jesus until He gets the hibbee jibbees and turns around to inquire why they are intruding on His personal space. They are understandably nervous, having never met a Messiah before and they say to Jesus that they only want to see where He lives. His answer to them is to "Come and See."

Jesus is no idiot (a gross understatement I know). He knows what these guys are up to and could have gone into a red letter discourse that would have made your head spin, but He doesn't. He simply let's them come up close and personal. The scripture says they then spent the day with Him. Can you imagine? Spending the day with the Godman. We're hard pressed to find a regular old human who would be willing to spend the day with us much less want to. By the end of the day, Andrew is so stoked over his hang out time that he can't wait to go fishing for his brother Simon (soon to be Peter). Jesus has successfully begun to fish for men and did it through the ministry of hanging out.

When we came here to plant a church in 1999, we had been trained to market our vision for the start-up of a new church. The idea was to do a publicity blitz with slick post cards and news ads. It would cost thousands but was supposed to bring in a sizable crowd for our launch service. Before we could really get launched with this strategy, most of our start-up money was cut for one reason or another. Because of this, our "strategy" had to shift to the ministry of hanging out.

We set-up a table at Umass and met a few folks. Invited them to a start-up meeting and from there engaged in the ministry of hanging out. Some of those folks became Christians. Some, who were already Christians, grew immensely. All of them started doing the same in their own circles of influence. The result has been a church that has been planted in a place where most church plants have failed. While we've definitely spent money, it's been mostly on staff who spend lots of time cultivating relationships and encouraging others to do the same. Our biggest challenge is passing that vision on to each generation of MERCYhousers.

This hanging out ministry is so simple and yet so hard. It's simple because all you need is a living/growing/transforming relationship with Christ. You need not worry about having a huge storehouse of pat answers to spring on your unsuspecting victims at a moments notice. You only need Christlike love for the people you are hanging out with and your own story about walking with Christ.

It's hard because it takes a huge investment of time and energy and sometimes other resources as well. People are, well, messy, and there is no getting around it. It is so tempting (and yes it is a temptation to sin) to close the door on new relationships and hang out with only those who are safe and encouraging. Thank God Jesus didn't do that. He chose to risk and to be inconvenienced and give his whole day to a bunch of punks from Galilee. Come to think of it, gave His whole life to a bunch of punks from planet earth. Let's follow in His steps and do the same.

A Hook for Humans II

The other intriguing part (see earlier post for part I) of Jesus' invitation to his first followers is that it includes the opportunity to give one's life away to the mission of Jesus. This too rings strange in the ears of Christian consumers. Why would Jesus tell people He wanted them to do something for him before they've even decided they want to follow him in the first place. A couple of reasons come to mind.

As was stated in the earlier post, Jesus is good enough in and of himself to be followed no questions asked. The reason we are able to do this is because He has already shown that he can be trusted by going through the most humiliating, painful death imaginable before we said yes to anything. Whatever He asks of us will always pale in comparison to what He's already done for us - no questions asked.

But there is more to this invitation. Jesus knows that we are hard wired to be on a mission with God. From the very beginning, God and human beings are working alongside each other. When God creates Adam (6th day), the first thing Adam does is rest (7th day) but immediately after the one day rest God and Adam are on the job bright and early on Sunday morning - naming animals and tending the garden. God still sees our vocations in a similar light. Fishing for fish (or designing semi conductors or sweeping the floor) is a way to co labor with the Creator. We are wired to work with God.

Because of the fall of man, we've got an extra thing on our to do list that Adam and Eve didn't have back in Genesis 2. Those who have reconciled with God through Christ are not only on mission with God in whatever career they find themselves in at the moment, but they are also commissioned to be a fisher of humans. We get to ride shotgun with Christ as He continues to do the same kind of fishing that we see Him doing on that sandy beach in Galilee. It is one of the most exciting, challenging, stretching experiences that you will ever have and is one of the "hooks" that pulls you into a relationship with Jesus.

I'll talk more about what it means to fish for humans in the next post

The Hook for Humans

I've always found it interesting how Jesus gets his first followers. He doesn't invite them to a big meeting with free lattes or promise them 10 steps to a better life. He says "follow me and I will make you fishers of men". This seems strange in the age of consumer church. What is Jesus getting at by using such a "hook".

Two things. The first is that Jesus is good enough in and of himself to be followed. These first followers were certainly not following Jesus because they thought he was going to give them the easy life nor did Jesus represent that he was offering this. We find Jesus talking with a group of potential followers in the Gospel of Matthew. One of them declares with great emotion that he plans to follow Jesus wherever he goes. Jesus' quick reply is that he (Jesus) has no place to lay his head implying that the man should perhaps reconsider his decision to follow Jesus because of the unknown hardships he may end up facing. Another person pipes in and declares his need to take care of aging parents before fully following Jesus. Again, Jesus answers with a surprisingly harsh statement that the dead should be left to bury themselves.

Still people signed up to follow. They even signed up to die for him. Why did they do this? This is one of the proofs that Jesus was who he said he was. That people were willing to follow him with nothing to gain. This is an especially powerful argument when we see that many of these same followers continued to follow Jesus even after his crucifixion and did so to their own peril.

There have been many who have tried to explain this phenomenon away. Everything from grand conspiracy theories to group hallucinations. The fact remains that these followers of Jesus remained true to Christ and true to the message of his death, burial, and resurrection and did so without any promise of earthly health and wealth. Their encounter with Jesus, himself was all that it took.

Listen to this Apostle as he describes his encounter with Jesus: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." (1John 1:1-3)

While a relationship with Jesus can definitely improve your life in a variety of ways, this is not why we are to follow Him. We follow Him because he is who he said he was. The Godman who came to rescue us from our sin and did so by dying and rising. This is also how we are to "fish for men." While I do think the church should incorporate some of the principles of our marketplace into it's "outreach", all we have to offer once people are in the door is Jesus himself. If that's not good enough they're going to have to go somewhere else.

Next week I'll talk about the other part of the hook - getting to become a fisher of people.