Romans 15:1-7 :: Maturity Marks

Romans 15:1-7 (The Message and TNIV)

Paul is bringing his whole letter to an end and he is ending with how the Church ought to interact and treat one another.  I love this phrase from our reading this morning:

May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. v5

First, I gravitate toward the opening description of our God - dependably steady and warmly personal.  Other translations do a better of job of indicating what God does with this endurance and encouragement, but I like what I read when I read the words dependably steady and warmly personal.  Part of becoming mature in my relationship with God will involve me becoming more dependably steady and warmly personal.  I like that.

This whole verse has a love God/love neighbor feel to it for me.  One of my personal marks of maturity is my capacity to get along with others.  I don't want to simply be a peacekeeper, but one that loves well just like Jesus did.  I wonder if the Pharisees read these words and thought, "With friends like Jesus, who needs enemies?"  His strongest words seemed to be reserved for them.

Getting along well with each other goes to the core of who we are.  We are to be of the same attitude of mind (TNIV) toward one another.  Our goal needs to be the same - we need to accepting one another and "welcoming one another to God's glory" no matter where we are on the maturity scale.

Mark Chapter 7

Jesus did more to impart value to people, and elevate the status of oppressed groups, than anyone who has ever lived. This chapter offers some classic examples.

The disciples were not criticized in verse 2 for eating with dirty hands. They were criticized for not upholding the Pharisees' racist views. Their tradition held that Jews, as well as any cups and dishes they used, were ceremonially defiled through contact with Gentiles (non-Jews), and therefore must be washed before coming in contact with food. Jewish ceremonial washings were institutionalized racism with religious reinforcement. They were a daily, public reminder that all non-Jews were dirt. Gentiles, women, people with diseases or deformities, and anyone who associated with such people (especially anyone who ate with them) were considered "unclean." Basically, if you weren't a healthy, religious Jewish male who obeyed all the rules, you were nobody.

So Jesus' next miracle healing is, of course, the daughter of a Greek woman. Check mate.

His conversation with her (which itself was forbidden) is fascinating. In keeping with first-century racism, Jesus refers to the Jews as "the children" in verse 27 and Greeks as "dogs." That's really offensive. I don't know that I understand all the reasons why he would address her in this way, but these are the words she would expect to hear from a Jewish man and Jesus chooses to mouth them to see how she will respond. She accepts the humiliation; she would accept anything for her daughter's sake, and she obviously believes Jesus can heal her. And Jesus' response, and the subsequent healing of her daughter, tells her in no uncertain terms that he doesn't consider her a second-class citizen.

Jesus is gaining a following outside the Jewish circle, and he is not turning them away. This had to take even the disciples by surprise, and this internal struggle escalates all the way into the life of the early church, when thousands of Gentiles begin embracing the Christian faith, forcing the Jewish Christians to re-evaluate their identity as God's chosen people.

At the same time, Jesus often seems to work inside the status quo, even as he shakes things up. He eats with "sinners" and talks to Greeks and women, but he doesn't attempt to immediately shatter all the societal barriers that suppress them. Some healing was immediate; some is still in process to this day, especially when we have a role to play. Lord, we long for the day when your plan is fulfulled, and "there is no slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."

Ask And You Shall Receive

If you missed Sunday, go to the link on the left and listen to the service mp3.

Well, as is the case so often, as we begin to be more intentional about engaging with our neighbors, opportunities start popping up and God definitely lobbed me a softball yesterday. My newest neighbor, came home yesterday and had apparently had some type of procedure done at the doctor or hospital. I saw them drive up and walk slowly into their front door. Then, after dinner, Rhonda made a batch of her incredible chocolate chip cookies and I took them over last night with a post-it note with all of our phone numbers in case he needed some help. It really was that simple.

I didn't spend a lot of time...in fact, I only spoke with his wife on their front porch. I walked back across the street thinking, "Man, I can't wait to get to know them better." Yesterday, we dove a little deeper into loving our neighbors and what that could and should look like for us. Does it surprise you that when asked to describe Christians, twenty-somethings end up using words that seem to be "unChristian." Antihomosexual, judgmental, hypocritical, too political, unloving, uncaring, etc. are some of the words used to describe them. For a detailed look at the Barna Study I referenced visit unChristian.com. I don't know about you, but I want to be part of the change of our friends' perceptions of us.

Our neighborhoods don't need more people who act like good Christians...they need more people who will act like Jesus. People who will reach across racial barriers and make friends. People who will slow down and listen to others. People who sit across the table from neighbors no matter what their religion. People to love when it doesn't look like they should. People to care when it appears no one else does. These are the people we believe God is calling The Springs to become. We can show our neighbors that we are Christ-followers who do not have to be judgmental. We are Christ-followers who will love you in spite of our differences. We are Christ-followers who will admit we don't have it all together, and we don't expect them to, either. We are Christ-followers who aren't just looking to "save" our neighbors, but actually get to know them. We are Christ-followers from both sides of the isle - from red and blue states.

I want to be part of the movement that earns back the right to be called "Christians" because we actually do "act like Christ." Do you believe it is possible? How bad do you want it?