Tuesday, February 3

Deep is as Deep Does!

Maybe you can help me understand something...

I'm just a little baffled...

... because there seems to be a whole lot of people today who are pointing the finger at churches (like ours) that are intentional about reaching "outsiders". Now, I'm not baffled and confused that there are people who disagree with our way of doing things... no way, that comes with the territory! But what has me scratchin' my head is that they say they "need more", that they want some deep teaching. But alot of these same people don't even apply to their lives what they consider "shallow" teaching!

That baffles me...

Question: how deep does it have to be before we obey it? I tell our people all the time: Deep is as deep does!

Here's another question: if Jesus said to go and make disciples... and that if we follow Him, He would make us fishers of men... then why are we so content to simply swap fish from aquarium to aquarium?

Maybe I shouldn't be surprised... "these people" have been around since Jesus' day... only then, they were called Pharisees. Pharisees didn't want to focus on "outsiders"... outsiders weren't "good enough." Pharisees needed alot of attention... they had a "pride problem." The Pharisees prided themselves in how "well" they KNEW the Scriptures... but they paid no attention as to how little they LIVED the Scriptures.

Jesus was SO different! He paid WHOLE LOT OF ATTENTION to outsiders! And He intentionally lived out the Scriptures, so that everybody could see He was the "real deal!" No pretense, no fluff... He went hard after outsiders, and lives were changed because of it!

Don't get me wrong... I'm all for solid teaching... but at Mosaic, we don't sacrifice application for information. We're not trying to please Bible scholars... we're trying to reach people. We're unapologetic about what we do, and who we're trying to reach... and lives are being changed. We don't do it perfectly... but we do it passionately... and sometimes, we even get it right. ;-)

1 comment:

Kevin said...

Word.

I love people who criticize what they don't understand and what they aren't even doing themselves. People throw rocks at the staff of our community all the time, but when was the last time the 'thrower' baptized someone?

Or you want it deeper, but what could be more simple than 'love your neighbor as yourself?' How are you doing with that one?

I just spent the weekend soaking up some Alan Hirsch and what strikes me about him is that he speaks mostly of profoundly simple truths. Things we already know but just don't do - and yet he is so deep.