New Values
This week is on Luke 14:12-14:
The thing about being a Christian we often forget is that we're new creations. The old values and beliefs are replaced with new ones. We begin, slowly, to take on the values and sensibilities of the God whose family we're adopted into. When people talk about Christ-like behavior and the mind of Christ, they're talking about the fruit of this transformation.
On our own, the way we're born into the world, we're meat creatures, driven and pulled by the desires of our flesh. We're a swarming hive of chromosomes and hormones, electrical impulses and chemical reactions. Our goals are all based on preserving our life and reproducing ourselves. Power, sex, food and fear are what motivate us, and they're behind what we naturally seek. The hive tells us to promote ourselves, protect ourselves, market ourselves, and feed ourselves. The self is the highest form of life. Next to the self is the group of people who are of direct benefit to the self, family and friends. This is how most people live, whether they realize it or not. Coincidentally, this is also how animals live.
In Christ, though, the values are different. God's values are not about self protection, consumption of resources, self-promotion, and other forms of selfishness. God is infinite. His power expands outwards. He doesn't need to form alliances to protect himself, or make sure his genes outlast him. He is forever. He doesn't need to compete against anyone, or kill to feed himself. He is creative. His self is so abundant that he gives it to nourish others. He exists to bless, not just to be blessed. He's a completely different creature than we are. It only makes sense that his values would be different. He's the creator of life, not its recipient.
So here's Jesus at a political banquet thrown by the wealthy religious leaders of his time. Earlier it mentions that he's being watched and evaluated by these power-gluttons. They're licking their lips. People are jockeying for the best and most prestigious places at the table. It's an orgy of selfishness. People weren't even invited without there being some benefit to the rich homeowner who threw the party. The meat creatures are being meat creatures, like a pack of alpha dogs ripping apart their kill and devouring it while the gamma dogs starve in the shadows. Jesus sees all of this.
So Jesus shares with his host: "Instead of making already blessed people more blessed, why not bless those who need the blessing?" In our meaty hearts, we naturally ask "What is in it for me?" Everything is tit for tat, or quid pro quo. We haggle and connive to end up with the bigger portion. But what if it's not about us? What if we're God's representatives, and we're supposed to demonstrate his culture, and his values? It's completely incompatible with the display Jesus saw at the Pharisee's house. We have to make different decisions than the world makes.
So the world says to be selfish. Jesus says to be selfless. Be the good and righteous ruler who, when given containers of UN food aid, distributes it to his people freely instead of using it to buy prostitutes, luxury cars, and bodyguards. Be the servant, the caretaker, the provider, or the guardian, not the served, the elite, the warlord, or the leech.
If you are a Christian, if you believe in an infinite God who answers prayers, if you believe your blessings come from God, then give of yourself and what you have. That's what it's there for. We love the idea of healing the sick man on the sabbath, but when it comes to tolerating the unloved, or paying for others needs, we're as silent as the Pharisees. The same Jesus called for all of it. If you're living under Jesus' roof, in God's house, respect the master's values and live as He does.
Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The thing about being a Christian we often forget is that we're new creations. The old values and beliefs are replaced with new ones. We begin, slowly, to take on the values and sensibilities of the God whose family we're adopted into. When people talk about Christ-like behavior and the mind of Christ, they're talking about the fruit of this transformation.
On our own, the way we're born into the world, we're meat creatures, driven and pulled by the desires of our flesh. We're a swarming hive of chromosomes and hormones, electrical impulses and chemical reactions. Our goals are all based on preserving our life and reproducing ourselves. Power, sex, food and fear are what motivate us, and they're behind what we naturally seek. The hive tells us to promote ourselves, protect ourselves, market ourselves, and feed ourselves. The self is the highest form of life. Next to the self is the group of people who are of direct benefit to the self, family and friends. This is how most people live, whether they realize it or not. Coincidentally, this is also how animals live.
In Christ, though, the values are different. God's values are not about self protection, consumption of resources, self-promotion, and other forms of selfishness. God is infinite. His power expands outwards. He doesn't need to form alliances to protect himself, or make sure his genes outlast him. He is forever. He doesn't need to compete against anyone, or kill to feed himself. He is creative. His self is so abundant that he gives it to nourish others. He exists to bless, not just to be blessed. He's a completely different creature than we are. It only makes sense that his values would be different. He's the creator of life, not its recipient.
So here's Jesus at a political banquet thrown by the wealthy religious leaders of his time. Earlier it mentions that he's being watched and evaluated by these power-gluttons. They're licking their lips. People are jockeying for the best and most prestigious places at the table. It's an orgy of selfishness. People weren't even invited without there being some benefit to the rich homeowner who threw the party. The meat creatures are being meat creatures, like a pack of alpha dogs ripping apart their kill and devouring it while the gamma dogs starve in the shadows. Jesus sees all of this.
So Jesus shares with his host: "Instead of making already blessed people more blessed, why not bless those who need the blessing?" In our meaty hearts, we naturally ask "What is in it for me?" Everything is tit for tat, or quid pro quo. We haggle and connive to end up with the bigger portion. But what if it's not about us? What if we're God's representatives, and we're supposed to demonstrate his culture, and his values? It's completely incompatible with the display Jesus saw at the Pharisee's house. We have to make different decisions than the world makes.
So the world says to be selfish. Jesus says to be selfless. Be the good and righteous ruler who, when given containers of UN food aid, distributes it to his people freely instead of using it to buy prostitutes, luxury cars, and bodyguards. Be the servant, the caretaker, the provider, or the guardian, not the served, the elite, the warlord, or the leech.
If you are a Christian, if you believe in an infinite God who answers prayers, if you believe your blessings come from God, then give of yourself and what you have. That's what it's there for. We love the idea of healing the sick man on the sabbath, but when it comes to tolerating the unloved, or paying for others needs, we're as silent as the Pharisees. The same Jesus called for all of it. If you're living under Jesus' roof, in God's house, respect the master's values and live as He does.
Something I was thinking about was in regards to the verses about the banquet. I thought that it was interesting that Jesus said when we give to the poor, there will be areward in heaven. Do you see it as a selfish motives to work for eternal rewards? Just a thought. It's almost as if he's commanding us to do that.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a selfish motive, but probably not any more selfish than the tin pot dictator who gives every cent of aid money out to the people it's meant for so that he can get more the next year. It still accomplishes what it needs to.
ReplyDelete