Jesus is a Movement

I recently read a column questioning whether our faith should be an "individual passion, a social movement - or both?"

The answer seemed obvious to me, but I read it anyway - and it was interesting.

The argument was logical and it was easy enough to understand. In a nutshell, the column contended that there were two strains of thought on this issue: that of evangelical Christians and that of mainline Protestants.

Evangelical Christians have "one or several powerful intersections with the Lord." They are born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and tend to share their faith with friends and family after they've experienced transformation through their experience with Christ. 

The column referred to this as "micro-faith," or the belief that "if God changes enough individual hearts, everything else will eventually follow."

Mainline protestants, however, have a "macro-faith."

They believe it’s their duty to protest injustice. "They believe it’s Christians’ primary job to march against gender discrimination, finance medical clinics for the indigent, and lobby Congress for compassionate immigration laws." In short, they preach a social gospel. 

OK. Good to know. Right?

But which one does the Bible call us to?

The author never mentioned the bible - only what amounted to church doctrine. Ultimately, however, he deemed both legitmate, but confessed that he "lean(ed) toward the power of transforming individual hearts."

Hm.

I would argue that both are necessary. More importantly, both are biblical - which is ultimately all that matters. 

As Christians, we follow Christ. 

His history. 

His mission. 

His mandate. 

His purpose. 

And his passion is all available to us in the Bible, and in order to know Him, understand Him AND obey Him, we must be rooted and grounded in the word. Otherwise, we're unstable in our faith. Our walk with Christ consist of nothing more than opinions, ideas and feelings bubble-gummed together that leave us wavering, wanting, worrying, and wilting. 

The word is our guide, and in this instance - whether we should have micro or macro faith - one of the first things that comes to mind is Jesus Himself.

In Matthew 3:13-17, Jesus was baptized, and God declared, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” This demonstrates His personal relationship with God, and evidence of this relationship can be seen as we repeatedly witness Him stealing away to spend time with the Father, study and pray. We also see multiple examples of his one-on-one encounters with sinners like Matthew the tax collector and the woman at the well. Both met Jesus, both were changed. Both became a part of a movement to win the world over to Christ. 

Let's look at the woman in the well.

In John 4, Jesus, a Jew, encounters a Samaritan woman, whom the Jews do not typically interact with - but this is Jesus, and he's loving and kind, just all out cool like that. He's also THE Messiah. After he hears her heart, he offers her living water. She receives it, "drops her water pot" and tells the whole town, "Come see a man." 

This is both personal transformation and public proclamation. Both are biblical. 

But Jesus' ministry was never, ever, collecting followers and increasing His numbers. 

Jesus' heart was for the downtrodden, the oppressed and the poor. Jesus spoke of the meek inheriting the earth. He spoke of widows. He condemned those who neglected justice and the love of God. And in Luke 4:16-19, he both read and fulfilled scripture when he said "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor."

And check out Matthew 25:31-46. 

Jesus tells a parable of the sheep and the goats. The sheep were those who belonged to him, his followers, and to them he said, "take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." 

The goats? Now that's a different story.

To them, Jesus said, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

Wow. That says it all, to me. Jesus was a movement. And Jesus IS a movement - we are called to a personal relationship with Him so we can transform the world, spiritually and socially.

So, what now?

I actually don't know. It's a conversation between each of us and Jesus - but we will only hear Him, know Him and obey Him as we get in the word and study it for ourselves. 

Know that I love you each, L.