Jesus Way Out of the Box

But isn’t Jesus ‘The Way’?

You’re right, I give in; Jesus is the Way. I mean he said he was the Way so he must be, right? Yep, but it’s important to note that Jesus said HE was the Way, and the statement is made in the context of finding your way into a relationship with God.


Jesus answered,

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”[i]

This was an issue of His personhood not His methodology. Jesus, the person, is the Son of God and the only way for us to find our way back to God is through him. This is not a popular concept for postmodern thinkers but contrary to popular beliefs there can be absolutes in a postmodern world and the person Jesus may just surprise you! Worryingly many Christians have wrongly used this concept of Jesus being the Way to become close minded and polarize others. However if we are to look at the methodology of Jesus we see that he loved to break out of the box.

Methods and Madness

It’s important to note that whilst our message is timeless and never changes, our methods are not and therefore they will always need to change. This should not merely be dictated to us by the timeframe or culture we are living in but more so by our understanding of each individual person and situation we are dealing with. For instance when Jesus healed various blind men it was done in similar cultures but he did it in all different ways. To one he spoke to the condition, to another he processed him through it by spitting in his eyes and asking him to explain what he saw, to others he touched their eyes, and still to another he made spit mud pies, smeared them on his eyes and told him to go wash it off.[ii] There are other accounts but these four incidents alone give us great insight into the reality that whilst Jesus personhood was absolute his methodology was very fluid. Even though He is The Way there is also plenty of different ways for us to approach how best to relate to others and their individual situations. Even though their condition was the same, they were all blind (we might use friendlier terms like visually impaired or sight challenged), Jesus was still able to find different ways to relate to them and we should do the same in our approach to relevantly reaching into others worlds.

How Way Out of the Box are you willing to be?

© Book excerpt from 'Church, Relevant! What?' by Andrew Schaper (to be released in 2009)

[i] John 14v6 (NIV)

[ii] Luke 18v35 – 42 (NIV) Spoke to the condition, Mark 8v22 – 25 (NIV) Spit in the eyes and asked questions about what he could see, Matthew 9v28 – 30 (NIV) Touched their eyes, John 9v1 – 7 (NIV) Spit mud pies in the eyes and walk away then wash it off

Revealing the Enemy within

On occasion I ponder whether we, as individual believers and as the church universally, can instinctively be our own worst enemy. The very strengths that make us influential and life impacting, when taken to the extreme, can also be the weaknesses that cause us to repel people.

We possess diversity, liberty, spirituality, unity, generosity, and opportunity, just to name a few things, and yet one way or another we find a means to muddle them all up and turn them into negatives instead of the tremendous positives that they could be.

Somehow our diversity turns into disagreement, our liberty looks more like law, our spirituality becomes spooky, our unity is perceived as cult like behavior, our generosity is cautiously viewed as conditional, and our opportunities appear self indulgent or even on occasion excessively ambitious and ego driven.

I do not seriously consider that we deliberately set out to do this yet somehow we unconsciously continue to do so.

Why do you think this happens????

Even though it is not the result we are hoping and believing for?

© Book excerpt from 'Church, Relevant! What?' by Andrew Schaper (to be released in 2011)

Who YOU are SPEAKS

I was reflecting this week about Bono (U2) and his interesting statement...

“I never had any problems with Christ but Christians were always a bit of a problem for me and I used to avoid them if I could”

I have to admit I think many believers have had this kind of experience at one time or another.

You know those special moments where you interact with another believer and the cringe factor kicks in which then leaves you pondering (like Bono)...

"If that's what Christianity is about then they are seriously bad advertising!"

(Not because they are not perfect enough but because they sound like they come from planet 'Zargoid')

I know I certainly have and even now I find some Christians I meet to be just plain WEIRD!

Nothing against them personally. Most of them are well meaning, good hearted, and sincere people, it's just that they have become so 'Christianised' that they are clueless about how to reach into the world of a person who is outside of their beliefs.

More importantly it can't just be about gaining brownie points from God because I conversed with someone today. It must be deeply rooted in LOVE because this is actually the mark of truly authentic believers. Not power, or gifts, or how articulate I am but L O V E love!

In Paul's wonderful paradoxical chapter on Love he states (1 Cor 13v1) "If I SPEAK IN THE TONGUES of MEN and of ANGELS, but HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM ONLY a RESOUNDING GONG or a CLANGING CYMBAL."

Maybe we are just GONGING and CLANGING more than we are hearing, caring, and having a meaningful connection?

When I say they and them I'm also including the same challenge for me and my life. I think as believers we all need to constantly challenge ourselves to remain relevant in order to effectively reach out and make a difference in others lives.

After all it's a lifestyle not just a bunch of empty cliche`s

Perhaps Emerson summed it up well when he proclaimed...

“Who you are is speaking so loudly I can’t hear what you are saying”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

what do you think????

FYI I'm currently Reading...
UnChristian - Kinnaman
Business @ the Speed of Thought - Bill Gates
Tactics - Edward de Bono
AND I never go a day without reading something from my all time favourite THE BOOK