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Michael Mercer: teacher. writer. father. husband. follower.

Upside Down, Inside Out

7/9/2013

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The other morning my son, Brody (5 years old), put his shirt on and not only was it inside out, but it was on backwards.  Usually I would say something to him, laugh with him about it, be silly, and then we would fix it.  This time, for whatever reason, I just let it go.  Some time that afternoon I noticed he had his shirt right side out and the tag was in the back.  I asked him about it and he told me that he noticed it and fixed it.  This is atypical of Brody who would usually want us to fix it for him.  Needless to say I was surprised and proud that he took his own initiative to fix his shirt.  It's the small things, people!

I have had this blog post in mind for some time.  The story of my son is a simple reminder that when we have eyes to see, we can see what is really meant for us in the Kingdom of God.  However, Jesus didn't really teach us to wear our shirts right side out and the tag in the back.  That was the message of the Pharisees.  Jesus wouldn't disagree that keeping the law of God is the right thing to do, but what Jesus saw as the law and what the Pharisees saw as the law were world(view)s apart.  The Pharisees could only see the law and the standard to live by from what was handed down for generations, since the days of Moses.  Jesus understood the law, but could only see (and know) the heart of God and the intent of the law.  Jesus knew that the law could never save God's people only an ultimate sacrifice could do that.

So, in many ways Jesus taught and lived out an upside down, inside out, tag-in-the-front, gospel.  But Jesus didn't teach and live this gospel to be noticed or simply for the practice of being unique, innovative, or different.  Jesus was interested in bringing heaven to earth.  Jesus grew weary of a law-filled life that actually would result in death.  The kind of life where joy is sucked from the marrow and leaves its people brittle and eventually broken, irreparable, unsalvageable.  The kind of life that when brokenness and sin enter and the pretty package of life that is promised by keeping the law, disintegrates leaving law-only followers blown away like chaff by the wind.

The gospel, good news, that Jesus brought, though new in approach and rhetoric in His day, lasts!  It creates a saving surge throughout the body giving hope, joy, and LIFE!  His gospel is the heart of God.  Where the law does not dissipate, but rather grows with deeper roots into the very nature of God.  The law become fulfilled through Christ and no longer does the law become the THING, but Jesus does.  We see God's heart through Christ.  We see that what God intended through the law is that His people would live upside down, inside out compared to those who live for the broken world.  Some believe that this means we must excavate ourselves from culture and live in gated isolation so that we aren't corrupted by the culture that invades our perfect Christian world.  Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Pharisees in scripture were after.  That was not Jesus' quest.  Remember he was the one who touched lepers, cast out demons in a graveyard, "worked" on the sabbath, called a tax collector to be his apostle, and often ate in the homes of tax collectors and sinners.  Jesus did not absolve himself from culture, but in reality immersed himself in the culture without changing who He was in God.

If we want to live the gospel.  We will be better off immersing ourself in culture and entering into relationships with people in our world.  When we choose this path we must keep our center, our core, strong.  Our relationship with Jesus will be tested and we must keep it first.  Then as we meet people, establish relationships, eat at their tables, God will use our stories and His gospel that is living in us to show a new path.  We must remember it is not our responsibility to manipulate an outcome for God.  We will be light bearers and God will take care of the rest.  Those that don't know Christ or have given up on him will appreciate our time, our words, our life that we are sharing with them.  It is those who stand on piety, law, and isolation that might attack our actions and maybe even our motive.  If so, then we are in good company.  And yes we will wake up in the morning and everyone will look and only see that we have put on our shirt inside out with the tag in the front.  But Jesus will see a follower, The Spirit will see thin space, and God will see a kingdom-meeting-earth-with-a-sweet-kiss moment. 

Who knows, maybe one day I will stand in the pulpit with my shirt inside out and tag in the front. 



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G.O.S.P.E.L.

3/17/2013

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I love slam poetry.  Propaganda is one of the best.  Since I've been blogging about the Gospel.  I thought I would share this.
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Balancing the Gospel

3/4/2013

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I recently preached a series on Jonah and realized something about myself and much of the preaching that I have heard in my last 10-15 years.  When we have preached the gospel (and by that I mean the story of Jesus), we have chosen to show only the charming Jesus.  I think there are many reasons for this and I'm not saying that seeing the charming Jesus is all that bad.  However, after growing up hearing a gospel that basically said, "Get RIGHT or get LEFT(behind that is)" I wanted to make sure that when people read their Bible, attend church, enter Bible studies, hear sermons, know that Jesus is FOR them, not against them.  

As I said in a sermon recently, we have swung the pendulum the other direction and become unwilling to show the challenge that Jesus gives his followers.  In this particular context I was preaching on Jonah, where Jonah defies God and runs and is quickly in a Perfect Storm and by the end of Chapter 1 is swallowed by a Big Fish.  Here's the deal Jonah's repentance is an extraordinary story of grace and mercy as much as it is a story of challenge to Jonah.  What we see as a challenge or the "negative" side to religion is not seen the same way to God.  If one of my children runs after their ball going into the street and I stop them at the last minute, they may be upset that their ball got run over, but I am relieved it wasn't them.  The same is true of God and us and at a much deeper level.

We have to preach a gracious and merciful God who is the definition of unconditional love.  And we need to preach that we should be people who live like that is true.  We live that way through our actions, our thoughts, our words, and our love.  I'm not saying we create a factory that creates perfect people.  What we are doing is living God's dream for us in the midst of this broken world that surrounds us.

God is the hero.  We are one in need of a savior.  We are saved and therefore live a life of devotion to God and love.  We love Him and Love the people He loves.  We live for God and live the love that He has.  This is the balance.  Grace and Reverence.  Mercy and REsponsibility.  Freedom and choice.

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A Drunk Gospel

10/7/2010

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From the movie "The Legend of Bagger Vance"

Rannulph Junnah: Now, the question on the table is how drunk is drunk enough? And the answer is that it's all a matter of brain cells 

Hardy Greaves: Brain cells? 

Rannulph Junnah: That's right Hardy. You see every drink of liquor you take kills a thousand brain cells. Now that doesn't much matter 'cos we got billions more. And first the sadness cells die so you smile real big. And then the quiet cells go so you just say everything real loud for no reason at all. That'ok, that's ok because the stupid cells go next, so everything you say is real smart. And finally, come the memory cells. These are tough to kill.


The Gospel was written with great excitement and passion as the authors used the accounts of Jesus to tell the story of a radical kingdom where everything was turned upside down.  The "good news", the gospel, was not simply a work of literature but a salvation manifesto.  The gospel was a sermon of how God worked through the Holy Spirit to turn the divine to human back to the Divine.  The narrative of Jesus' life, crucifixion, burial, and resurrection sparks a fire of imagination, salvation, restoration, and kingdom life.  When you read it you can't sit still!  You pace because of nervous trepidation as you ponder the journey you must now embark on.  When you share it with others passion oozes from your very being.  When it was preached to the crowds in Acts they were cut to the heart and called for immediate response.  It is the very kind of writing that makes your eyes glaze over with amazement, your body tingle with excitement, your stomach host flutters of giddiness, and your heart pound with exhilarating purpose.


WHAT HAPPENED?!

As editors we critique the literature.  As rationalists we analyze it.  As culturalists we compartmentalize it.  As theologians we spiritualize it.  And as Christians we simply either dumb it down or completely ignore it.

We have become so intoxicated with the world that we are consuming a drunken gospel.  A gospel that has been depressed.  A gospel that has lost its senses.  It lacks touch, taste, and vision.  Now let me be clear.  The gospel has the same vibrance it always has from the beginning.  However, we have doused it with spirits of complacency, boredom, and timidity.  We have desensitized ourselves to the raging power of the gospel where we cannot feel its push.  We wake up the next morning with our head throbbing from the saturation of explanation and we have forgotten how we got here in the first place. 


The gospel is alive and passionate.  A drunk gospel will only win drunk Christians.  A mediocre gospel will only produce mediocre Christians.  However, a passionate, alive, fiery gospel will win and produce passionate, alive, and fiery disciples.  We need to resist the addictive, depressant, empty gospel of a tame religion. And we need to drink in the fresh water of the Jesus story that intoxicates us with its truth and deliverance.

Now, let's read the gospel anew, again!


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    Michael Mercer

    I like to explore different things about theology and the life of the church.  You might also find things here about me and my family.

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    God Is... -God is... is a book that takes a look at Genesis and portrays six true images of God.  There are many ways we think about God that are unhealthy and even destructive.  These six images help turn our attention to who God really is and how we might follow him more closely.  Click the Lulu button below to download your copy!

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