A love of the underdog...

Many of you have probably seen the video of Jonathan and Charlotte, the British singing duo, floating around the Internet this week.  The twosome recently performed on Simon Crowell's Britain's Got Talent.  Jonathan is a heavyset, disheveled teenager who appears to lean heavily on his partner.  Simon Crowell, with his usual disgust, appears to judge the young duo as they walk on to the stage.  Whether Crowell's comments are just setting the stage or are an accurate depiction of his feelings, he shows a human tendency to pre-judge a given situation.  As viewers learned from Paul Potts and Susan Boyle however, appearances can be deceiving.  Jonathan blows away the crowd with the power of his voice.  Soon all audience members and judges are standing in ovation.  Another unlikely star may have just been born.

What is about this type of story that has such wide appeal in our world?  Perhaps it is the fact that we are guilty of the oft-repeated sin of Crowell, prejudice and judgment.  Almost everyone has the tendency to judge based on surface appearances and often we do not take the time to know people on a deeper level.  Of course the opposite direction is true as well.  A great many of us have felt judged and excluded by others due to our ethnicity, our looks, our economic status or a diagnosis.  Surely this is one of the great issues of our humanity: we often exclude others while desperately trying to be accepted for who we are.

Jesus dealt with this issue in Matthew 9.  After calling the sinful publican Matthew to be a disciple, He then joins Matthew at a banquet at Matthew's home.  Other tax collectors and sinners gather to share the banquet along with Jesus' disciples.  On the skirts of the party are the Pharisees, pious, proper and judgmental.  They demand to know why Jesus' is sullying His reputation with this sort of crowd.  Jesus answers their questions by stating a principle which all of them would have acknowledged to be true: it is the sick and not the healthy who need a physician.  In other words, it is just these sort of people that need accepting the most.  If you already feel included, I can't give you anything, but if you feel left out I can bring you into fellowship.

The Pharisees thought by judging others they could gain position.  Jesus lets it be known that position is gained by accepting others into relationship.  These notorious sinners that Jesus associated with knew what it was like to be excluded from fellowship and community.  What Jesus offered to them and offers to us is a merciful acceptance that restores relationship.  The next time we are tempted to judge people based on external appearances let us remember how painful it is to be excluded and how wonderful it is to be accepted in Him.

Foolish?

What would you say if someone called you foolish?  We think of the title of being a fool as an insulting thing.  Jesus even taught that someone who uses the word fool in an attack against another person is in danger of hell (Matthew 5:22).  Yet the apostle Paul describes the message of the Gospel as foolishness in 1 Corinthians 1.  What is the difference and how can we reconcile these messages?

I believe Jesus is saying that to pass judgment on another person puts one in danger of eternal punishment.  After all, when you call someone a fool you are assuming that you are more wise than they.  This wisdom might be called worldly wisdom or the wisdom of men.  When we judge by this standard, we are in grave danger.

Paul teaches that God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.  He speaks of the message of the Gospel as foolishness to Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews.  What I believe Paul is saying is that there is nothing rational about the Gospel message.  Many Christians today try to prove with apologetics and empirical facts the truth of the Gospel.  This is simply not possible nor is it necessary.  Christian faith requires that the believer agree to things that, from the perspective of worldly wisdom, seem quite foolish.  While faith can be supported by evidence, we cannot require evidence for every aspect of our faith.  We are blessed who have not seen and yet believe.

If we are to be fools, let us be fools for Christ and not the foolish followers of earthly wisdom.

A question we all must face...

Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall,
Friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all;
Hearken! what meaneth the sudden call?
What will you do with Jesus?

Chorus

What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Some day your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”

Jesus is standing on trial still,
You can be false to Him if you will,
You can be faithful through good or ill:
What will you do with Jesus?

Will you evade him as Pilate tried?
Or will you choose Him, whate’er betide?
Vainly you struggle from Him to hide:
What will you do with Jesus?

Will you, like Peter, your Lord deny?
Or will you scorn from His foes to fly,
Daring for Jesus to live or die?
What will you do with Jesus?

“Jesus, I give Thee my heart today!
Jesus, I’ll follow Thee all the way,
Gladly obeying Thee!” will you say:
“This I will do with Jesus!”

Up until the spring of 2009, no one outside of a small village in Scotland had ever heard of Susan Boyle. Boyle, who was 47 at the time, lived in her deceased parents' home with her cat, had few friends and fewer prospects. It was an appearance on "Britain's Got Talent" that turned Boyle into an overnight sensation and millionaire.

Boyle walked out onto the stage of the show in a frumpy dress and with messy, graying hair. The crowd and even the judges laughed at her initially. She said she wanted to be like Elaine Page, Britain's most famous West End/Broadway singer. Eyes rolled in the audience and again laughter was heard. Then as the music to "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables began to play, Susan Boyle sang. She was not even through the first line before the audience were on their feet. As her voice swelled and filled the auditorium, one judge gaped, one wept and one smiled knowing that this woman's life would never be the same. Since that night, Boyle has sang all over the world (including duets with Page) and sold millions of records proving the old axiom that your can't judge a book by its cover.

I wonder who among us has a talent that needs to get out? We may not look like what people expect in an evangelist, a Sunday School teacher or missionary, but perhaps we have that desire hidden in our hearts. Let us not be guilty of burying a talent from God in the ground, but rather let us dream big dreams with God as our Helper.

Pondering...

"You'll never be able to speak against sin if you're entertained by it." -John Muncee

For quite a while now I have given some thought to my ability to speak against sin.  For most of my Christian life I have lived on the premise that I would never condemn anyone for something that I myself was also doing or had done.  For example, I have never spoken passionately against profanity because I myself have often times been profane.  I did not think I should judge and certainly if I did judge I didn't want to be a hypocrite.  This line of thinking has led me often not to speak up when most likely I should have primarily out of fear that someone would say, "Well, you do it too."

I am wondering how to find balance.  The easiest answer of course would be to correct my own offending behavior, but realistically there will always be some area I stumble in.  And even if I could attain perfection I am not sure even then it would be necessary to rebuke others at every opportunity available.

Although I hate to admit it, I am still often entertained by or entertaining sin.  While I realize this truth I am not sure of the application.  I need to realize in a very real way that sin is what causes separation not only from God but also between people.  Since sin is divisive it ought not be entertained or seen as entertainment.

I'll think on it more and let you know what I come up with...