In our day, not everyone that has “Church” above their door can be trusted to teach the true Word of God. Now, I am not wrangling over which version of the English Bible a church uses. That is oftentimes a matter of preference over doctrine. What I mean is that various groups have grown up with “Church” in their name, but they do not teach the Word of God at all, but teach other things either alongside or even above the Scriptures. Because this has developed from the time of Peter right up to today, people also have various definitions of other topics. Included in this is a varied idea of what Jesus is like. Asking “What Would Jesus Do?” doesn’t work so much anymore because we have redefined Jesus to match our preferences and to make Him more palatable. Since I am not very smart, I simply read the Bible to ask what Jesus is like. While it is not the intent of this article to exhaust Christology (the study of understanding our Messiah), it is enough to simply look at a few stories from Luke 8 and then ask if we are do as He did.
In Luke 8:22-25, Jesus calms a storm for His disciples. The day started normally, but soon Jesus is asleep and a storm blows up. The disciples, afraid for their lives, run to Jesus for help. What does He do? He calms the storm and then uses the moment to teach them more about Who He is. Do we do this? When someone comes to us with questions about the Bible, why the Church does certain things, or how God can be God when evil seems to run so freely, do we take the time to answer their questions, reassure them and teach them more about Who He is? Or do we shout them down for asking? Do we condemn them and silence their questions? Do we take the time to address their needs or do we rush along at our frenetic pace of “doing ministry” and ignore their questions thinking they will “grow out of it”?
In Luke 8:26-39, Jesus encounters a man with a Legion of demons living in him. They are tormenting him and causing him to be an outcast and to be mistreated and alienated. When Jesus encounters the man, what does He do? He addresses the needs without fear of what people will think. The man was demon-possessed. Problem. The man was living in a cemetery. Jews don’t touch anything dead for fear of being made unclean. The man was violent. No one in his right mind would put himself in harm’s way for a person such as this! Jesus did. Do we? Do we take the time to reach out to those that are lost in their sins and in bondage to the powers of this world? Do we reach out to the pierced, cutting, tattooed, gothic, hair-dyed or homosexual? Do we cross lines to reach out to them and try to love them? Sadly, sometimes I do not. When I fail to do so, I am failing to be like Christ and then the problem becomes mine more than theirs. They don’t know Jesus, but I am supposed to. If I want to live FOR Him and LIKE Him, I will minister to people no matter of what they look like or do.
Lastly, in Luke 8:40-56, Jesus met people in their brokenness and met their needs. He ministered to grieving parents, a broken community and a woman that was considered “cursed” and unclean. He met them in their need and brought healing to their hurt. Do we do the same thing?
Maybe it is time we looked at the name “Church” above our door and ask if we are really doing what God has called us out to do.