BibleScribbler

Coffee, a Bible, and a Napkin to Scribble On

We Can’t Reach Something We Are Afraid to Touch

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[13] He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. [14] And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

[15] And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. [16] And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” [17] And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Mark 2:13-17 ESV

One of the brilliant things about poverty as mission shows up here. Jesus wasn’t afraid of the tax man. Since the man Jesus was talking to couldn’t take away anything that Jesus had, Jesus wasn’t afraid to talk to him. Jesus might not have even had the case to be bitter towards what Matthew had taken in the past.

If we fear for our lives, we won’t talk to dangerous people.

If we fear for our wealth, we won’t talk to those that steal.

If we fear for our comfort, we won’t talk to those who impose.

If we fear for our good reputation, we won’t talk to those that are below us.

Two Excerpts I Want You To Read

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Here are two excerpts from “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch

A Note to Leaders and Introduction: http://www.cmaresources.org/files/ForgottenWaysHandbook-excerpt.pdf

and

Introduction and Chapter 1 – Confessions of a Frustrated Missionary: http://assets.bakerpublishinggroup.com/processed/book-resources/files/Hirsch.pdf?1362591025

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to link to these or not, which is why I am not hosting them on my own pages but leading you back to their original sites.

Here is a good overview of the whole book, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to link to it either.

This book is really good and has a ton of thought-provoke for Christians in churches, especially you mega-church folks.

The real thing I was looking for was the addendum at the end. I’ve quoted A Crash Course in Chaos before here, but I came across some of it again today and I just had to promote it again. Check it out, you won’t be sorry.


“The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church” (Alan Hirsch)

Verge13 Notes via Evernote

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Here are my notes from the Verge13 conference. I took copious hand-written notes and then captured them with the notebook feature on Evernote for the iPad. If you scroll to the end, you can save them to your own Evernote account.

Some of it is more detailed than other parts, so fire away if you have any questions.

[Edit: Evernote is secure only, so even though this used to be an iframe, it is now a link to the Evernote bits.]

A Chance to Boast

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So now here we are in a state that we can’t boast or celebrate any of our good deeds, because it’s not the outward deed that matters, but what you are on the inside.

On Saturday, a guy was raking leaves at my neighbor’s house. I sat in my car, about to drive away, and I saw his rake snap in half like a dead twig knocked down in a storm. He looked at it for a second and then continued raking, bent over with his broken rake. I jumped out of my car and ran to the side of my house and gave him my rake and told him to keep it.

When I got home half my yard was raked and the rake was leaning against the side of the house.

If my neighbor would have asked that guy, “Where did you get that rake?” the guy would point to me and shrug. If my neighbor asked me “Where did you get that rake?” I’d point to some of the dozens of Jr. High kids that have come over and raked in our neighborhood and then left their rakes behind as a gift.

If I can’t even boast in something as simple and cheap as a rake, then how can I boast in something so priceless and important as my righteousness?!

If I can’t even claim ownership and wisdom of selecting and purchasing an eight dollar rake then how can I claim ownership of performing and discerning great acts to achieve my righteousness before God?

The fact is, our only hope is to welcome Jesus into our midst, let Him work, and then use the tools (rakes or hope or joy) that He freely leaves behind.

And at the same time, claim no ownership of those tools (rakes or hope or joy) so that we can quickly share them with those in need.

So now here we are in a state that we can’t boast or celebrate any of our good deeds, because it’s not the outward deed that matters, but what you are on the inside.On Saturday, a guy was raking leaves at my neighbor’s house. I sat in my car, about to drive away, and I saw his rake snap in half like a dead twig knocked down in a storm. He looked at it for a second and then continued raking, bent over with his broken rake. I jumped out of my car and ran to the side of my house and gave him my rake and told him to keep it.When I got home half my yard was raked and the rake was leaning against the side of the house.If my neighbor would have asked that guy, “Where did you get that rake?” the guy would point to me and shrug. If my neighbor asked me “Where did you get that rake?” I’d point to some of the dozens of Jr. High kids that have come over and raked in our neighborhood and then left their rakes behind as a gift.If I can’t even boast in something as simple and cheap as a rake, then how can I boast in something so priceless and important as my righteousness?!The fact is, our only hope is to welcome Jesus into our midst, let Him work, and then use the tools (rakes or hope or joy) that He freely leaves behind.And at the same time, claim no ownership of those tools (rakes or hope or joy) so that we can quickly share them with those in need.

'Church' is cultural

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I think there is so little detail about what CHURCH is in the Bible because how people worship God is as different as the cultures in which they live.

When a missionary goes into uncharted territory, they do not prop up their video screens and the powerpoint and start singing Tommy Walker songs. (That would be a great video. End with the Metrosexual worship leader falling on his face with a back full of poison darts and a child of the tribe coming across a Bible propping up the projector…)

I know of three people, specifically, that will not go to a church that has over 100 people in it because they have anxiety about large crowds. BUT they love to sit around with a few friends, play cards, and talk deep things about life. One of them, I know for certain, has a deep respect, love, and appreciation for Jesus. What if it were culturally acceptable for them to NOT “go” to church but were encouraged to draw near to God while they were playing poker?

I just started reading Organic Church, by Neil Cole (for the second time, never got through 1st time) and I’m intrigued at what church Jesus might build in Evansville from this sort of book. From what I gather so far, it’s a lot like what would happen if somebody took Perspectives and then applied it to their local neighborhood.

If you don’t know about Perspectives, you can check it out here

and you can check out Organic Church here

or listen to them talk about this stuff here

more to come.