I have been tasked (that word sounds onerous, but in this case it is not; in fact, it is a blessing!) to teach the 20s\/30s class Sunday morning.\u00a0 In 35 minutes or less (assuming our starting activities, including prayer, take less than 10 minutes!) I am to explain how to “take Christianity to the current culture.”<\/p>\n
I guess my first note would be:\u00a0 Wouldn’t you rather take CHRIST to the culture, than take “Christianity” to the culture?\u00a0 We get into semantics at that point, don’t we?\u00a0 if “Christianity” means “the practice of following Christ,” then I don’t mind taking Christianity… but if it means “~religion” then I’m not too keen on it.\u00a0 But I digress.<\/p>\n
I thought I would start by mentioning how different (HOPEFULLY!) we are from most folks in today’s “culture.”\u00a0 Maybe talk about the previews and advertisements that are shown in movie theaters today.\u00a0 (Do YOU get all of them?\u00a0 Some of them cause my wife and me to look at each other and say, “What was that about?”)<\/p>\n
Then a quick jump to Matthew 28:19, the Great Commission:<\/p>\n
From the venerable KJV:<\/p>\n
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: <\/span><\/p>\n I don’t know Greek. There, I’ve said it. But… I do have access to a lot of Greek scholarship, and I’ll pit my<\/em> Greek scholars against your<\/em> Greek scholars any day!<\/p>\n And my<\/em>Greek scholars seem to be saying that we’ve “missed” the point of the Great Commission for some time. I grew up understaning that the main imperative of that verse was<\/p>\n Interesting, huh?<\/p>\n Let’s not get sidetracked on whether GO is the “imperative” or not. I’ll go so far as to agree that “GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES” may be the imperative here. But the relevant point, for the upcoming class, is that we should do a particular thing BEFORE we BAPTIZE. What must be done first? MAKE DISCIPLES!<\/p>\n Have you made a disciple lately? How does one go about doing that? Especially if you grew up “in the church” and you want to disciple someone who is not sure “about this Jesus thing.” ??<\/p>\n That’s not rhetorical! If you know, let us know! Especially me, because I need to find out before Sunday morning!<\/p>\n But I suspect it involves something other than knocking on someone’s door you have never met and asking them if they are saved or not, and would they like to be.<\/p>\n What do you think?<\/p>\n –Mark<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been tasked (that word sounds onerous, but in this case it is not; in fact, it is a blessing!) to teach the 20s\/30s class Sunday morning.\u00a0 In 35 minutes or less (assuming our starting activities, including prayer, take … Continue reading