Out Of The Box?

You all know how much I dislike cliche's, especially the politically-correct buzzwords of our time.  But I am breaking from my pattern and using the phrase, Out Of The Box. This is sort of appropriate for me, since using cliche's is "out of the box" for me.

The Acts Church was, truly, a group of dedicated believers that had chosen to leave the structure and norms of their Jewish roots.  They broke away from the Law of Stone and embraced the Law of Grace.  They deferred to God's calling through God's Spirit, leaving the control of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  They understood that God was FOR them but was not ABOUT them.  Their center was Jesus.  Their power was from God's Spirit.  They were out of the box!

Last week the Alabama Supreme Court denied the standing of 45 congregations to have their case heard in a court of law.  These 45 congregations had cited unlawful and inconsistent behavior by the United Methodist Church in relation to property and financial practices.  Without dwelling on the case, and the merits thereof, I am thinking that this decision should cause these "churches" to make some hard, and possibly freeing, decisions.  Here is my advice.

I would advise them to "just walk away."  Paul said, "I focus on this one thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us (Philippians 3:13-14)."  That is a mouthful, but Paul is saying what my friend Karl Stegall shared in a message to our recent Annual Conference ... remember that the windshield is far larger than the side view mirror for a reason.

In Acts, the new Church, People of the Way (Acts 9:2), were disenfranchised and persecuted by the Jewish leadership, the Roman authorities, and those with economic interest in the "status quo."  There is an almost exact Scriptural parallel to the conflict inside the United Methodist Church and their member congregations.  It is found in Acts 5, where the apostles are basically told (by Jewish leaders) "Follow us, our reconstruction of Scripture and our control over what and where you can preach/teach."  Here is what the apostles did (Acts 5:41-42) ... "The apostles left the high council, rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus.  And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: "Jesus is the Messiah."

They left the box.  They taught about Jesus and the Kingdom of God.  They followed their leader, Jesus.  They were led by the Holy Spirit.  And they (by their radical message that "left the box") changed the world.  AMEN!