Jesus is King

Jesus is King, we live under his dome

Is belief alone what God expects? How would one know you hold this belief? Are you visiting the sick, Do you care for the poor, do you love your enemy? Are you caring for the earth with the respect that it deserves as it may be our children's home for another 1000 years? Do you see the child on the other side of this globe as a child of God’s creation? Are you walking in step with Christ or Caesar? Greg Boyd was preaching to a surprised choir at the conference for Mennonite administrators and board members of Mennonite school. We were surprised because we were not expecting such a radical presentation of deeply held Anabaptist convictions from a preacher of an independent evangelical mega church.

Greg graduated from Yale, graduated from the doctorate program at Princeton, professor of theology at Bethany Collage in Minnesota, found his way to a pulpit by starting a congregation. Apparently he taught about taking Jesus seriously in many ways for years. However, during the 2004 election many from his 5000 member church started to put pressure on him as a pastor to endorse a particular presidential candidate as God’s choice of candidate. He was totally uncomfortable doing anything like that so he decided he would preach a series of 6 sermons declaring Jesus Christ as the King who reigns over the dome we live. We live in this Kingdom of Christ called the church which is radically different from the mindset of the world. To align ourselves with the nationalistic kingdoms of this earth is the idolatry which compromises our allegiance to Christ time after time.

At this time Greg wasn’t sure how his church would respond and he felt very much alone. Surprisingly many responded enthusiastically. 80 percent of his church body remained and the church continues with 4000 members. Embarking on this new mission as a radical disciple he discovered the Mennonites and other Anabaptist groups have been teaching this same message for 500 years. Again and again he asked of us at this conference, do you realize what a treasure this is?

I was overjoyed to hear this message. I believe this message of following Jesus is what it means to be redeemed; taking up the cross, identifying with the rejected whoever that may be, serving others in a way that is not just a salesman’s talk but in a way that actually costs us something, loving those who may not love you in return. But I was taught this teaching as baby literally. It was part of who I am. Normally, I am used to seeing myself out of sync with those from different backgrounds. Subconsciously, I’m always asking the question as I speak, “Will you reject me if I say these kinds of comments?” Is relationship more important then truth proclaimed? This is a hard question.

We had young people at our church from backgrounds other then my own. At the time I did not feel the strength to be able to teach so I bought 50 copies of John Roth’s book, “Can a Christian Go to War”. I don’t know if it was right or wrong but on the week our country invaded Iraq I volunteered a testimony of repentance of the idolatry's in my life, money, property, and national pride symbolized by the dollars in my wallet, the keys in my pocket, and a small flag that happened to be at church that Sunday, which would cause our country to wage war. Later our church went through a very difficult time. These teachings were defined as something unique to Mennonites and not central to our salvation and our fellowship divided.

Here was someone from a background far different from my own, a theological professor, gifted pastor, saying why are you Mennonites hiding this teaching under a bushel? Why are you so timid with this Pearl of Great Price? You carry the truth as no one else has practiced for 500 years and we are not hearing from you. Teach these distinctive dimension's of your faith because this is the truth of Jesus teaching. Promote your schools with a picture of Jesus washing the feet of Asama bin Laden asking the question, does your school teach a vision of a Jesus who would do this? The message of the cross is scandalously offensive. This is your message of Jesus!

How do I respond? I care about this message deeply. I try to practice this message in business and church. Is it right to care more about relationship with a brother, loving each other despite a conflict in conviction? I remember my dad saying that the person who argues the loudest for a position is probably the one most unsure about his position. Our bishop claims that if leadership is clear all kinds of diversity in conviction can be embraced in love. I begged for unity, an opportunity to worship with people who disagreed with me but it wasn’t to be. My son wrote a song that sometimes following Jesus we walk alone.

So I get excited when I hear of so many persons from other traditions picking up this authentic gospel of Jesus Christ. Our son Nathan lived in Durham, N.C. for the past 5 years. He attended Durham Mennonite Church in the Morning. His pastor, Spencer Bradford, who grew up mainline Baptist, went to Duke Divinity Seminary and became a serious, sacrificially living, Anabaptist, His Sunday school teacher are a couple who also grew up in traditional evangelical churches and went to Duke Divinity school and discovered Anabaptist theology and are loving it. They hope to pastor someday in a Mennonite Church. In the evening he attends Chapel Hill Mennonite fellowship where he is surrounded with numerous people who have just discovered this Anabaptist understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. Here his pastor is Isaac Villegas raised in the Roman Catholic and Pentacost traditions. He gives testimony of becoming disillusioned when his church responded aggressively following 9-11. He has found a home in the historic peace church and contributes frequently in our church magazine. Again I was so excited to read “Jesus for President” by Shane Claiborne and Chris Hall this past spring. I bought 60 copies and passed them out at a youth hip hop concert we had at church.

What is significant is not that what is taught is Mennonite or Anabaptist but because it honors who Jesus is. Jesus is the guy who we actually call God, the Creator of all, in the flesh. To believe this is unbelievable but that is actually what we teach and believe. So if that is case I suspect we should take what he says pretty seriously. This being so helps us understand who God is, who my neighbor is, how I treat my brother, the stranger, my enemy, the importance of church unity, in what way I respect Caesar, God’s creation, relate to the sinner, and on and on. Jesus is King!

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