Irresistible Revolution

I just finished reading Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and I must say it was one of the more challenging books I have read. Shane is a man who will deny that he is living very radically but that's because he compares his life to that of early church fathers. However when comparing his lifestyle to ours it is incredibly radical and very beautiful. As you read the book Shane takes you on a journey with him to Calcutta, Wall street, Willow Creek, and the inner streets of Philly and gives you a chance to see what he was doing and most importantly to meet the people that changed his life.

I don't want to give to much of the book away because it is better to read and experience it for the first time, but be prepared to feel either guilt or conviction. I don't think it is Shane's goal to make others feel guilty, but it is hard not too. As you read about His story you will become incredibly inspired and also begin to feel guilty that you have not sold all your possessions to live in a community in inner Philly, or that you are not living for people the way that he is.

Do not allow yourselves to just stop at feeling inspired and guilty though, take those feelings and change them! Go out and find ways to love those that are not being loved, treat them like Jesus would. I don't believe you need to sell all you have live like Jesus, I just believe you need put Jesus and others above all the stuff you have. If there is a struggle for power between our possession and others than maybe we do need to sell it and give the money away. I truly believe though that if we live like Jesus told us too in Matthew 25 than our possessions will hold no power over us.

When we bring the unloved into our homes, when we visit the hurting in prison, when we feed the hungry we are doing exactly what Christ asked us too. The more we put others before ourselves the more it becomes a way of life, and the more we will want nothing but Jesus and the community of love known as the Church.

More than a forgotten element

If you are at all connected with the modern church and the rhetoric surrounding it you are most likely aware of the discussions concerning what is missing from our present body. Men and women inside the church have spouted many reasons things are not right, a lack of social justice, lack of community, too seeker sensitive. You have probably felt the same thing about the church at one point or another, and maybe you felt that one of the reasons already listed is the missing factor in the modern church. You are probably right the church is missing community, some churches are too seeker sensitive, and even social justice is sometimes neglected; but I am not sure that is truly the heart of the issue. I think if we look into the churches in the New Testament will we see community and social justice, but I think if we look deeper and compare our present church to the original body we will see that what we are missing is much more grave and tragic.

All of us have probably had the feeling something is missing but could we ever imagine the magnitude of what we are truly feeling? I don’t think we have, otherwise what is missing wouldn’t be. I believe (I am not the first to hold this opinion) that what the modern church is missing is the Holy Spirit. I think as Francis Chan calls Him, He is the forgotten God. Can you image that, forgetting the Holy Spirit? If we are just thinking about it, it seems impossible that we have forgotten God, but it seems true. How often do we think of the Holy Spirit as God? How often do we think of Him as a distinct person? How often do we think of Him as a member of the trinity? How often do we meditate on the concept that the Holy Spirit is living inside of us, God in us? How often do we think of Jesus words in John 14:7 when he says that it is for our good that He goes away so that the Holy Spirit might come?

Jesus called the Holy Spirit the comforter and counselor, imagine that! Jesus is saying that it is good that He leaves us so the Holy Spirit can be our counselor and comforter. If I were to ask if you would like to have Jesus standing by your side to comfort you and counsel you, you would respond with a resounding yes! Do we think of our relationship with the Holy Spirit in the same way? If we don’t it is time that we do, because Jesus said we could, and we should.

I always knew the facts about the Holy Spirit but when you truly meditate on Him and all He desires to do, it is mind blowing. I encourage you to spend some time meditating on the Holy Spirit and the role He desires to play in your life.

I believe that if the we were to recognize our need for the Holy Spirit and submit to Him than all the other things we feel are missing would show up in greater supply. The Holy Spirit deepens our love for the lost and for each other, He increases our understanding of God, and because of Him we can have a more intimate relationship with God. All things the modern church is missing.

Think and pray on this, and tell me what you are feeling.

Read these Bible passages and just ponder Him.

John 14,15,16

I Corinthians 2:9-11

Romans 8:16

Romans 8:26-27