Urgency

Do you feel any urgency about anything? Ever? I mean urgency of something not related to bodily functions like hunger. As I pop out of bed in the morning, renewed with greater energy since the addition of the CPAP machine in my life, I stroll out to get the Fresno Bee and then move to make my coffee, read the paper, check my emails and check to see if the Dodgers have signed Manny Ramirez yet. This last matter is something that I am feeling much more urgency about than Dodger management has exhibited.

As I have been reflecting on the early Church and upon the history of the Church since that first century I couldn't help but notice that these early Christians felt that it was urgent that they share the Gospel of Jesus. You read about this urgency in the sermons preached by the Apostles and in the letters written by Paul. On the day of Pentecost Peter yelled to the people gathered, "Repent and believe!! Save yourselves from this corrupt generation!!" Christian historian Micael Greene in his book, Evangelism in the Early Church, suggests three factors that motivated these first Christians to an urgent sharing of the Good News.

The first of these three is the fact that these were people who had experienced Jesus Christ personally and deeply and whose lives were changed permanently because of this encounter. The Apostle Paul claims that same life changing encounter with Jesus even though he never met him in the flesh. In First John 1 we read that John is inviting his readers into life itself, and that life is defined by fellowship with the Father and his Son, Jesus. "the further that this fellowship extends, the great the joy it brings to those of us who are already in it." (J.B. Phillips version)

The second reason for urgency was the commitment of the early Christians to right living. Much of Jesus' teaching and Paul's writing concerned the important matter of how to live. There were moral rules put in place, but over them all was Jesus' teaching (Sermon on the Mount in Matthew) that we are called to behavior that is motivated by an inner spiritual reality, which is love. That makes the imperative to live responsibly harder, not easier. Christian conduct is not just a list of rules, it flows from the relationship we have with God in Jesus. Augustine said, "Love God and do as you please." That is harder than it sounds to us 21st century cynics. Desire ONLY to please God. This was important to the early Church and it is important now!

The third reason for urgency is that the early Christians were very clear on the concept that if someone was not "in Christ" then that one would go to hell. This has always been the most difficult stance of the Church for Christians and non-Christians to accept. Maybe we can debate the issue in another blog post, but for now I simply point out that this stance has been a motivating factor in moving Christians to tell the story of Jesus throughout the history of the Church. There have been recent opinion polls that show that most Americans (70% or so) do not belief in the exclusiveness of Christian belief as a requirement for salvation. Most of us believe that people can follow other religions and still wind up in heaven. This sort of explains the lack of urgency we have in sharing the Gospel these days. And in addition, when we tell people they are going to hell if they don't believe in Jesus, it does not work very well. They are not normally frightened enough to even pretend to believe. Most just yawn and walk away.

Is it possible to recapture the urgency of the early Church in our own lives? Can we find motivation that moves us to be eager to share the Good News of Jesus today? We may or may not believe in hell, but might there be something we view as important enough to want to share with others? What would motivate us to tell others and hope that they will join us in fellowship with Jesus? Could we relate the intensity of our own experience with Jesus? Might we feel strongly about how we should live with the presence of the Spirit guiding us? Let me know what you think.

Sandy