After speaking at a men's retreat in another state several
years ago, a very kingdom oriented gentleman came up to me after the sermon and
asked if we could talk. Of course I said yes, but my mind quickly rehearsed
what I thought I had said in the sermon, hoping that I could figure out what I
had said that he wanted to talk about. I guess my therapist would suggest that
I had gone into defense mode.
Actually it was a heartbreaking conversation. He told me
that the area in which he lived had the highest percentage in his state when it
came to the problem of unwed mothers. That reality greatly disturbed him, and
he believed that the church should be on the forefront of responding in a
Christ-like manner to these single mothers – most without an education, and
many without a family structure to help them.
He was a member of a church with adequate resources to be
the church that led the way, and had worked with the leadership of that
congregation to lead. He wanted to build a facility that could house these mothers
and their newborns, provide some sort of job training opportunity, and help the
mothers learn how to adequately take care of their children. He saw the project
as an opportunity of ministry and evangelism – in that order. (He evidently
took the Epistle of James seriously.)
In the end, after lots of research, dozens of meetings, and
all the other planning activities that were required, the church leadership
decided that they shouldn’t do the project. Their reasoning, he said, was that
if they did that, it might give people the impression that they condoned the
activity that led these young girls to become pregnant.
They chose to play it safe.
As Tim Keller says in his newest book, Center Church, “Both the Bible and church history show us that it
is possible to hold all the correct individual biblical doctrines and yet
functionally lose our grasp on the gospel.”
The last thing one could say about Jesus is that He
typically chooses to play it safe. The story we are told in Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John says nothing if it doesn’t picture Him as always ready to take a
risk. Think about it. When he preaches in the synagogues, they want to push Him
over a cliff (Luke 4). When He heralds the gospel of the Kingdom, the most
religious of the religious reject Him (Luke 16). Even when He heals people,
there are those who want to destroy Him (Luke 6). But He doesn’t quite
preaching, heralding, and healing!
The truth is that stories from His life like those mentioned
above are repeated over and over in all four gospels. And when we read The Acts
of the Apostles and the Epistles of the New Testament, we see that His earliest
followers apparently took that risk-taking approach to life as a model for
their own.
One of the things I like best about working at Point
University is that we are willing to take some risks when it comes to the
question of admissions. We could choose
to play it safe and only admit Sammy Sunday School and his best friend Betsy
Bible Reader. If we did that, life for staff and faculty would probably be
easier; and of courses the Sanctimonious Simons who are always quick to point
out failings would need to look for new targets in their critiques.
But if we did that, I wouldn’t have all those stories of
kids who came to school here for less than stellar reasons, who somehow ended
up deeply committed believers who want to renew and restore the world.
Sometimes I go to bed with my head spinning, trying to think how we can help
some kid who doesn’t get it yet; and sometimes worried about the kid who left
Point without getting it. What slows the spinning is that I can always thank
God for the kids who did get it – at least in part because Point doesn’t play
it safe when it comes to admissions policies.
Of course I’m aware that some students we admit never get it
and that while they are students, they do some things that neither I nor Point approve.
That obviously doesn’t mean we condone such behavior and rather than ripping
the admissions committee for admitting them, I find my own heart broken that
somehow we missed the opportunity. One thing I know without question is that if
they don’t get it here, they won’t likely get it where they go back to.
No doubt about the fact that Jesus was a risk taker. If more
of us who claim to follow Him would let His life be our model, we might
actually change the world – to the ends of the ages (Matthew 28) and the ends
of the earth (Acts 1).
1 comment:
But as you know all too well the church, interested in maintaining the institution, is often times very hesitant to follow the Savior they claim as theirs. Leaders who suggest these kinds of actions often end up on the scrap heap and wounded by "business as usual." Still, we must follow Him wherever he leads . . .
And thanks for the comments about the students. In the Access program I am often shaking my head wondering what it is they're actually at Point to accomplish and what I'm really doing is thinking about how much easier I would have it if they weren't here. And that's sad. Much food for thought, as usual. peace--Js
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