I AM SORRY JESUS BUT YOU ARE NOT WANTED

I think that this little story shows us where the church is at. I received an expensive looking brochure from a denomination that I have no connection with, outlining their needs for people to go overseas to work with other cultures. You could go for two weeks, for two years or permanently. Here are some examples.

If you are a school leaver or university student you can do your Gap year overseas with them. The only qualification is that you are in good standing with one of their churches.

That immediately rules Jesus out because in his local church he was despised by the leaders.

Then there are short term opportunities. All you need is to be a member of one of their churches, have received a probationary minister’s credential and have a lifetime call to missions.

This one rules Jesus out even though he definitely would qualify as a short term worker, say three years. As for getting a probationary ministers credentials, forget it. The only credentials he was interested in was those which his father dished out.

Then there is the Lifetime Career Workers. For this you need to be an ordained minister of the church, two or more years of relevant ministry experience, Bible College degree, and Lifetime call.

Jesus was ordained by his father but the local synagogue wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole. By the time he was ready to die he had three years experience, but he wasn’t going to hang around to qualify so that is a dead end street. What about a Bible College degree? It has been said that we are emptying the church by degrees. Unfortunately for this church, Jesus was more interested in Holy Sprit power than degrees.

You can just imagine Jesus interviewing for these ministries can’t you.

Interviewer: What are you academic qualifications Jesus?

Jesus: Being filled with the spirit and performing miracles.

Int: So you don’t have a college degree of some kind?

Jesus: No, I prefer to do things that work and mean something to people.

Int: What church are you a member of?

Jesus: Mine

Int: So you are not a member of the local synagogue then?
Jesus: No. They are not too keen on me because I tell them the truth.

Int: This church of yours. How many members does it have?

Jesus: Not sure. Numbers do not mean much to me. There might be a few or a few thousand.

Int: So you don’t have a formal membership process then?

Jesus: We tell people all they have to do is repent and be baptized.

Int: is that all?

Jesus: Yes, and to die daily so that you don’t get in the way of what the Father wants to do.

Int: What meetings do you have?

Jesus: Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, bingo, you have a meeting. Could be in a home, by the river bank (that’s where we keep the money), walking home from work, having a meal together, in prison together, shopping with someone else etc. You get the idea.

Int: So you don’t have a Sunday morning meeting with songs and a preacher which are organized for the occasion?

Jesus: I never thought of that. Probably because we don’t have any preachers, we just share about our lives with one another. Oh yes we do have preachers. They are the ones who go out and share the good news of the gospel with those outside the kingdom of God. Trouble is, we work on Sunday so it would be very difficult to meet then. We could do it on Saturday because that is a day of rest for everyone.

Int: What do you do for money?

Jesus: Money for what?

Int: To pay pastors and other staff and building costs?

Jesus: We don’t pay anyone anyone to do anything. We get everyone involved so there is nothing to do that is not done. And we meet in homes so we don’t need to worry about the upkeep of buildings. We use our money to take care of people so that everyone has what they need. If we had buildings and had to pay people to do things we wouldn’t be able to help those in need.

Int: So you are not a member of a recognized church. You have no bible college degrees. You are not a credentialed minister and you don’t run a traditional church. So what can you offer us.

Jesus: Not a lot. The best I can do is be full of the holy spirit, only do what my father God tells me to do, heal the sick and disabled, give sight to the blind, change water into wine, raise the dead, feed 5,000 with virtually nothing and making time for a lot of prayer. Whilst I am doing all this, I am training other people to do it as well. All that keeps me so busy, I don’t have time to go to Bible College or get credentialed.

Int: Thank you Jesus for coming in. We will let you know the outcome of your application.

Jesus: Thank you. Whilst I am waiting to hear from you I will go and perform a few miracles to keep me busy.

Interviewer to Candidates Committee: I don’t think he is the right material for us. I know that he performs miracles and spends a lot of time in prayer. He has followers who he trains to do what he does and it seems he is very popular with the people, but what worries me is that he has no standing with a recognized church, he does not have any degrees and he is not credentialed to minister.

Rules are rules gentlemen. We can’t break them just because he gets results so I am sure you will agree with me that we will have to refuse his application. All those who say aye, raised your hand……….