Vive la Revolution!

I learned the poem when I was in third grade and remember it still:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled.
Here, once, embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world


Even though that shot was directed towards a mixed company of English, Scottish and German troops (i.e. "my team") I have always loved that line: the shot heard round the world.

There were other revolutions: the industrial revolution, the renaissance, the invention of movable type come to mind, but the greatest revolution of all time came through the person of Jesus Christ. We often picture him as the lamb-holder guy or the surfer-dude-looking-guy praying in front of a rock, but we rarely see him as he was -- the greatest revolutionary of all time.

Here's a challenge: read the first five books of the Bible. I dare you. Don't skip the meal offering bits in Leviticus. More than 600 rules are there covering every single aspect of life and worship from rotating crops to the position of the altar to the underwear worn by priests. For a thousand years that was the only way to approach God; the only way to be in fellowship with His people. No exceptions -- you had to strap on those five books of Law and walk the right direction, bucko, or no worship for you!

Then Jesus came. He walked up the Mount of Olives, sat down, and changed everything. In the Old Testament, God promises storehouses full of blessings to those who follow Him. Jesus starts his sermon by blessing the weak, hungry, thirsty, and poor. In the Old Testament, you gathered at the temple for worship. Jesus told his followers they were to be salt and light -- out in the world.

And then he said it -- five times in Matthew chapter 5: "You've heard it said, but I say to you." Don't step past that without asking: "You've heard it said by whom?" The answer, in most cases, is God. Jesus was saying, "God said this, but I say this"! What? Who does this guy think he is??? In Matthew 7:28,29 the Bible says, in modern vernacular, "The people were deeply shocked by what he said. 'Who does this guy think he is to speak like this?'"

No longer were they to be separate, sticking their noses up as they passed Samaritans. They were to engage them, love them, and offer salvation to them. Horrors! This guy is ruining the church we've loved for 1000 years! This guy is changing everything!

Just like all revolutions, not everybody bought into it. In the Colonies, only 30% wanted to separate from England. In Jesus' revolution, his church rejected him, nailing him to a cross. "That's what he gets for trying to change the church!" you can hear them say.

And what a revolution it was: Jesus took us from a set of 600+ laws to a New Testament that doesn't even describe a worship service. You heard me right. Read it. There is no description of a worship service. There are a few things we can glean or infer out of Acts and a few more in First Corinthians (but in the latter book you really don't want to copy much). Some run to Ephesians, Colossians and Galatians to get rules on singing but those have nothing to do with the worship service (another phrase not found in Scripture). The "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" section refers to the way you are to live your life, not what you do for an hour on Sunday.
This frustrates and angers us, so we undo the revolution. We did that in the US, too. We rebelled because of the onerous 2% tax burden the English put on us and because they often boarded soldiers on/in our property without permission or reimbursement. Today, the average tax burden is over 30% and the Supreme Court says they can take your property anytime the township or city thinks it can put something else there that raises more tax income. Makes you wonder why you went through the war, doesn't it?

And in the church, Jesus took the temple away... and we replaced it with church buildings. Nothing wrong with buildings, but we treat them as a priority and holy space, allowing some things in our home but not in the building. He took away the Levitical priesthood and we replaced it with convention speakers and brotherhood papers. He sent us out to be light and salt and we prefer being salty in the salt shaker and light in the chandelier. We avoid the people he wanted us to embrace.

At Rochester, we are determined to join Him in revolution again. While maintaining our building as a worship, teaching, and service center, we have three other prongs of approach to Jesus' dream. Charitable works is one of them and this church runs several efforts on a daily basis, some of which have garnered national attention. Next comes the launching of people into communities (as mentioned previously), giving them our blessing and backup as they reach out to Goths, rockers, the homeless, addicts, and various prisoners of suburbia. Fourth, we are sending out teams of sixty to one hundred to start congregations in target communities. All of these works are small group based and they aren't your usual small groups.

Forgive me, but most small groups are merely an alternative to checking the "Sunday night" box on our righteousness ticket or a fun way to stay close to people we see every Sunday morning. Our small groups are evangelistic and service oriented (and are getting more so).

Jesus launched a revolution. We've decided to rebel with him. Wanna come along? Vive la revolution!