Yesterday, our friends from Youth Links came by to celebrate the accomplishments of their clients. The Youth Links staff provide an array of services and program activities such as tutoring, adult mentoring, occupational training, etc to disadvantaged youth in the area. I am thankful that they always allow me to briefly share my testimony and the Gospel of the transformational grace of God with those who attend. This is one of the ways we have sought to create space in which we can interact meaningfully with those who normally would not “feel” welcome in a church.

So were the church and then we had church. Several of our people were missing this week for a variety of reasons. But we continued our conversation with Luke’s Gospel with a look at Luke 5:33-6:13.

Luke describes a series of controversies that explain the kind of opposition Jesus’ ministry receives. The initial controversy concerns fasting, while the next two deal with the Sabbath. After these controversies the Jewish leadership begins to discuss what they might do to Jesus, showing a solidification in the opposition. Rising opposition means that Jesus must organize his followers. His selection of the 12 is preparation for his mission to come, as well as an anticipation of his future departure through death. The setting of Jesus’ selection is no accident. He spends the entire previous night in prayer. His selection is set in communion with God.

One of the lessons we can apply from this text how often we are slow to recognize how Jesus in our midst should impact how we relate to enemies and friends, neighbors and strangers, our community and the world because of the privatized form of religion that our culture promotes. We all too often view mission in terms of the number of activities we are involved in completing rather than assessing the quality of our relationships with people. External activity of mission is not the issue here. God longs for a heart that celebrates his presence and is being conformed to his image.

All that to say that the controversies that Jesus faces all have to do with externals – not doing certain prescribed rituals. Sheer ritual for ritual’s sake means nothing to God.

The way of Jesus is revolutionary – so revolutionary that we are tempted to slip back into a mode of approaching God through rules and regulations. But this revolution is focused on a character that should be present in our church community. We should be less concerned with the externals of relating to God and more serious about nurturing the conditions of our hearts, the treatment of one another and our neighbors.

Let’s ask ourselves:

Do we look at others suspiciously when they do not partake in “spiritual” practices like we do?

Are we more concerned with externals rather than character formation?