{"id":10306,"date":"2007-10-18T09:45:56","date_gmt":"2007-10-18T14:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/?p=10306"},"modified":"2011-08-09T09:46:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-09T14:46:26","slug":"5892","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/newswire\/2007\/10\/18\/5892\/","title":{"rendered":"Campolo: \u2018Time to Start Taking Jesus Seriously\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman<\/p>\n

CHICAGO, IL (October 18, 2007) \u2013 When Billy Graham would come to a town, everyone knew that he would focus on the need for people to accept Jesus as their savior and then finish with an altar call.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Wednesday\u2019s North Park University chapel service, Tony Campolo showed himself to be the Billy Graham of something akin to the social gospel. Everyone knows he\u2019s going to call the audience to live radically for the poor. He even told some of the same stories and used the same lines he\u2019s been using for 20 years.<\/p>\n

Still, he was as powerful as ever, mixing the hilarious with the horrifying, calling a new generation and reminding the previous one to be thankful for God\u2019s gift of salvation by responding to the needs of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what stewardship is about – it\u2019s responding to Christ as you find Christ waiting to be served in those who are in need,\u201d Campolo declared.<\/p>\n

Campolo, who is a professor, shared the story in which a student\u2019s father was angry that his son had been so inspired in class that the young man gave away his possessions and moved to the inner city to minister to the poor. The father yelled, \u201cDon\u2019t take me wrong, Campolo; I don\u2019t mind being a Christian up to a point.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways the father\u2019s reaction was typical, Campolo said. \u201cWe\u2019re all willing to be Christians up to a point. And you know and I know that Jesus calls us to move beyond that point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christians are too quick to water down the gospel\u2019s call to the poor, Campolo added. \u201cIt\u2019s about time we really started taking Jesus seriously, realizing he meant what he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cYou say you\u2019re making this thing sound so radical. I\u2019m asking you students at North Park, \u2018When did Christianity cease being radical?\u2019 That\u2019s when it ceased being Christianity. Jesus doesn\u2019t ask for tokens for a little surrendering – a little here and a little there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campolo called on students to consider serving in the Third World, but added that the Third World isn\u2019t far away, referencing areas of extreme poverty that remain prevalent in the United States. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s within walking distance of where you\u2019re sitting here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told of children watching a dying man suffer in a horrible accident and be unfazed. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anything that breaks my heart more than seeing little kids that are hardened,\u201d Campolo said. \u201cAnd Jesus says, \u2018What are you going to do about it?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Christianity is about doing more than good works, said Campolo, who exhorted the students to focus on their interior lives as well. God will always walk with us, but it is up to each person to let the Spirit transform us from within, he explained.<\/p>\n

For that transformation to occur, students should spend time in silent prayer, not asking for God to do something, but waiting in silence for him to move. \u201cSo often our prayers are like my son when he was just seven years old, coming into the living room and saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to bed. I\u2019m going to be praying. Anybody want anything?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen was the last time you waited 10 minutes for Christ to invade you,\u201d Campolo asked. \u201cNo, I\u2019m serious. When was the last time – in silence, in quietness, in stillness – you waited for the Spirit to invade you, to saturate you, to fill you up, to explode in you?<\/p>\n

\u201cIsn\u2019t that what you want?\u201d Campolo pressed. \u201cDon\u2019t you want more than a set of propositional truths?\u201d<\/p>\n

As he concluded, Campolo didn\u2019t ask the students to come to the altar. He did, however, challenge them to go into all the world.<\/p>\n

To listen to an audio recording to Campolo’s message, courtesy of North Park University, please visit Campolo Message<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Stan Friedman CHICAGO, IL (October 18, 2007) \u2013 When Billy Graham would come to a town, everyone knew that he would focus on the need for people to accept Jesus as their savior and then finish with an altar call. 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