By Don Meyer<\/p>\n
CHICAGO, IL (February 6, 2009) \u2013 What does it mean to live a life worthy of Christ?
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\nThat was one of the questions posed by Evangelical Covenant Church President Gary Walter in his message during the closing worship service of the Midwinter Pastors Conference that concluded today.<\/p>\n
The answer to that question comes from examining the life of Jesus himself \u2013 the Word made flesh \u2013 and the manner in which he engaged the world and its challenges, Walter suggested, using the text in the first chapter of the Gospel of John to help frame his remarks.<\/p>\n
Three challenges in particular formed the core of his message \u2013 reaching out to those who are spiritually afar, those who are vulnerably at-risk, and those who are culturally at-odds, all issues that Jesus considered as priorities and addressed, and issues that remain as top priorities for his Church today.<\/p>\n
How do we understand the priorities of Christ in the world that we are to pursue? Walter asked. \u201cWe look at what Christ pursued when he was in the world,\u201d Walter responded, adding \u201cthe mission for which Christ was born is the mission for which the Church was birthed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Playing off the conference theme of the centrality of the word \u2013 one of six Covenant affirmations \u2013 Walter reminded his audience that we are to carefully examine what the scriptures say \u201cand then humbly do our best to align with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus didn\u2019t come bringing abstract concepts about God,\u201d Walter said in describing our biblical mandate. \u201cHe came as God, embodying a real mission to change real lives in real places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jesus came to reach those who are spiritually afar, Walter said in addressing the first of three core priorities he sees in examining the life of Jesus. \u201cGod is a seeking God,\u201d he noted. \u201cAnd because of that, we are to be a seeking Church, sharing the hope of Christ with those spiritually afar from God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter, who has a long and deep involvement in evangelism ministries, observed that \u201cevangelism is simply recognizing that in addition to the searching heart of God, there is a searching heart within each and every person, yearning to know that there is more to life than what is going on around them, that they are loved unconditionally by the very God of the universe. Especially in these days when every other foundation is being exposed as sinking sand, people are yearning to know that there is a solid foundation upon which to build their lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cDo we have a passion in our hearts for telling the story of Jesus?\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who are at-risk also commanded the attention and heart of Jesus \u2013 he embodied compassion and mercy and justice, and we are called to do the same, Walter said. He recalled one pastor\u2019s sermon from many years ago that suggested Jesus was all about the lost, the last, and the least. \u201cWe see that in the actions of Jesus,\u201d Walter suggested, noting how Jesus gave sight to the blind, strength to the paralytic, cleansing to the leper and raising back to life the widow\u2019s son. \u201cWe also see it in the teaching of Jesus\u201d \u2013 good news for the poor, freedom for the prisoner, and the oppressed are set free.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the actions of Jesus, in the teaching of Jesus, and in the very life of Jesus the issues of the at-risk are front and center,\u201d Walter said.<\/p>\n
The president reminded listeners of Mimi Haddad\u2019s appearance at the 2008 Midwinter conference, and her observation that it was the evangelicals of the 1800\u2019s who took on the tough issues that held people back.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now, the Evangelical Covenant Church can show the world a renewed kind of evangelicalism \u2013 not one that arrogantly and angrily shakes a stick at people, but one that takes the cross in love, and hope, and courage into the path of this world,\u201d Walter continued. \u201cJust like our evangelical forebears \u2026 whose faith compelled them to be at the forefront of abolition, and suffrage, and temperance, and education, and care for the sick, and care for the handicapped, and care for the elderly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Observing that this kind of pathway is not always easy, Walter also noted that Covenanters historically have risen to what he termed the high aspirations of the gospel. \u201cWhen the cause is biblically rooted and it calls out the best in us (not just points out the worst), and when it demonstrates life transformation, then Covenant people want to respond. That\u2019s how I will lead and that\u2019s how Debbie Blue wants to lead in these areas \u2013 to take a pathway that is thoroughly biblically rooted, calls out the best, and celebrates the fruit of changed lives and changed communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Using Jesus\u2019 life as his illustration, Walter addressed those he described as culturally at-odds.<\/p>\n
\u201cJesus lived in complex cultural currents,\u201d Walter said. \u201cHe spent part of his childhood in Egypt, he was raised in a Jewish home, he lived in a Roman empire, he ministered to a Syro-Phoenician woman, and his cross was carried by Simon of Cyrene from the continent of Africa. The incarnation is impossible without a woman, the cross is witnessed by women, and the resurrection is announced by women. He used a Samaritan as the star of his most famous story, and he cared for the family of an occupying soldier. He moved among the poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich. The Romans didn\u2019t know what to do with him and the religious leaders wanted to get rid of him. At every point, Jesus moves among those who otherwise are at odds with one another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walter suggested that it is at the cross of Christ we find our common worth \u2013 that Christ died for all – calling us to a radical new way of relating across the fractures that typically divide the world. \u201cThe Covenant carries this value in our heart. It even gives rise to our very name Covenant – meaning \u2018In It Together\u2019 – sharing our new life in Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cRealistically, when it comes to being reflective of the entire Kingdom of God, we are probably at best consciously incompetent, quite aware of our shortcomings, but with a heart for moving forward,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd in moving forward, that mosaic will more and more form the very image and picture of a community that the world longs for, but is afraid is not possible. We can show that in Christ, it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his closing remarks, Walter restated the core question: What does it mean to live a life worth of Christ who lived his life for us?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means that we will never forget that the mission for which Christ was born is the mission for which the church was birthed. It means that in pursuing Christ\u2019s priorities in the world, we will reach out to those who are spiritually afar, to those who are vulnerably at-risk, and to those who are culturally at-odds. It will not be easy, but it will be impossible if we are not in it together.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in. Are you?\u201d<\/p>\n