The Jesus Creed

[Scarsuna]

My fiancee goes to North Point Community Church and I recently attended a service with her. Normally, it's Andy Stanley who preaches, but they had a guest by the name of Scot McKnight.

He wrote a book called the Jesus Creed, and apparently he goes to various mega-churches around the country and gives sermons based on this teaching. The Jesus Creed is McKnight's terms for the two commandments Jesus identified as the most important commandments.

What I noticed scared me. It seems like he had two agendas, one out in the open and the other hidden. It seems both agendas are apostate.

I took the time to type out his sermon and thought I'd share it with the readers here. I'm hoping someone can identify exactly what he's doing here.

I did notice he called the Jesus Creed "morally dangerous" and he used this term twice in the sermon I heard, but only once in the sermon that's available for viewing online at North Point's website. He associates "morally dangerous" to the Jesus Creed, which he then links to the image of "a cup of cold water." He then links the "cup of cold water" to "Coca-Cola." I found it interesting they played the "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" Coca-Cola jingle as the service came to a close and provided ice-cold Cokes to anybody who wanted one. Am I wrong to think he was attempting to brainwash the members of this church?

In the book 40 DAYS Living the Jesus Creed, McKnight says, "I have been saying this nonstop for five years, much to the moral danger of my own life!" What exactly could he mean by this other than what it plainly says?

Is there any other info or feedback the readers can give about this sermon? I'm planning on doing a presentation exposing this false teaching and would like to see what other posters have to say about this.

"Good afternoon.

You can do better than that. You did a lot better for Andy than you did for me.

Good afternoon.

We were just so excited last night. We thought Atlanta was being very kind to us. We got to our hotel. We turned on the television. I wanted to see if there is anything on in sports and the Chicago Bulls were playing on TV. It was 1998. It was the last time Chicago had won anything important. So we thought everybody was being kind to us. We're really happy to be with you. It's good to be back in Atlanta, and I would like to talk to you about a topic that is important to my own life, is important to my own history, to my own academic teaching, and it concerns the Jesus Creed. Because I think that this principle of how Jesus understood the law can vitally reshape our life and give us a new perspective on how to live.


And I'd like to begin with this. I'd like for it to work its way into your soul. Every day, every church, every Christian, every human is asked to answer one question. How did I treat people?

Every day, every church, every Christian, every human is asked to answer one question. How did I treat people?

Now we might pass this off and think that it's not so difficult because we want to pass off the Word every day but I don't think the word every day is the challenge.

I believe most of us believe that anything vitally important for morals and ethics in life is something we practice 24 seven.

Nor do I think it's a challenge to say that every church should live in such a way that they ask the question how do they treat people. Shouldn't churches treat people well?

Nor is it much of a challenge to ask the question of Christians. Christians should be known as people who treat other people well.

And we've traveled around the world a bit and I believe that all humans believe that all humans should treat other people well.

You know the real challenge in this statement-
Every day, every church, every Christian, every human should answer the question how did I treat people?
I think the real challenge here is the word people. It's people that give us problems. You problems with people?

I am a professor. I love summers. I don't have any students. I think teaching is great except for the students.

I talked to pastors who've said to me... I say, "How's your church?"
"Great, except for the people..."

I've talked to businessmen. "How's your business going?" It's great except they have to work with people.

And I think that if you get down to it the real challenge here is every day people that we bump into that make it difficult to answer this question- how did I treat people?

Yes, yes it's easy for me to get up in the morning and to say I plan on treating my wife Chris well today and I will treat my kids, and their spouses, and the greatest grandson in the world. Well his name is Aksel- it's a cool name. He's the coolest baby in the world.

I don't worry about that question but I do worry about certain people like Green Bay Packers fans with their really silly cheesehead things they wear on their heads which they're... they're... "Brother, brother, let me tell you how you look..." These people annoy us and they drive in Illinois at times and they mess up our highways... they throw their cheese head hats at us when we are driving by...

But this week I got to asking myself this question. As I was thinking about coming down here to Atlanta, I asked myself this question over and over. What are the sorts of people that get under my skin? What are the patterns and characteristics of people that bother me, that make answering this question at the end of the day- how do I treat people today? They make that one tough.

There are lots of people that I don't have any problem with but there are other people that I really have troubles with.

And this morning, this afternoon, I want to get you to ask this question in a really pointed and particular way even if you have to write down names on a piece of paper. What are the everyday people, who are the everyday people, and what are the characteristics of everyday people that you run into frequently that get under your skin. What are these people like? Who are they? Write'em down because Jesus has a challenge for you.

And this week as I began to think about this I got to thinking about ideals. The ideal is this- I think that we should love everybody. I mean, good grief, I grew up with the greatest band in history- the Beach Boys. It doesn't come any better. It's all downhill since then, except with Michael Jackson, and it's sad what happened. But I sang with our kids in our living room "We are the World." Wonderful song all right. Wonderful dream.

You know, it's easy to sit in the living room and sing that song. It's a lot more difficult to help a neighbor with marriage. It's more difficult to help people in Rwanda recover from what they've been through. It's a lot more difficult to help people who were hit by Katrina. So the ideal, I got to thinking about this, the ideal of loving everybody crashes frequently into the shoals of reality, that reality being the everyday people that you and I bump into. I don't know who they are for you but begin to think about the people that work into your life or work under your skin and that really cause problems.

I think that most of us have an experience frequently like this experience that I want to tell you of a friend of mine who is a youth pastor in Pennsylvania. He told me one day that he is almost, I never heard of this, he's almost a professional Frisbee golfer. You know my wife is a psychologist so I treated that like it's a respectable category to put people in. You know, you play golf like this, you don't play golf like this.

So at any rate, he's a Frisbee, and he's also a youth pastor, and he said is working on Mark chapter two and the story that maybe you know of these friends who dug through a roof to lower their friend to Jesus so Jesus could heal him. And he said he was in the park practicing Frisbee golf and at the same time working on his sermon... with a little piece of paper and he was taking notes, and he said, "I was trying to think of what it's like... what are the characteristics of people who have so much love for a friend that they would dig through someone's roof to give them to Jesus?" And he says, "As I was doing this, throwing Frisbees, and thinking about the kind of love that would do this sort of thing, I noticed that there were eight young 20 somethings in the park who were verbally abusing the children in the park and everybody who walked by"
and he said, "I got irritated by what they were saying and as I practiced golf, and as I prepared my sermon, I got angrier and angrier at what they were doing, thinking about the sort of words that Jesus would use to put these people in their place" and he said, "In fact, I got so angry, I had to go home. I got so angry while I was preparing a sermon on the kind of love it takes to dig through someone's roof to help someone out."

And I will finish this story later this morning, but I want you to understand I think that situation is far more typical for each of us than we care to know, but we have developed the capacity to ignore situations where we don't want to be involved. I don't think Jesus did that.

And as I was thinking about this question, what are the sorts of people that get under my skin and what are the sorts of situations that I've learned to get around rather than to deal with, I got to thinking about the kinds of people that Jesus bumped into as well.

You know some of us are irritated by people from a different ethnic group, a different socio ethnic group, different economic group, and we see these people we really don't want anything to do with them. Some people are offended by African-Americans and some African-Americans are offended by white people.

All right.

Some people are offended by people who have immigrated to the United States and other people are offended by people who are offended by people who have immigrated to the United States.

And I got to thinking about Jesus and Romans. You know, people in Judaism, and the world of Jesus and Israel and the Galilee, they didn't want Romans there. Romans were a constant presence of the fact that Israel was not free, that they were an oppressed people, and owned and dominated by the Roman Empire. And so, when a Roman man, a centurion, a soldier sends messengers to Jesus, and says "I would like you to come to my house," which is not a typical act for a Jew to do, to go into some goy, that's the Hebrew word for Gentile, into a goy's house. He summons Jesus. And Jesus says "you just tell your friend that God has heard his faith and that his servant will be healed." And he responded to somebody with a completely different ethnic heritage who caused ethnic problems in the land of Israel with grace and mercy.

Some people are religiously different and that when we encounter them we don't quite know what to say. Some people for instance are Southern Baptists. You know? You might not like Southern Baptists. I just saw that there was a national convention for the Southern Baptists, and I thought, six million Baptists in one place, that's not my idea of a party.

Maybe you don't like Roman Catholics, maybe you don't like Eastern Orthodox, maybe you don't know any Eastern Orthodox but you are pretty sure you wouldn't like them. Maybe you don't like Methodists, you don't like Presbyterians. Maybe you don't like northern speakers who come to the South and tell you what to do.

Jesus ran into people like this. He ran into Pharisees, totally committed to Torah. He ran into Sadducees, who are like the Kennedy and the Roosevelt families of United States, who were welded to money and to power, and he ran into Essenes (in the 11 o'clock sermon, he identified the Essenes as a most holy people), who were hyper exclusive religious club people who lived the Torah in very minute sectarian ways, out in a community on their own, near the Dead Sea Scroll... near the Dead Sea, okay? So here's Jesus, encountering these kinds of people, and he seems to be fine with them and to carry on meaningful conversations even when they're disagreeing with what he is saying and when he is disagreeing with them.

Some of you may have trouble with other people because of the political or ethical positions they take. Some of you, for instance, might not like Democrats. Some of you might not like Republicans. You know, there's both kinds in the United States. Some of you, when you see Bill O'Reilly on the screen, break into a snarl. And others, when they see Anderson Cooper, who is not exactly the same political persuasion as Bill O'Reilly. When they, when he flashes up, you snarl.

Some people are irritated politically when governors run off with some other woman, and we have these problems that we live with. And Jesus dwelt in a world like that as well, with people around him who had different ethical positions.

Prostitutes. Jesus said, "We're going to have a party at Peter's house tonight and I want you to come. We want to talk to you about God's grace."

Tax collectors, who were compatriots with Rome, and therefore, not faithful to Jews. And Jesus sees this little guy named Zacchaeus, and he says, "Come on down out of the tree. I'm going to go to your house today." Jesus crossed these boundaries, and I was interested in how it is that there are certain kinds of people that get under our skin and Jesus dealt with the same kind of people.

Some people are needy. Some of us get offended by needy people. Elderly people at street corners who don't turn left when the light turns green. And they turn, they don't turn left until it turns yellow, and you're l--, you're st--, you're left in the lurch, and you got to wait another one.

Some people are bothered by kids, or other people's kids. And I'm bothered with kids on airplanes who make too much noise, and I have nowhere to go at times. Sometimes we are bothered by people with psychological issues, or relational problems, or marital problems, and we don't have time for people like this.

Now I hope that the web that I've just spun is big enough to catch somebody in your life. I hope you said, "yeah, I know who you're talking about in my life. I know who gets under my skin."

Because what also came to my mind, as I began to think about this question, is how Jesus responded to these people. And these are everyday people that Jesus somehow turned into everyday neighbors.

The distinction between an everyday people, or as you say in Twitter, "peeps". The difference between everyday "peeps" and everyday neighbors is huge. And Jesus seemed to be able to treat everybody, even the people at the gas station, even the people at the grocery store, as his neighbor. And I got to asking myself the question this week, what was it that drove Jesus to be able to convert everyday people into everyday neighbors, and what is it that we can learn from him that will help us turn everyday people into everyday neighbors.

I think I know. When Jesus was two, and we know exactly what he looked like when he was two, because he was in Mel Gibson's movie as a two-year-old. He was a little Jewish boy with black curly hair. Remember him? He was cute.

All right.

When Jesus was two, his mother Mariam, and his mother, his father Joseph, would have called Jesus to their lap, and said something like this-

"This is how we begin everyday. This is how we end everyday. This is what we say. Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha. Hebrew for the Shema.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength."

Every Jew, every day, repeated this. There weren't any observant Jews who didn't say this every day, because this is how they ended the day. Their day actually ended in the evening, so we can start backwards. They begin the day in the evening. So they begin the day by reciting Shema. When they get up in the morning, they recite Shema again. And sometime throughout the day, whenever they left the house, whenever they entered the house, whenever they sat down, whenever they were laying down, whenever they were with their children on the path, they taught their children the Shema.

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. J'Or with all your strength." Jesus learned this as a child, and Jews had developed the sacred rhythms of repeating themselves and stopping in the middle of the day to remind themselves of Shema. Psalm 55:18 says- the Psalmist says, "In the evening and in the morning, I will complain and lament, and the Lord will hear my voice." Daniel chapter 6 tells us that Daniel went to his house top and prayed three times a day. We know what he prayed. He said Shema. He almost certainly repeated the 10 Commandments, and at the end of that, he had prayer requests. Those prayer requests then became recited prayer requests and they are used in every Jewish synagogue to this day in a prayer called Amidah. So we know that the Psalmist prayed three times a day, we know that Daniel prayed three times a day. Jesus criticized the hypocrites because they found themselves in publicly convenient places at the time of prayer in order to be noticed. Matthew Chapter 6. Jesus didn't criticize praying in public. He didn't criticize praying in public at the time of prayer. He criticized praying in public at the time of prayer in order to be noticed. That's what Jesus was against. And Peter and John, his close followers, in the book of Acts chapter 3, it tells us they went to the temple at the hour of prayer to pray. It tells us in the second century text, not in the New Testament, called The Didache, that the early Christians prayed three times a day.

So we have this habit in Judaism, the habit of praying the Shema three times a day that every Jew and observant Jew learned.
There is a complication here that needs to be added before we get to what Jesus actually taught. That is, if you read the Old Testament, and I know that it's hot enough here in the summers that you want to spend the evening inside in air conditioning. You have plenty of time to read the Old Testament this summer. Read it through. Just, maybe take a week to read through the Old Testament. It's only 39 books. I'm just kidding you.

All right.

If you count the Old Testament commandments, there are 613 of them. 365 prohibitions, 248 commandments. So there was a debate at the time of Jesus as to which commandments were the most important, and how can we organize this so we get a handle on all 613.

A young student who wants to be a rabbi comes to a rabbi named Shammai, and he holds his leg up like this, and he says, "Rabbi Shammai, as I stand on 1 foot, teach me the whole Torah, which is, reduce it."

And Shammai, repulsed by a petulant student, who would think that you could reduce 613 to the amount of time you can stand on 1 foot, pushes the student away and walks away.

The same student goes to another rabbi named Hillel. Hillel was the teacher of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the teacher of the apostle Paul. He comes to Hillel, and says, "Teach me the whole Torah as I stand on 1 foot." And Hillel says, "Do not do to others what you don't want done to you." Though the Golden rule in reverse form.

So a scribe comes to Jesus, in this Jewish debate, and he says in Snow White fashion, "Oh Jesus, oh Jesus, fairest of them all, what is the greatest commandment?"
And Jesus says, "Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind," he adds, "and all your strength. And the second..."

Now the scribe interrupts here, I'm imagining this, but it has to be true because I'm telling you this, and I'm a professor after all. The scribe says, "I didn't ask you for two. I asked you for what is the greatest commandment of them all."

And Jesus says,"Just calm down." He says, "The second is this."

Now Jesus takes a commandment from the book of Leviticus, your favorite book and mine. He takes a commandment from Leviticus chapter 19 that is not quoted in any Jewish text from the time Moses says it until Jesus requotes it. And that text says this-

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

And he joins "Love your neighbor as yourself" to "Love God with every globule of your being." And the combination of these two commandments, I call the Jesus Creed of loving God and loving others.

And then Jesus says at the end of this, "There is no commandment greater than these," Which his way of telling the scribe, who's basically saying, "Tell me the whole Torah as I stand on 1 foot." He is telling that scribe that all of the Torah can be reduced to commandments about loving God and commandments about loving others. And if you don't love God, and don't love others, it doesn't matter how many commandments you keep. And if you keep all the commandments and love God, and loving others, you're only really keeping two. Because they're all expressions of loving God and loving others.

About seven years ago, when I realized that Jesus taught the Torah this way, that it's basically about loving God and loving others, I decided I would have an experiment. Because I knew Jews repeated Shema three times a day, I decided that I would begin my day and end my day repeating the Shema of Jesus, the Jesus Creed. But I made another promise to myself- that any time throughout the day that it came to mind, I would repeat it again. So in the morning I took my feet out of the bed and put them on the ground, before the pains in the knees began, and every evening, when I took my feet off the ground, I would repeat it and I repeat it in Hebrew, because it makes me feel smart. And then I said to myself any time throughout the day it comes to mind I will repeat it to remind myself and I found that I was saying it 30 to 40 to 50 times a day. And I've done that for seven years.

And here's what I've learned- it's morally dangerous to live by these commandments. It is easier to follow 613 duties then it is to live by loving God and loving others. And so one day I said something to Chris, my wife and she said, "That wasn't very Jesus Creed like." And I thought, "Well, it wasn't." I felt bad about it.

So a couple days later, she said something, the only time in her life she's ever said something like this, and I said," Chris, that wasn't very Jesus Creed like."
And she said,"I didn't write the book. You did."

But I've learned, I've learned, and I'm not kidding you. I'm going to challenge you to try this for 30 days. When you take your feet, when you put your feet on the ground, and when you take your feet off the ground, and at any time throughout the day it comes to mind, repeat the Jesus Creed of loving God and loving others. I promise you, it will change your life morally.

The first thing it will do is it will make you alert to the peeps in your life that need to be neighbors. That will be the first thing it does. Suddenly, everybody you bump into, not suddenly- it dawns on you. Everybody, including Republicans and Democrats, including Chicago Cub fans and Brave fans. I will never give in on Yankees fans or Green Bay Packers, ever. They are always peeps to me.

All right.

But, you'll suddenly realize that you will be alert to the fact that all of the people in your life are neighbors. The second thing it will do to you, it'll make you realize that your job is to be responsive to people as neighbors.

Someone said to me today,"What if you discover that one of your people that you run into is your actual neighbor?" That's a good one. Yes, your neighbors are also your neighbors.

The third thing it will do is it will teach you that following the Jesus Creed of living love of God and loving others, is always inconvenient. Always. You don't get to assign people to the time that you're available and to the tasks that you'd like to do for them. You can't say show up at my house on Saturday morning from 10 to 12, because I'm probably not doing much. Then I'll help you. It's always at the worst time.

A student comes to my office at 3:20, and I'm leaving for home at 3:30, and she just wants to sit there and shoot the breeze. You know, I want to say, "Hey, I'm out of here." And then after 20 minutes, she tells me a personal story that really matters in her life.

Treat them as people, and you leave at 3:30. Treat them as a neighbor and you wait on what you need to do in that moment.

So, I'm challenging you to think about saying this for 30 days. In the morning, in the evening, and whenever it comes to mind.

One of my students sitting at the back of the class, one of my Jesus classes. First student I ever had who brought a computer to class and took notes on a computer, which, so it made him super cool. I hate to admit it, it wasn't an Apple Computer, which meant he's one notch below that, cause that was the destined origin and goal of all computer world is to become a Macintosh.

So, Tim is sitting at the back of my class, and he's a really good student, a philosopher type, I liked him. He comes to me one day at the end of class, and he says," I'd like to talk to you about the Jesus Creed." He says, "I have begun to think about this and I want to pass some ideas by you."

He comes to my office and he says,"Every morning on my way from home to your class," which is an 8 o'clock a.m. Jesus of Nazareth class, which is an interesting experience in itself, college students at eight AM. He says,"Every day on the way to class, I've been repeating the Jesus Creed," and he says,"About halfway through this semester, I began to observe there were homeless people that I was passing by that I had never noticed before."

They had turned from people to neighbors.

And he said, "I want to do something about it, so I've got some friends of mine, and we are going to go out in the month of April some night, we're picking a date, and we don't care about the weather. We're not going to have any coats, we're not going to have any blankets or sleeping bags. We're going to spend the night outside as an opportunity to identify with the experience of homeless people."

And it was a big experience on campus, you know, you get college kids to do something silly, and they all want to do it. But it began to transform them, and so the next year, he developed it and it became nationwide, that students all across the nation were doing this, spending the night outside to experience homelessness.

That next summer the G8 conference, in England, invited Tim King, one of my students, to England to talk about homelessness in Chicago. Tim graduated not too long ago, and he was admitted to a Duke PhD program out of his bachelor's degree. He's sharp. And he said, what do you think I should do? I've been offered a job, an opportunity to work with the homeless in Chicago or go to Duke for my PhD.

And you know what I said to him in a rather callous way, the homeless will still be here in three years. You go get your degree and prepare yourself because you want to become a professor. He said, I'm not doing that. I'm going to work with the homeless. (In the 11 o'clock sermon, McKnight repeated his notion that the Jesus Creed is morally dangerous here.)

For two years he worked in Chicago with the homeless and then Washington DC gobbled him up and he's now working in DC with justice issues and homeless in a Christian think tank, all because he began to realize through the Jesus Creed, of loving God and loving others, that people are neighbors.

This is going to be the challenge of our lives. This is what I think we have to do. We have this challenge, the challenge of people, ordinary people, everyday people, and we know that Jesus took ordinary people, and he made them everyday neighbors. How can we do this if we don't practice the Jesus Creed?

But there something here, and that is, we have this ideal. Okay I'm going to practice the Jesus Creed, and I'm going to love everybody. Well that's going to jump up again with ordinary people you run into.

And what we're going to be given is opportunities in life. I can tell you how this works. You're going to get opportunities in life to respond to people you bump into who are on your pathway, on where ever you are going, whatever journey you are taking, and you're going to be challenged to respond to those people. And you don't have armor to take with you. You just have to respond to what they need.

And Jesus gave to his disciples, I think, a creative image, and this image, we can take with us and say this is what I take with me everyday. In Matthew chapter 10, verses 40 through 42, Jesus teaches his disciples who are sent out on mission. He says "Anyone", I think this is an amazing statement, "Anyone who welcomes you," that's you, think about you right now, "welcomes me," that's Jesus. so peoples' response to you is their response to Jesus, and then Jesus says "anyone who welcomes me welcomes the father who sent me."

So when people respond to you, as Jesus's missional agents, they're responding to God. That's pretty cool.

Now notice what else he says. In verse 41," whoever welcomes someone known to be a prophet will receive a prophets reward." And then he says," and whoever welcomes someone known to be righteous will receive a righteous person's reward."

And then Jesus gives this creative image. "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones, who is known to be my disciple, that person will be rewarded."

In Matthew chapter 25, Jesus says something that's even more potent, and that is this. He tells us that you and I are going to be judged by whether we turned everyday people into everyday neighbors.

Notice what Jesus says in verse 34 of Matthew 25. "Then the King will say to those on his right, come, You who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world." And here's what Jesus says-" for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, there is the cup of cold water. I was strange. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me."

Now the righteous who are going to enter the kingdom of God forever with Jesus and his father, the righteous will then answer him," Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a cup of cold water? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison or go to visit you? And the King will reply, whatever you did, for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

This is amazing. Our response to everyday peeps and converting them into everyday neighbors is an indication of how God will judge us. This is potent stuff. It's in your Bible. I didn't make this up. Jesus says that we will be judged on whether we can convert everyday people into everyday neighbors. The Jesus Creed can begin to work at this even in your home.

Yesterday, as we were leaving the house and coming, going to the airport at O'Hare, I got a letter from someone who attends this church. He said, several months ago you spoke at a leadership training at North point community Church. I was fortunate enough to be in the audience when you challenged us to live the Jesus Creed for 40 days. I took you up on that challenge, and I brought home with me to my family as well. It has led to a multitude of changes, starting in ministry, taking seminary classes. But most importantly, it's taught me to be a spiritual leader in my family, and it saved my marriage.

Because when you treat your wife as a peep (he pauses and nods silently to the crowd), life doesn't go well. When you treat your spouse as a neighbor, as someone you're called to love, with cups of cold water, things change because people respond to love.

I told you earlier about Keith, this youth pastor. He walks by, as he was leaving his little golf and preparing his sermon, he walked by these kids and they made fun of him, of his long hair. And I have hair envy. And I didn't think his hair looked very good. And on his way he went to his apartment and he looked out the apartment, out the window, and he saw these kids in the park and he began to complain about them to his wife and he said," what would Jesus say to these... what words would Jesus use to put these people in his place."

And, he said, it dawned on me that maybe I could pray for them. he said yeah. Maybe I could pray that God would knock some sense into them.

That's exactly what he told me.

And he said he decided to pray for them and in the act of praying for them. He said, God spoke to me. And he said Keith. I want you to go down to the grocery store, and I want you to buy some cokes and I want you to come back and give these kids some cokes. And he says okay. So, he got in his car and he went to the grocery store and he came back up to the park and he said he was nervous. He said, I didn't know how they'd respond to me. He says, I grabbed two bags of cokes, and I started walking at them and he says when the leader of the group saw that I was coming, he stood up on the picnic table, and I said, I thought he wanted to pick a fight with me. So, he said I was really nervous. And what I decided to do was I took a Coke out of one of them. And I held it up and I said maybe you guys would like to have something to drink. I thought you might. And he said the leader of the group looked at him. First words out of his mouth, I want to tell you I'm sorry for what I said to you and he said I... were sorry for how you been talking to the kids in the park. Now, he didn't say you are wrong. He said here's a cup of cold water. That's what we have.

We are going to have situations like this arise in our life every day, and we are called to respond as Jesus's missional agents in this world with the little cup of cold water that we have. And today, this very kind church has decided to give everybody here a Coke. How's that? Go for Coke. All right.

And I want you to take this as a token from these kind people, for you to receive it as you are receiving Jesus, and receiving the father, and then to go and do likewise with other people. Pass out your cups of cold water to the people you bump into this world.

I'd like for you to stand with me if you can, and if you have your bulletin, this little thing, you can take it out. And I would like to say the Jesus Creed together and I want to challenge you to try to say this morning and evening and any time throughout the day it comes to mind for 30 days and to follow the promptings of God's Spirit to turn you into an agent of God's missional grace and Jesus's Creed of love.

So if you'll repeat after me, I'll add a few words, so it's complete,

"Here oh, Israel."

Let's start over. That sounded like an eight o'clock class. This is afternoon now.

"Here oh, Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God, all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength and the second is this love your neighbor as yourself there is no commandment greater than these"

I pray God's grace and blessing upon you this week to be people who by living out the Jesus Creed become agents of God's embracing Grace. Thanks for coming today. Have a great day and week."

Here are the study questions as posted on North Point's website.

"Jesus Creed #1 :: Everyday Neighbors

INTRODUCTION
“Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love God. Love your neighbor.” Based on the Shema,
the central Hebrew prayer from the pages of the Old Testament, this is the fundamental message for all
Christians. In response to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?” Jesus responds with this
call to love God and to love your neighbor—the Jesus Creed.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is the most difficult type of person for you to love (kids, older people, whiners, eternal
optimists)?
2. Read Deuteronomy 6:4. Orthodox Jews recite this line at least twice daily. It’s built into their routines. Have you ever incorporated a mantra, slogan, or creed into your life? What are some things you consistently remind yourself about?
3. Read Mark 12:29-31. This is the Jesus Creed. What is the difference between seeing those around you as “neighbors” instead of simply as “people”? How would that change your interactions with them?
4. Why would Jesus call this idea of “love God, love your neighbor” the greatest commandment? How does this radical idea reverberate in your life?
5. What danger lies in deciding to live out the Jesus Creed?
6. Is there a “neighbor” that God has been prompting you to love? In this upcoming week, what “creative opportunity” can you include in your weekly pattern to practice the Jesus Creed with this person?

MOVING FORWARD

Most scientists believe that effectively forming new habits requires 21 days—practice anything regularly for 21 days and it becomes a habit. That’s the challenge we’ll take as we move forward in observing the Jesus Creed. And instead of 21 days, let’s stretch it out to 30 days, an even month. For 30 days, let’s say the Jesus Creed every morning and every night and whenever we need to in-between and see if it starts to change our lives, change how we see the everyday people around us become everyday neighbors.

CHANGING YOUR MIND
“Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength . . . Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Mark 12:29-31

(Note- hxxp://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=232615 )
Here's some examples of what The Didache teaches about:
* Epitome of Christain morality, suited to pagan candidates
for baptism
* Practice of Christian virtue
* Vices to be shunned
* Ritual or liturgical summary
* Explains the rite of baptism,by immersion & by aspersion
* Christian practice of fasting and prayer
* Prayers to be used at the private or domestic celebration of
of the Eucharist
* Church organization and church life
* Reference to the regular Sunday observance
* Rules for proper behavior toward bishops and deacons)

Is this man trying to introduce Roman Catholicism into these churches slowly but surely? I can't think of any other motive for this.

Sorry if this first post doesn't meet the standards here.

[Scarsuna]

P.S. I know North Point is an emerging church and Andy Stanley is an emerging pastor. I only attend so I can expose the errors in their teaching to my fiancee, and I can't do that unless I'm familiar with what's being taught.

[His Bride]

Wow, too long a read for me....although some things jumped out. I also checked their websites.

Bottom line, Love for God....In my opinion loving God starts with trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, reading His Word and spending time with Him. Everything else will flow from that right relationship. It also develops discernment in us through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Andy Stanley....contemplative emergent. I would choose to stay away from his followers. Plenty can be found on line. I won't go into it right now.

Upholding the Roman Catholic Church. This apostate religion doesn't mix well with biblical Christianity. The more I read about Christianity and Catholicism joining hands, for whatever the reason, it is a huge red flag.
Having a background in the RCC, why would a born again believer ever go there except to preach the true gospel of salvation alone through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ?

I guess that's it for now. I may have a chance to read it more thoroughly later. Am looking forward to others' posts.

[His Bride]

P.S. I know North Point is an emerging church and Andy Stanley is an emerging pastor. I only attend so I can expose the errors in their teaching to my fiancee, and I can't do that unless I'm familiar with what's being taught.

Yes, you can do that without attending. There are numerous websites and books from reputable Christian authors to inform you.

[billiefan2000]

Andy Stanley is the guy mentioned at

http://rr-bb.com/showthread.php?t=99234


both McKnight and Andy Stanley are part of the emergent church movement

[lyngraphics]

I just saw that there was a national convention for the Southern Baptists, and I thought, six million Baptists in one place, that's not my idea of a party.

I already don't like him...

Seriously, thanks for taking the time for writing all of this out! I will need to delve into it further when I have a little less running through my head!

[lisa]

I believe the crux of the message is Biblical - following the 2 commands Jesus gave us is to be obedient to Jesus. We are a nation who gets highly annoyed with people who aren't like us. And we also get annoyed with our Christian brothers and sisters who are like us. A lesson on loving your neighbor is a good lesson, though I don't particularly care for his teaching style.

A couple things that I didn't like:
There wasn't a lot of talk about repenting of a heart condition that causes us to treat people around us in less than a neighborly fashion. He was talking behavioral, but the issue is our sin nature.
I didn't like that he gave ritualistic methods for applying this to life. A mantra or creed... why not call it putting Jesus's words to practice everyday? I don't like that he's embedded the "emergent" language into his lesson.
I don't understand the need for the Catholic pieces at the end of the lesson. The Bible is our code of conduct, our way to live, not some man-made list of do's and don'ts.

This is what is so difficult about emergent teachings - the bottom line teaching can be Biblically based, but there are these overlays that bring in rituals and underpinnings that minimize our sin condition, so when the lesson is done it's man's social science-based spin on God's Word that you've been taught rather than God's Word itself.

[lyngraphics]

I don't like the mantra thing, either... kind of creepy.

Also, I don't know about you guys, but my Pastor and any visiting Pastor always gives a message of salvation at the end of every sermon, not matter how short. Basically, THIS is the reason why we are here... the ONLY reason.

[OnceWasLost]

Lighthouse has plenty on him. One of the modern advent, eucharist, liturgical types.

http://search.freefind.com/find.html...ALL&search=all

[lyngraphics]

Why does everything have to have a nifty little title?

How about, simply:

JESUS, Lord of Lord, King of Kings!

[lisa]

Why does everything have to have a nifty little title?

How about, simply:

JESUS, Lord of Lord, King of Kings!

Honestly I believe it's because these folks don't believe that the Word of God has the power to do what it has always done: Save people.
So, post-modern man in all his social-science-based wisdom has decided to help God out a bit by fancying things up a bit.

It's pure arrogance.

[His Bride]

Honestly I believe it's because these folks don't believe that the Word of God has the power to do what it has always done: Save people.
So, post-modern man in all his social-science-based wisdom has decided to help God out a bit by fancying things up a bit.

It's pure arrogance.

Lisa, truer words have never been spoken. It's always about Pride!

[Scarsuna]

Yes, you can do that without attending. There are numerous websites and books from reputable Christian authors to inform you.

You're right in the sense that I can find this out for myself, but I really had to show my fiancee what was wrong about these messages by attending and taking notes and exposing the false teachings as what they truly were.

Attending was a great thing because I was able to show her first hand that this church is teaching unbiblical doctrine and I believe it was an important step in exposing this deception. My fiancee was raised by a New Ager so it's not as easy for her to discern these kinds of falsehoods as others.

She talked about my concerns last night at her small group (Bible study), and the group leader told her she should break off the engagement because I'm leading her down the wrong path. Apparently, her group leader accused me of being a legalist because I believe keeping the commandments is an important part of being a Christian!

Jesus himself said, "If you love me, keep my commandments!" but apparently the straight and narrow is the wrong path. I don't claim the law saves us. I know in my heart of hearts that we are all worthless sinners, because we've all transgressed the law. I know only Jesus Christ himself can save us.

As far as the law goes, her small group leader referred to Romans and Galations. Apparently, this verse doesn't mean a thing-

Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Even though the law doesn't save us, if we have faith, our fruit will be the establishment of the law. I believe we follow the commandments out of love, not because they will save us.

If following the law is what saved us, we'd all be condemned to the second death. So am I a legalist even though I believe that?

[Scarsuna]

I believe the crux of the message is Biblical - following the 2 commands Jesus gave us is to be obedient to Jesus. We are a nation who gets highly annoyed with people who aren't like us. And we also get annoyed with our Christian brothers and sisters who are like us. A lesson on loving your neighbor is a good lesson, though I don't particularly care for his teaching style.

A couple things that I didn't like:
There wasn't a lot of talk about repenting of a heart condition that causes us to treat people around us in less than a neighborly fashion. He was talking behavioral, but the issue is our sin nature.
I didn't like that he gave ritualistic methods for applying this to life. A mantra or creed... why not call it putting Jesus's words to practice everyday? I don't like that he's embedded the "emergent" language into his lesson...
... This is what is so difficult about emergent teachings - the bottom line teaching can be Biblically based, but there are these overlays that bring in rituals and underpinnings that minimize our sin condition, so when the lesson is done it's man's social science-based spin on God's Word that you've been taught rather than God's Word itself.

Thanks for this. This is what my original thought process was until I began to delve into the matter more closely and I had forgotten this is what it seemed on the surface of things. Keeping this in mind will be important as I prepare my presentation.

I think his book "The Jesus Creed" is more about the contemplative life (i.e. Spiritual formation 101) than it's about putting these words into practice. One thing I've discovered is the the Kabbalists use the prayers known as Shemah and Amidah in their rituals, so he's introducing Kabbalistic teaching into the church as well. The Jesus Creed is in fact simply the Shema with the Golden Rule tacked onto it.

Google "CHRISTIANITY: A JEWISH PERSPECTIVE Rabbi Moshe Reiss" and you can see the Rabbi Hillel mentioned in McKnight's lecture is considered the source for the teachings, doctrine, and philosophy of Jesus- "Many basic beliefs and attitudes were shared by Hillel and Jesus. Both attempted to humanize the Halakha of Judaism. Both believed that love of humanity was the key to Jewish life. In that sense both were leaders of renewal movements in sharp contrast to the isolationists of the Qumran community, the political zealot movements in Jerusalem and the legally stricter Shamaite movement. All of these were seeking to impact people to different definitions of holiness."

I don't understand the need for the Catholic pieces at the end of the lesson. The Bible is our code of conduct, our way to live, not some man-made list of do's and don'ts.

I actually added that part as a note. He references the Didache in his sermon and I had no idea what it was or how to spell it.

[lisa]

You're right in the sense that I can find this out for myself, but I really had to show my fiancee what was wrong about these messages by attending and taking notes and exposing the false teachings as what they truly were.

Attending was a great thing because I was able to show her first hand that this church is teaching unbiblical doctrine and I believe it was an important step in exposing this deception. My fiancee was raised by a New Ager so it's not as easy for her to discern these kinds of falsehoods as others.

She talked about my concerns last night at her small group (Bible study), and the group leader told her she should break off the engagement because I'm leading her down the wrong path. Apparently, her group leader accused me of being a legalist because I believe keeping the commandments is an important part of being a Christian!

Jesus himself said, "If you love me, keep my commandments!" but apparently the straight and narrow is the wrong path. I don't claim the law saves us. I know in my heart of hearts that we are all worthless sinners, because we've all transgressed the law. I know only Jesus Christ himself can save us.

As far as the law goes, her small group leader referred to Romans and Galations. Apparently, this verse doesn't mean a thing-

Romans 3:31
Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Even though the law doesn't save us, if we have faith, our fruit will be the establishment of the law. I believe we follow the commandments out of love, not because they will save us.

If following the law is what saved us, we'd all be condemned to the second death. So am I a legalist even though I believe that?

No. Legalism is a mad-made system of rules like you have to be at church 3x a week to be a true Christian, you have to go to a certain denomination to be a true Christian, you have to read a certain translation to be a true Christian, you can't dance, can't have a drink, etc.. etc..

We are called to a life of holiness, to be set apart. God's Word shows us how to do that. That's not legalism, that's obedience.

[His Bride]

That says plenty, and I understand your reason for attending. But, now that you have shown your fiancee the truth, what next?

I've always believed that God's Word, and our knowledge of it, is what brings the light to people. Keep showing her what He says. Study and read the Bible together. It sounds like these people are trying to break you up. That's kind of scary, I'm sure. But you need to trust the Lord with all of this. Remember, you are committed to Him first. He loves you. He guides you. Commit all of this to His care.

[lyngraphics]

Wow.... sounds pretty cultish when people start encouraging her to break it off with you, doesn't it? I am surprised she wasn't more offended.

[His Bride]

Wow.... sounds pretty cultish when people start encouraging her to break it off with you, doesn't it? I am surprised she wasn't more offended.

[Scarsuna]

Wow.... sounds pretty cultish when people start encouraging her to break it off with you, doesn't it? I am surprised she wasn't more offended.

In fact, she was very surprised and offended. She always spoke so highly of her small group and how it was such a great group of women. As soon as she even hints there might be some apostasy going on, that was the reaction.

According to her, she broke this to them very gently. She asked what McKnight had meant by "morally dangerous" in reference to the Jesus Creed, without giving her opinion. Another member said she had wondered the very same thing and figured he must have said that by mistake. My fiancee then informed them that I was planning on putting together a presentation about the sermon, and that was what apparently set the group leader off.

She's troubled because she's not sure how to respond yet.

[JoelH]

Honestly I believe it's because these folks don't believe that the Word of God has the power to do what it has always done: Save people.
So, post-modern man in all his social-science-based wisdom has decided to help God out a bit by fancying things up a bit.

It's pure arrogance.

Amen! This is the whole point boiling down to.