Ok - back to the coffee grounds. It's quite obviouse that the coffee grounds illustration is very similar to the illustration Jesus used when He called His followers “salt of the earth”. He went on to say that if the salt becomes tasteless, it has lost its usefulness. The point is clear. Salt is useful because of its beneficial influence on other things. And for 2,000 years the church has tried to determine what it means to be salt to its generation.
But what does it mean to become tasteless? I think we often end up communicating that only people who fit into an external mode of religious perfection are truly salty. It’s only the ones that have this Christian life all figured out, who don’t struggle much with sin and doubt and pain – those are the only ones who can truly represent Christ. That way of thinking causes a whole lot of us to just fake it – to look the part - to fit in to this Christian sub-culture that many of us are a part of. But, certainly that is not what Jesus meant by being “salty” is it? If so, the Pharisees of his day would have been the model for Jesus to point to. They were the religious elite and the model of religious perfection. They did everything right.
The New Testament church is filled with all kinds of people – selfish, bitter, angry, lustful, proud, hurt and wounded people. But, these are also people who have recognized their need for a savior and have placed their trust in Jesus Christ (or are on a journey toward doing so). They are people who have been burned and broken – who are being made whole but are not whole yet. The story of redemption is a painful one in all of our lives. It seems to me that coffee is not good in spite of the heat from the roaster or the pressure from the grinding wheel. It only has influence because of those things. Likewise, our brokenness (not just our brokeness before Christ, but our continued brokeness now) is a vital part of our redemption story. It has to be.
But what does it mean to become tasteless? I think we often end up communicating that only people who fit into an external mode of religious perfection are truly salty. It’s only the ones that have this Christian life all figured out, who don’t struggle much with sin and doubt and pain – those are the only ones who can truly represent Christ. That way of thinking causes a whole lot of us to just fake it – to look the part - to fit in to this Christian sub-culture that many of us are a part of. But, certainly that is not what Jesus meant by being “salty” is it? If so, the Pharisees of his day would have been the model for Jesus to point to. They were the religious elite and the model of religious perfection. They did everything right.
The New Testament church is filled with all kinds of people – selfish, bitter, angry, lustful, proud, hurt and wounded people. But, these are also people who have recognized their need for a savior and have placed their trust in Jesus Christ (or are on a journey toward doing so). They are people who have been burned and broken – who are being made whole but are not whole yet. The story of redemption is a painful one in all of our lives. It seems to me that coffee is not good in spite of the heat from the roaster or the pressure from the grinding wheel. It only has influence because of those things. Likewise, our brokenness (not just our brokeness before Christ, but our continued brokeness now) is a vital part of our redemption story. It has to be.
1 comment:
I think you've only just scratched the surface on the whole "incongruent elements" deal. I'm going to send you some of my home brewing books.
Brian
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