Author’s Preface from “The Least of These”

Her name was Margie. My wife and I were on a writing sabbatical, staying with friends in Maui,  when I ran into Margie at the local McDonalds on South Kihei Road (across from Long’s Drug  Store). I had gone there for my morning caffè latte, to mooch their newly-offered free WiFi and  to work on some writing (including this book!). As I waited for my order I saw Margie standing  close by to one side, counting her change. Having worked with  homeless and disadvantaged  people for several years, I quickly  surmised Margie’s situation and understood that she was  trying to see if she had enough change to order something.

“How much is it for a cup of coffee?” she asked no one in particular. Taking that as my cue, I  responded.

“What would you like?”, I asked as I stepped closer to her.

“Well, I wanted to get something to eat . . .”, she said,  her words trailing off in an unfinished  sentence toward  an unspoken conclusion.

“Would you mind if I bought you breakfast?”, I asked. And without pausing to explore the surprise  on her face, I continued. “Come on,” I said, gently leading her to an available cashier. “My friend  would like a big breakfast and something to drink,” I told the cashier. A knowing look and a smile  from the cashier told me she, too, understood what was happening.  It’s the “ripple effect” of a  good deed in a public setting.

Margie and I got her order and headed toward the seating area. A flurry of taunts and cat-calls  from three scruffy men at a close-by table told me that Margie was not alone.

“What ya doin’, Margie? Did you tell ‘im you’re HIV positive, Margie?” . I had already surmise all  of that.

“What difference does that make?”, I snapped back. “She’s hungry!”. Patience with a senseless  lack of kindness is not one of my gifts.

I got Margie settled at a table where she could enjoy breakfast in peace and assured her that  God loved her. And as I walked away reflecting on what had just unfolded I was reminded that  sometimes the Kingdom of God and the love of the King look like a kind stranger and taste like a  hot breakfast.

“. . . to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did  it to Me.”

Welcome to “good deeds” and their role in a Jesus-shaped spirituality. This is the third book in  our Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer series, so I suppose that a brief review is in order before  we plunge ahead. At the heart of the Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer series of books is our  belief that we stand today at the cusp a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit in revival and spiritual  awakening that will sweep millions of new believers into the Kingdom of God. Furthermore, we  believe that, as part of His preparation for this spiritual outpouring, God is raising up new  channels through which the River of His Spirit will flow. New wineskins to receive the new wine  of this coming move.

In our first book of this series, River Houses Rising: The Rise of Safe Houses of Hope and  Prayer, we describe the rise of one of those new channels which God is rasing up, specifically,  the organic house church movement. We refer our little corner of the organic house church  movement as Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer. Many of the themes begun in that first book  resonate through this third book as well. For example, in that first book we begin drawing the  distinction between a religion-shaped spirituality and a Jesus-shaped spirituality.  This theme of a  Jesus-shaped spirituality continues into our second book, Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer:  Your Practical Guide To Organic Church In Your House, where we address some of the  practical issues which arise in the pursuit of organic house church.

As both of our two previous books make clear,  the heart of Safe Houses of Hope and Prayer is  the personal and corporate pursuit of a Jesus-shaped spirituality, a spirituality which looks like  Jesus and sounds like the Kingdom of God. And one of the unmistakable characteristics of such  a Jesus-shaped spirituality is its commitment to “good deeds”, especially toward those whom  Jesus referred to as “the least of these”. And this is the theme of this third book.

The focus of this book is on one specific characteristic of a Jesus-shaped spirituality, namely,  the role of “good deeds”. But in order to put things into some contemporary perspective I will  begin our journey together by challenging what I refer to as the religion-shaped spirituality of the  contemporary evangelical church, a spirituality that is “attractional” (“If you build it and offer  enough attractive programs, they will come”) rather than “incarnational” (see Chapters 1 and 2).  In its place I want to examine the idea of  a Jesus-shaped spirituality by looking at the spirituality  of Jesus Himself and its relationship to “good deeds” (see Chapter 3). Next, I will take us on  extended journey through the New Testament and what it has to say about the importance of  “good deeds” in the life of the believer (see Chapter 4). This will be followed by an examination  of two additional and important passages of Scripture which impact our understanding of God’s  call upon each of us  to minister to “the least of these” (see Chapters 5 and 6). In Chapter 7 we  will respond to a couple of frequently asked questions concerning “good deeds”, namely, who  should be the object of our “good deeds” (believers or unbelievers), and are “good deeds”  optional for the believer. The next two Chapters (8 and 9) will contain several stories of good  deeds that I have either been personally involved with, or which have come to me from people I  am in personal contact with. Finally, we will conclude our journey together with a challenge for all  of us to “become legendary” in our pursuit of “good deeds” and a Jesus-shaped spirituality.

How We Understand Scripture

As evangelical Christians, our understanding of life and godliness is shaped by our understanding  of Scripture. Indeed, we can say that our faith rests upon three things: the nature of God, the  person and work of Christ and the inspired teaching of Scripture.

But what we glean from a text of Scripture - and therefore what we apply in our lives - often  depends upon something as mundane as which translation we use. It’s one of the drawbacks of  having a sacred text which was originally written in a language (1st Century Greek) other than  our native tongue. We must rely upon the translations of others which often vary. Consider the  four translations of Revelation 22:12 given below. The first one is my original translation of the  Greek text, while the other three are contemporary versions of the same passage.

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My wage is with Me to give to each according to his deeds.”  (Revelation 22:12, author’s translation)

"Yes, I'm on my way! I'll be there soon! I'm bringing my payroll with me. I'll pay all people in full  for their life's work.” (Revelation 22:12 from The Message).

"Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to  what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12 New American Standard Bible, 1977)

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he  has done.” (Revelation 22:12 English Standard Version)

Do you see any differences? How could those differences change the way you understand the  passage and your application of its teaching in your own life? Let me suggest a couple of  differences I noticed. First, the word translated “reward” (NASB) or “recompense” (ESV) is the  common New Testament word for a day’s wage earned by a common laborer. Those are  acceptable translations, but “wage” is more descriptive. Second, the phrase translated “what he  has done” literally reads “as his deed is”. That’s good Greek, but it’s poor English, so we smooth  it out to read “according to his deeds”. The word “deed” is the common word used throughout the  New Testament for both “good deeds” and “evil deeds”.

O.K., there really is a point to all of this linguistic wrangling. I would dare say that most  contemporary professing Christians have no real clue that, in some real sense we don’t fully  grasp, Jesus views His followers - you and me -  as day laborers in His vineyard. According to  this passage, and many others we will examine in the course of this book, Jesus will one day  return to His vineyard and “pay a wage” to each individual  laborer, based on the work - the  “deeds” - that each person performed while in His employ.

Snoopy’s Two Simple Goals

In the early 1960's a fellow by the name of Robert Short was a struggling Seminary student at  the University of Chicago Divinity School. Looking for a way to support himself and pay his  school bills, he hit on the idea of taking one of the most popular comic strips of the day and  writing about the theological lessons it contained. In 1965 his book, The Gospel According To  Peanuts, appeared in bookstores, and Robert Short was able to pay his school bills (now having  sold over 15 million copies).  Among his many observations, Short suggested that the character  of “Snoopy” in the beloved comic strip “Peanuts” represented the Christ character, whose role  was to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable.

My two goals for this book resemble Short’s understanding of Snoopy. My first goal is to comfort  and encourage those of you who have already embraced the truth of Scripture concerning the  role of “good deeds” in a Jesus-shaped spirituality. You are the “shining lights” of the Church and  the Kingdom of God. It is because of you that men “glorify your Father who is in heaven”.  This  book is my encouragement to you to “keep up the good works”.

My second goal is equally simple. I want to afflict the rest of you. Sorry, it’s a gift and I can’t  seem to help myself. My goal is to prick your conscience, to challenge your comfort and to  “incite” you to “greater love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10: 23-25). This is your call, and the call  of the organic house church movement to walk in a Jesus-shaped spirituality and to become  “legendary” for your “good deeds”.

What happens next is up to you.

© 2010 THE PAROUSIA NETWORK