Jesus Goes Viral

"Jesus went throughout Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him" (Matthew 4:23-25).

One of the phenomena of modern social networking is called "going viral," that is, when some kind of online post, video or photo becomes re-posted so quickly that it obtains the holy grail of social networking: a million-plus views. However, it does not seem to matter whether something that goes viral is positive or negative. The goal seems simply to gain the most notoriety, no matter what the issue. Whether it is a recipe using Oreo cookies, a funny cat video, or an ad campaign to rename IHOP to IHOB--you have succeeded if people begin to share your post around the globe.

In Jesus' time, technology had not advanced very far in the area of communications. Word of mouth and the occasional public announcement were the way that news could travel throughout the Roman world. However, in Matthews Gospel, he tells us about the excitement that stirred throughout Palestine, from Syria, Galilee and the Decapolis in the North; all the way to Jerusalem, Judea and even Trans-Jordan in the South. News about Jesus spread quickly. In other words, Jesus went viral.

What made people get so excited about Jesus? What was it that they wanted to share with everyone around them? The answer is: His healing ministry.

Matthew tells us that Jesus was involved in doing three things: teaching, preaching and healing. But if Jesus had only done the first two things, teaching and preaching, and not the third thing, healing, it is very unlikely that news about Him would have spread so fast. Why do I say that? Because in verse 24, it does not tell us that "the curious, the theology students, and the intellectuals" were flocking to hear Jesus. Instead it says that "the people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed..."

In general, people do not flock to great teaching and preaching, they are drawn to great power. And they are drawn, not because they are merely curious, but because they are needy. People who are hurting and have the opportunity to receive a powerful touch from God are usually the ones who will push through barriers and difficulties to get it. Remember the shame and cultural obstacles that the woman with the issue of blood needed to overcome to simply touch the hem of Jesus garment? And what was in her mind? "She said to herself, 'If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed'" (Matt. 9:21).

Even a casual reading of the Gospels reveals that Jesus did not just speak the message of the kingdom of God, but He demonstrated the reality of the presence of the kingdom as well. When the kingdom of God comes, it comes with power.

What happened when people began to bring their sick relatives and friends to see Jesus? "...and he healed them" (Matt. 4:24b).

Even Paul confirms that: "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power" (1 Cor. 2:4-5). And the writer of Hebrews tells us: "This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will" (Heb. 2:3-4).

So why does the church seem to settle for great teaching and preaching, but forget about power ministry? Because they can control the first two. Because they can learn to do the first two using human wisdom and clever marketing techniques. But power ministry is totally dependent on God. If God does not show up, we can feel pretty foolish. So we cling to what we know we can do and avoid what is out of our ability to control.

And yet, God's way of "going viral" is not through "wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." That is how God penetrates to human hearts and brings conviction. That is how Jesus went from being an obscure Galilean carpenter to the greatest figure in human history with over 2.2 billion followers.

So, are you willing to believe in the power of God? Are you willing to look foolish in the eyes of the wise of this world in order to allow God's power to be manifest? This is God's divine marketing campaign and He has never revoked it. As John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard, used to say: "I'm a fool for Christ: who's fool are you?"

My Testimony

I am currently helping our church (Vineyard Community Church Pomona/Claremont) to start a new Celebrate Recovery program. We have been meeting as a group of leaders for several months and had a "soft launch" in June. Our "hard launch" is scheduled for 2 weeks from today. I am very excited to see the depth of commitment to recovery in our leaders and to hear the significant transformation in so many lives. Tonight I will get to share my own testimony. So, I thought I would write it out briefly here.

For many years, I viewed my childhood through rose-colored glasses. That is, until I took a class called "Personal Growth" at the Anaheim Vineyard in about 1986. It was taught by then-intern John Mumford. (John now heads the International Consortium of Vineyard Churches).

John encouraged us to think about our relationships with authority figures. It was then I realized that I really didn't have relationships with anyone in authority. I went through University avoiding meeting professors. I would have the impulse to just go up and meet them after a lecture. But as a line of students formed,  I would have an internal script play that sounded something like this: "He's too busy for me. I don't really have anything important to say. Maybe next week."

Julianne and I would also visit churches and, after the sermon, I wanted to meet the pastor, but then I would have the same script play inside of me: "He's too busy for me. I don't really have anything important to talk about." It never occurred to me that they would want to actually just meet me--little old me.

I realized that my relationship with my own father had affected how I related to authority figures. And this even spilled over into my relationship with God. He felt distant and not really that interested in my day-to-day life. My prayer life was affected.

My dad had not gotten what he needed when he was little. You see, my grandfather had died when my father was only 4 1/2 years old. So, he felt rather distant from everything "family" compared to my mother's side. So, my own father did not really have the tools to initiate relationship with me, or to tell me he loved me, or to include me in fatherly things around the house, like working on the car. And being a kid, I didn't conclude that my father had "stuff" to work on. Instead, I concluded that there must be something wrong with me. I was not worthy of dad's time and attention.

That is a basic "shame" message. And I learned it very well.

So, I compensated for that core shame by becoming an achiever. I got good grades. I became president of clubs at school. I starred in theater productions and loved the attention and the applause. I felt good for about 5 minutes after the applause died down. Then I started to wonder if I was really good, after all.

And I found out that when I was feeling sad or anxious or bad about myself, I could use sweets to comfort myself. And they were very effective for a short period of time. And they had the unintended effect of packing on weight. I have lost thousands of pounds in my life on diets (the same pounds again and again).

Then, in 1989, as I was helping Julianne teach a group that became "Christian Adults in Recovery" (CAIR), I realized that I had all of the traits of codependency. And I realized that I needed to spend time recovering from what I now call "subtle neglect." It seems that it is much easier to realize we are broken when we can point to overt abuse in our childhood. But it is much harder to realize the painful and damaging affects of neglect.

Pain results from getting what we didn't need--or from not getting what we did need. And I experienced much more of the latter.

So, my recovery has been focused much more on getting in touch with the pain of neglect and the dysfunctional ways that I compensated for that pain. For me, it has been overeating and codependency, or what I call "approval addiction."

And when I became a pastor, my "stuff" seemed to become amplified as I began to be the recipient of other peoples' authority-figure expectations. My need for recovery became even more acute as I entered the ministry. And I knew that I had to face my issues so that I did not end up working out my stuff on the very people who were coming to me as a pastor. I have not done that perfectly and I have probably hurt people (for that I apologize).

And for all of this, God has provided the body of Christ for our healing. "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed" (Jas. 5:16).

Healing happens as we get together with other hurting people in safe and confidential groups and we share honestly about our past and what is really happening on the inside. The guidelines for small group sharing should be designed so that, in response, we receive unconditional love, acceptance and positive regard.

As my longtime friend, Linda Salladin, used to say: "Go where the love is; not where it should be."

Are you needing a safe place to work on your stuff? Check out a Celebrate Recovery program near you or get something going in your faith community. Or attend any one of thousands of support groups. Or do what I also did, pay for good therapy. It will all help build a life of wholeness, maturity and wisdom. And then begin to give it away to others who are hurting. You won't regret it.

Healing and the Kingdom of God

The following entry is a response to a request from a long-time friend who is encountering some "cognitive dissonance" as he and his family attend a Pentecostal/Charismatic church. I make the entry with a lot of humility, but I offer my opinion in hopes it will help people as they seek to "do the stuff" (a John Wimber-ism by which he meant actually doing the works of the Kingdom, rather than simply studying about them). Hopefully this is not so academic that it fails to be practical for you.

My friend's church has taught that "you never ask God for what he has already promised or purposed for you...instead, you are to make 'declarations.'" In other words, asking shows a lack of faith; declaration shows a confidence in God's promises.

This particular issue goes to the heart of what distinguishes the Vineyard movement from Pentecostal/Charismatics (and also what tends to confuse our Conservative Evangelical brethren). You could say that the Vineyard is defined by the dynamic tension that exists between these two streams of Evangelicalism.

The titles of two books summarize the Vineyard position between the two. Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson's book, Empowered Evangelicals, says it all. We are a movement that wants to take the best of Pentecostal experience (empowered), leaving behind what we view as its excesses; while we hold on to a solid Evangelical approach to biblical/theological scholarship (evangelicals), but leaving behind the tendency to minimize the present miraculous work of the Spirit.

The other book is Bill Jackson's Quest for the Radical Middle. Once again, the Vineyard has sought to live in a dynamic tension between the fresh work of the Spirit, and a solid commitment to biblical theology. In other words, holding both the Word and Spirit in balance.

This all flows from the influence of George Eldon Ladd, late Fuller Professor, whose Gospel of the Kingdom, and New Testament Theology are foundational for understanding John Wimber's teaching about healing. In Jesus, the Kingdom of God broke into the present evil age. His words and His works were evidence of the reality of the presence of the Kingdom. Jesus passed on to his disciples his Kingdom ministry. And they have passed it on to their disciples. And on and on...all the way to us.

One of the key aspects of the Kingdom is that it has "now come" and is still "yet to come." This"now-and-not-yet" quality of the Kingdom characterizes everything we experience in this present evil age.

Take, for instance, our salvation. We enter the Kingdom and are saved when we place our faith in the King (2 Tim. 1: 9). Yet, we are "being saved" as we go through a process of transformation in this life called sanctification (Php. 2: 12-13). And we "will be saved" when the future promised Kingdom arrives in its glory (1 Pet. 1: 5,9).

Pentecostal theology has tended to argue that physical healing is included in the atoning work of Christ based on Isaiah 53, Matt. 8: 16-17 and 1 Pet. 2: 24 and therefore, we must just claim what is rightfully ours and exhibit unwavering faith in the work of God. There is not enough time to do a thorough exegesis of these passages. Suffice it to say that you must make several hermeneutical leaps to conclude that healing is guaranteed in the atonement.

If we say that healing is guaranteed in the atonement and that faith is the only way to access that healing, we must conclude that people are not healed solely because they lack faith in some way.

Just a quick survey of the New Testament shows that healing did not always occur for Jesus or the apostles. Jesus could not do many miracles (Mark 6: 5). God refused to heal Paul's "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12: 7-10). Timothy's ailing stomach condition (1 Tim. 5: 23). The Pentecostal explanation is that they lacked faith. The Kingdom explanation is the now-and-not-yet of the Kingdom.

Yes, faith is necessary for healing. But if you analyze the healings in the New Testament, sometimes it is the faith of the pray-er (like Jesus healing the man at the pool Siloam) and sometimes it is the faith of the receiver (like the woman touching the hem of his garment.)

Does this exclude making declarative pronouncements? Not at all. When we are led by the Spirit to command healing, we do it. When we are led by the Spirit to lay hands on someone and pray for them, we do that. Every time that someone is healed, it is evidence of the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. Every time that someone is not healed, it is evidence that the Kingdom of God is not yet fully consummated. So...we pray again.

"Lord, may your Kingdom come, may your will be done, here on earth as it is being done in heaven (where your Kingdom is fully consummated)."

I welcome comments on this topic.