Last week I finished reading the book “Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claibourne. Let me say this at the start – if you are feeling good about your walk with Christ, your place and life, and generally who you are as a person, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. It is by far the most challenging book I have ever read. By that, I don’t mean to say it is a difficult read, but the content will call into question your current lifestyle. That is not to say it is a bad book – quite the opposite. It was refreshing and intense and I think every American Christian should read it. But I have no idea what to do with it all. I am still processing it and am hesitant to teach and preach it because I myself am not living it.
Simply put, Shane asks the question, “What would our faith look like if we actually believed and followed the words Jesus spoke?” Now most of us would say that we do this, but the fact is we do it selectively. We take the good stuff literally and relegate the tough commands to hyperbole and exaggeration. That makes living out one’s faith easier. But consider:
What would it look like to love our neighbor as ourselves?
What would it look like to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us?
What would it look like to hate our families in order to follow Jesus?
What would it look like to sell everything and give it to the poor?
What would it look like to count the cost everyday?
As far as I can see in American Christianity we hedge our bets. We get rid of the drinking, the smoking, the sleeping around, the bad words, etc., but we keep our 2-3 cars, our 4 bedroom homes, and our leisure time vehicles. We sit down in our plush couches and watch our favorite shows on our plasma TVs that have been beamed down from a satellite and recorded on our DVRs while sipping some sort of overpriced drink. And by “we”, I mean “me.”
The more I read the more I became more and more convicted. I try to be concerned about the poor and the oppressed, but as Shane puts it that is the problem. We like to satisfy our consciences by thinking about the poor and at times doing things about it like writing checks and gather up supplies. But how can we truly love others when we keep them at a safe distance? How can we improve the situation of people’s lives if we never enter into them?
But Shane envisions a world – a God-immersed and ruled world – that contains people who do take Jesus’ words seriously and do live them out. He doesn’t say anything different than others I have read that address the plight of the poor and oppressed. But what is so powerful about this book is that Shane lives it out each and every day. The book is full of his experiences – the successes, the failures, the raw life of a disciple. This is not a book about the ideal, but a book that displays what happens when those of us who call themselves “Christians” begin acting like it and become “ordinary radicals” who initiate a revolution that cannot be stopped and will not be because it is so compelling that people can’t help but be caught up in it.
To find out more about what Shane is doing, check out http://thesimpleway.org/index2.html
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3 comments:
We actually talked about that passage from Luke last night at our Thurs night bible study. We concluded that to live it out would to look exactly like Luke lays out how the early church interacted in chapters 2 and 4 of Acts. Same guy, same concept. At least we figured it that way.
Hating your family doesn't really mean "hating", it means putting God's people and his Kingdom first. Especially in the sense that one isn't tied down by family obligations when it comes to the call of the Kingdom.
Selling all your possessions doesn't necessarily mean becoming a hobo (though it could), it means acknowledging that what we haven't isn't ours, and never was. The early church knew that everything they had was really God's to use with as he saw fit, and they demonstrated this with how they treated their possessions.
Loving enemies? Praying for those who persecute us? I'd say some do this better than others. Seems self explanatory, but I agree with you that the typical American Christian either doesn't do this at all, or doesn't really acknowledge how many people they treat/think of as enemies.
Your discussion about not actually giving up all your possessions makes sense to our American mindset, and that is how we often justify maintaining wealth. But even the Acts example sees people giving up exorbitant amounts and giving it to the church. They more or less consolidated all their assets in a communal sense. I guess my point is, we say that all our possessions are God's and from God, but act as though they are ours, for us, etc. We are not as sacrificial and generous as we think we are.
**I am generalizing using myself as the standard. If you live differently, that is awesome.**
erin and i led a study on this book last summer. i read it every day to and from work while riding the city bus. everything clicked for a few moments. but then you go back to your life and settle back into old habits.
he is very confrontational and provokes people around him, which our branch had a hard time dealing with. and that is precisely the point.
i feel our church is doing something to share possessions and time, but there's always more to be done.
while we were leading the study, their house in philly burnt to the ground. i haven't followed up on it but plan to do so.
i agree that everyone should it read it, several times, and have ongoing discussions.
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