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An Illiterate Southern Baptist Preacher; To Whom Jesus Was Everything.

In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew [7:12]

Last week we began our four-part series called Jesus Is Our Everything. Today we continue this series with a story about an illiterate preacher. An everyday person, who followed Jesus to the pulpit, to run a  successful racially mixed small church in the deep south.

One of my favorite preachers I use to give me inspiration is Clarence Jordan. Clarence was the inspirational founder of Habit for Humanity. He was the father of Hamilton Jordan, who was Jimmy Carter’s chief of staff. Clarence was a pioneer in social justice in the mid-20^th century, at a time when our country was deeply divided racially. His main message was to bring Jesus’s words to life with action and not rhetoric. A peace-seeking man, who in every way lived this life. One of his formative learning moments occurred when he visited and preached at a Southern Baptist church in the deep south.

The church, Clarence visited and asked to preach at, was in a suburb near a large southern town. Clarence was positive that the church contained affluent white people who spoke the gospel, but did not live the gospel. As such, Clarence prepared a sermon for the church that would be hard hitting to teach them a lesson.

When he arrived at the church he found quite the opposite of his preconceived notion. He was amazed that a church that only had seating for three hundred, held six hundred. Not only that, both the black and white parishioners sat amongst each other. Seeing this he was startled and immediately knew he had to change his sermon on the fly.

When he was done preaching that Sunday, the church’s preacher asked him to stay and eat Sunday dinner with the parishioners. Once again, Clarence had an assumption that would be proven wrong. He assumed that the dinner would be held away from the main street and in the back of the church, where the local townspeople would not be able to see the diners. He also thought the parishioners would eat divided along racial lines. Instead, they ate together on the lawn in front of the church, where everyone in town could see. Quite remarkable in the mid-20^th century of the deep south.

After the dinner, Clarence was compelled to discover more, asking the preacher to tell his story of how he achieved this unusual racial harmony. The humble preacher told Clarence his life story.

He revealed to Clarence that he had worked in the local mills before he became the church’s preacher. He also had never learned to read or write before he started preaching. He was just an ordinary person struggling to make a life with little resources. One Sunday he attended this church and became moved to learn more about the Bible and Jesus. At first, his friends read him the Bible and over time he learned the lessons of the Gospel. He also learned how to read and write. When the previous preacher left the church and there was no one to lead the Sunday service, he volunteered. Being the only one to volunteer, the church deacons said okay.

His first sermon was a hard-hitting message about loving all people. Not to look at the color of their skin, but to look at all people as equals. After delivering the sermon, a group of Deacons approached him and asked him not to preach that message again. Then the preacher did something very unusual, he told the deacons he would continue to preach this universal message of equality. He was a volunteer and they held no power over him. Some of the deacons left the church and others stayed. For a while he still had trouble, but as he said to Clarence; I preached awfully hard and I finally convinced all the members they were giving their lives to Jesus. And they were to be serious about it. What you see here today is a result of that.

And it wasn’t just that the white attendees understood this message. It was also that the black attendees understood. Everyone had to change their view of each other. One common thread was to view each other as neighbors and to love each other. The other important message was; Jesus was the only source of the truth, not the existing societal norm.

The reason this preaching style worked was the preacher’s insistence that they not only know the words of the Gospel but to also be serious about living the Gospel. He helped them see Jesus as their only guiding light.

This simple man with no education and limited worldly experience transformed a church by making Jesus the center point and everything to the parishioners. He faithfully resisted the societal norms of the day and stuck to his message. A simple message; in all that we do, we do for Jesus. Through his firm and resolute weekly messages, he eroded the built-up plaque of historical social divides and taught that all people are equally the people of God.

Clarence observed that the preacher had an important advantage in his task. He wasn’t educated at a university, where his faith could have tempered. He didn’t learn to read until after he found Jesus. He was pure and unaffected by those who could have steered him off course. Allowing him to stay completely focused on Jesus.

As a preacher, Jesus was his everything. He knew little about human theories and doctrine. He only knew a lot about Jesus. In this simple man, Clarence saw a purity of purpose untarnished by human thought. A person free from the lure of the world, who had nothing but Jesus. A message Clarence took with him on a day he thought he would be the teacher. A message that making Jesus everything, was the true course of his life.

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Photo by Stephen Radford on Unsplash

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Jesus Is Our Everything

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” -John 14:6

Recently, while sitting on a park bench, reading Karl Barth’s book, The Epistle to the Romans, I noticed it took me fifteen minutes to digest just one paragraph. Barth is considered to be the most important Protestant theologian of the 20th century. Certainly, one every theological student will have to study at some point. His wording is complicated and extraordinarily dense. Leading to a very interesting, but hard attempt to understand what he has to say.

The process of mining Barth’s valuable insights is hard and cumbersome. For many, Barth becomes inaccessible. This is also true for many other worthy and great theological writers. Making theological study, primarily an academic exercise.

There is a need, however, to move Jesus to the kitchen table. I see this within many of the people I talk with and listen to, as they give their thoughts. For them, Jesus isn’t an academic exercise. Nor is it an exercise in judging, which I see far too often. For most people, knowing Jesus more intimately is an individual exercise in strengthening their faith in the Risen Lord.

One of the things I have also noticed is each of our relationships with Jesus is very personal and developed differently. Sometimes we find Jesus through the crisis and other times through slow steady steps. Regardless, each of us arrives at knowing and finding Jesus- individually. Our relationship with Jesus is always unique, intimate, and extraordinarily personal.

So while I thoroughly love reading Barth, I don’t because I agree with everything he has to say. It is more that he expands my mind in thinking about Jesus and helps me to know Jesus better. And I am sure Barth would be more than satisfied with this viewpoint.

And while I love talking to professors of Theology, I don’t agree with everything that they have to say. I like to talk with professors, because like bumblebees they drop theological pollen into my thoughts that expand my relationship and understanding of Jesus. And each of my professors would be happy with that answer as well.

Not everyone needs or desires to know Jesus through Theologians like Barth. Nor do they have to study Barth. For many individuals, Jesus arrives in their lives in unique and different ways. For some, like myself, the study of Jesus is helpful. For others, it is through life experiences. For others, it with through church as a youth. But for all, it is Jesus pursuing us as well. And when we encounter Jesus, His purpose is to make Himself our everything.

Here is what I mean by this. I love to post on Twitter, theological questions, like Who is Jesus to you? And always I see an extraordinary and varied outpouring of answers. I become amazed and inspired by the large and extraordinarily insightful responses to this question.

It has made me study why. This question of who is Jesus to you; makes people share profusely and not academically. The answers are not judgmental responses. They are a sharing of their joy. They love Jesus and they are real expressions of faith.

One recent response on Twitter from a mother of three best highlights and summarizes this point. She tweeted back to my question; He is all around me every day….I just don’t always recognize Him. He chooses so many different ways to move to touch my life…ways that He knows will get my attention. In her expression, she is both describing her desire for Jesus and Jesus’s pursuit of her. You can feel her yearning for Jesus to be her everything.

By far and away, I find in their responses; Jesus is their everything. For them, as John 14:6 states; Jesus is their way, the truth, and the life. This simple response, that Jesus is their everything, reveals so much about their relationship with Jesus. It tells about their experience with Jesus. That somewhere in either their distant or recent past, Jesus called to them and helped them. That this encounter wasn’t made up, but so extraordinarily personal and intimate, they have let go of their worldly trusts and fully submitted to Jesus. A faith to seek.

They rely on Jesus for everything. When they need help, they seek Jesus. When they are content, they thank Jesus. This statement doesn’t mean they don’t fail, for surely they do. It doesn’t mean they are perfect, for none are. It simply means that their guttural response is to seek Jesus. Their faith is deep and pervasive.

And I am sure, they all would want to be better. And to be better they know to stay focused on Jesus as their everything.

So for some, reading Barth is a great exercise in discovering of how a wonderful theologian thinks about Jesus. Certainly, the professors of Theology are very valuable in helping frame thoughts and to think critically about Jesus. And minsters that guide and nurture stronger relationships with Jesus are wonderful hands-on helpers for Jesus.

Our individual task is and should be to take these positive influences and our life experiences with Jesus to shape our faith. Always knowing that it is primarily our personal encounter with Jesus that cements our faith.  Professors, writers, and minsters can help in our journey to Jesus, but it is our responding to the persistent call of Jesus that creates our faith. No one individual has the exact answer for us, as each person’s relationship with Jesus is very intimate and personal. Our individual faith is special in its uniqueness and is a private journey with our heart to Jesus.

Jesus is our everything because we have been with Jesus and in turn submitted our lives to Jesus.

As an end note, Barth visited America just one time, in 1962. During this visit he asked by Theologians to summarize the millions of words he wrote; he responded, Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so!

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash

Living With Faith Requires Courage

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

Joshua stands in front of the River Jordan as God’s newly appointed leader of the Israelites who left Egypt over forty years earlier. God has asked Joshua to lead the Israelites to the promised land of milk and honey, across this River Jordan.

Many years earlier, Joshua as a young man, stood on these same banks as part of a group of twelve sent by Moses to investigate and see if it was safe to cross the River Jordan. Joshua, and Caleb, advised Moses that they should proceed across the River Jordan, but the others convinced Moses they shouldn’t cross. The others were fearful and told Moses there were giants to overcome and they would die on the other side. Refusing to go, even though crossing the river meant going to the place that God told them this was their promised land. The Israelites fear caused them to doubt this promise.

So God left them wandering in the wilderness for forty more years and each year members of the original group died without receiving God’s promise. After forty years the only people that remained of the earlier group were their descendants, and a few others like; Moses and Joshua. As they approached the River Jordan for the second time, Moses knew he would not be going to the promised land. Moses would see the promised land, but he would die on top of a mountain that overlooked God’s gift.  And Joshua became the leader, appointed by Moses through God.

Now Joshua stood on the banks of the River Jordan, getting ready to lead the Israelites across. There was to be no large investigation of the other side, just Joshua’s belief that God would protect the faithful. As he had seen God do many times before in the previous decades. Before Joshua began to cross the mighty river, he had God’s simple directions; Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

This second crossing was far more dangerous than the first. The River Jordan was flowing at flood stage and would be almost impossible for the Israelites to cross. God told Joshua to have the priests go first and carry the Ark of the Covenant. God also told Joshua, when the priests stepped into the water the raging waters of the River Jordan would stop, leaving a path for the Israelites to cross. An added leap of faith for this generation of Israelites.

This group of Israelites were braver in their faith than their predecessors; they crossed over and settled the land. Although they faced many obstacles in their settlement, God protected them and was true to the promise he made to Joshua; for the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. Their courageous faith allowed them to reside in the promised land of milk and honey.

At this point, you may ask why didn’t the first group trust God and cross over even though they had also seen so many of God’s miracles. On their journey from Egypt, God had Moses part the Red Sea and released them from Pharaoh. In the wilderness, he gave them manna from heaven to eat and produced water from stones. Despite all God had done for them, they made the critical mistake of letting fear become bigger than their faith.

The River Jordan is a real place and for many, it is symbolic of faith. Over the years many have used this story to inspire themselves to cross over their own personal River Jordan. In fact, when you look up the River Jordan in Wikipedia, part of the description is about the symbolism of trusting God.

This story easily extends to future readers of the Bible to imagine and connect with their own life challenges. This story is about combining courage with your faith in trusting God. A courageous faith that prevents us from being left wandering in our own wilderness.

So while we can wonder why the first group didn’t trust God and cross the River Jordan, instead we can focus on our own personal crossing of the River Jordan. What is it in our own lives that is our current River Jordan? Is it a long put off task? Perhaps it is something bigger, like drug addiction or alcoholism. There are always difficult times and things in our lives that require both our faith and courage to conquer.

Whether it is large or small, not crossing our personal River Jordan leaves us in our personal wilderness, like the first group of Israelites who approached the River Jordan. We know what we must do, but don’t believe we are courageous enough to cross. In these moments we forget the promise of God; to not be afraid; to not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

This is the challenge of faith; not letting our fears drown out our trust in God. Faith without courage prevents us from receiving God’s bounty and plan for our lives. It is simple to think and say; or even to advise others, to trust God. But when we are standing on the shore of our River Jordan, even at flood stage; the decision to move across requires a courageous faith.

Inevitably it means letting go and just crossing. It means remembering the times God was with us in the past. Sometimes it takes a friend to encourage us. Regardless, our personal River Jordan must be crossed, or we are left wandering in our wilderness, adrift from God.

Ironically, the moment you cross over, you immediately feel relief and are rid of your fears. Many times you may be left thinking what was the fuss all about. This crossing strengthens and revitalizes us. Most importantly we will know God was with us.

And this is the essence of our relationship with God; letting our fears go to accept God’s promised land of milk and honey.

Blessings, until next time,
Bruce L. Hartman

Photo by Ezra Jeffrey-Comeau on Unsplash