What’s rhymes without words? What’s a pen without ink? What’s a community without vision? What’s a Christian divorced from a local Church and mission?
I’m not too sure.
From our why derives purpose. The why of the pen is to write, the why of community is common unity amongst the people it is made up of, and the why of a Christian is to bring Glory to God through our lives and actions.
The purpose of the pen is communication, the purpose of community is peace and relationship, and the purpose of the Christian is worship.
And while the purpose of a thing should determine the activity of a thing that’s not always the case in our fallen world. Truth is, sometimes pens are used for stabbing, communities are divided, and Christians worship things rather then the creator.
No one would rate a pen excellent for working as a weapon, a community shouldn’t be called great because of its mind-blowing divided diversity, and Christians aren’t good and faithful servants because they were the best artist, employees, or even neighbors.
The worth of a thing is intrinsically connected to the purpose of a thing. That’s just how it works.
The greatness of a pen is determined by how well it writes, the strength of a community is seen in its union, and the value of a Christian is… hidden in Christ.
In my frustration with the activity or lack thereof of Christians in my city and the Christian hip-hop culture, I’ve come close to saying that just as it is with anything, if Christians aren’t fulfilling their purpose in their daily grind then they have no value… I was wrong and I repent.
See we people were created in the image of God, fell, and lost our way. In doing so we lost our confidence and found shame, honesty and began to blame. It was all downhill from there. Consistently we wouldn’t measure up and accomplish what we were created for. If God were anything like us we would’ve been tossed, thrown into the trash, without a second thought, the way we do our pens when they run out of ink. But He’s Holy, different than us, and merciful. Rather than tossing us away because of how we’re not living up to our purpose He tossed His Kingly robes to the side, came down to our hood, and got His hands dirty. He got so busy that they began to hate on Him until they eventually plotted on Him and grabbed Him up. They mocked Him, beat Him, laid Him on a cross, and killed Him. Three days later He rose up in the words of my man Jay Harris, “Like homie, I’m back and I’m boss-dogging the game…”
https://youtu.be/WZysDwsu0B0
So what would it look like for those whose value is found in Christ to passionately pursue the fulfillment of their purpose, in our community and culture? What would it look like for the rapper who happens to be a Christian to rock a Gospel bandana? To do what he was created to do and use his gifts for what they were given for. We were created to glorify God and enjoy him forever through the explicit spreading of his fame and restoration of the streets in all of life. One culture rocks a rainbow, another rocks bling, we rock the Gospel, Christ crucified and risen as King: on and off the air.
Salute and love,
Pastor David Rosa Jr.
Follow Pastor David Rosa Jr., lead Urban Church Planter of Cruciform Church in Hollywood, Florida, on Twitter: @iamcruciform
Visit Cruciform’s official website: https://cruciformchurch.org/
The views expressed in this post do not necessarily represent the views of Jam The Hype and its employees.
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