by Don Hildenbrand

Created on: January 16, 2009

A little more than 2000 years ago, a man walked on the face of this planet. He came to teach a radical message, a message that took what the orthodox religious leaders of his day were teaching, and turned it upside down. They preached Law. He preached love. They preached intolerance. He preached tolerance. They preached giving only as one was required to give. He preached giving liberally, knowing that what goes around comes around. They preached revenge. He preached prayer.

His name was Jesus. It seemed that everywhere he went, he left both parcels of peace and ripples of unrest. Every time he sought to teach the people with his simple, unassuming, story telling style, the religious leaders were angered and incensed, demanding to know who gave him the right to preach that way, or to preach at all.

And, eventually, he was killed for it. His message caught on to the point that it threatened the livelihoods of the religious leaders. His simple message of peace and love undermined all that the current "church" taught about following a legalistic way of life that did nothing but weigh down its followers. So they disposed of the "problem". But they had a surprise coming

Fast forward the tape of time until 2000 years later, give or take a few decades. That simple message of Jesus has caught on to the point where billions of people in the world follow it. Or do they? The message has spread to the point where there are millions of churches teaching it. Or do they?

If Jesus were to appear again on this earth, not as the theologians expect him to, but as a simple preacher, would the churches let him in? Would Jesus be allowed to preach in the Church today?

Probably not.

First of all, Jesus didn't really "preach", did he? He didn't go to Seminary. He didn't learn the "craft". He didn't know about proper exegesis, or soteriology, or the study of the "end times". He didn't know about, or care about, three point sermons or proper altar calls. He just didn't fit the profile of a preacher.

But there was one thing he did know about. He knew the art of telling stories. He knew that what reached the hearts of his listeners was not a finely crafted example of the art of preaching, but a simple story that caught their attention, and pushed home a point that they would at least think about, if not go and do.

And we just can't have that in the Church today. It's just not a good example of Churchiology.

Another reason we probably wouldn't allow Jesus to preach in the Church today is that Jesus

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