Jesus: A Way or THE Way?

“Who do you say that I am?” When Jesus asked the disciples that question, the context was a society with a pluralistic view of who Jesus was. The disciples replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:14 NIV), but only Peter had the answer that was sufficient, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16 NIV).

Jesus commanded us to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 19:28 NIV). We live in a pluralistic society. Can we make disciples of Christ if we don’t make absolute claims about Him? If we say that Jesus was a prophet, a moral teacher, or just a great man, then we can make disciples of Jesus in a pluralistic society. Jesus is just one among many wise teachers worth following. Teaching people to follow Jesus’ teaching would be no different than teaching people to follow the teachings of Buddha, Confucius, or any number of other wise sages. But, if Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, then we cannot make disciples of His without acknowledging His unique position among all the other religious teachers throughout history.

Can we not follow the teachings of Christ without saying He is superior to other historical religious figures? Absolutely you can, if you want to follow the teachings of a lunatic. C.S. Lewis made a powerful observation in his classic work “Mere Christianity.” Lewis said:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic— on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg— or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to (p. 52).

Religious pluralism is defined as “the recognition that more than one spiritual path is validly pursued, since human beings find fulfillment in a variety of ways of life and thought” (p. 468-469). Although many people might adhere to this belief, who do they say Jesus is? For me, He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God and the One who shed His blood for the sins of the world. It is only by the blood of Christ that anyone is saved.

“But what about people of other faiths? There are truths in those as well.” I believe that Jesus came as the fulfillment of all faiths, not just Judaism. The early church would point to the truths found in the faiths they encountered and show how Jesus completed those. The Apostle Paul, when speaking to the people of Athens, pointed to a temple to an unknown God and used that as a way to introduce the people of Athens to Christ. The message of Christ is hope; hope for all. Billy Graham once said in an interview with Robert Schuller, “(God)… is calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ, because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven." That is not saying that Jesus is not the way, but it is saying that God’s grace is bigger than we may imagine. It is up to us to reveal the name and love of Christ to them.

Pluralism suggests that all ways to God are equally valid. That is not the message of Scripture. Pluralism basically says that we can do it on our own; that by adhering to a certain set of teachings, it is possible work our way to heaven. The message of the Gospel is that we don’t work our way to heaven, our way to heaven has been provided for us. In that we can rest. While religious pluralism says that it is possible for all roads to lead to heaven; the Gospel says that, through the blood of Christ, it is not only possible to reach heaven, it is assured.

Paul said, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:19). Not might. Not can. But will. Let us lift up the name and love of Christ to all we meet that they might call upon the One who promises eternal life to all who would say yes to His gift of grace.

References

Goodman, L. E. (2012, August). Religious pluralism. Political Theology, 13(4), 458-485. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/poth.v13i4.458

Lewis, C. S. (2009-05-28). Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis Signature Classics). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Why the Cross Matters

A couple of months ago, I received an invitation from a church in Tempe to attend an event with the renowned Biblical scholar Marcus Borg. The title of this event was “A Credible Christian Future: Getting Over a Bloody Cross and a Vindictive God.” Borg claims:

Understandings of the cross and resurrection of Jesus have evolved from the first century.  For the first thousand years, Good Friday and Easter were primarily archetypal images of personal transformation and challenges to the powers that ruled this world.  Then, around 1100, the “payment” understanding of the cross emerged – the notion that Jesus died to pay for the sins of the world so that we can be forgiven and go to heaven. 

It amazes me how such an imminent scholar can completely ignore the teachings of Scripture and the testimony of the church from the time of the New Testament. To say that the “payment” understanding of the cross didn’t emerge until around 1100 is absurd. The New Testament testifies to the necessity of Christ’s blood for salvation. According to those who were putting on this event, “a bloody cross is a stumbling block to those who otherwise might follow Christ.” Paul clearly said in 1 Corinthians 1:23, “but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” He goes on to say, “but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

In the first century, not the 12^th, Paul wrote to the church at Rome, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:25-26). So, now that we have clearly established that the belief in the sacrifice of the Cross goes back to the Bible itself, what does that mean? It means God is both just and merciful at the same time. God did not punish some random innocent to relieve a blood lust, as many of these contemporary scholars want to say. God came to earth physically in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, and God offered the sacrifice personally to justify the sins committed by US!

Now, here is the reason the Cross was, and still is, necessary. Sins, or wrongs, have been committed by us, not just against God, but against each other. Jesus showed us that not one of us is without blame. God loves us and created us to enjoy God’s fellowship forever, but WE chose to walk away by wanting to be our own gods. We choose every day to continue to hurt one another over and over again. Webster defines justice as “the establishment or determination of rights according to the rules of law or equity.” In a just society, people are treated equally and fairly. When a person violates another, that person has to then pay a price, either physically or materially, to bring equity back to the relationship. It is not just to simply acknowledge the wrong without paying the price for equity. All of our wrongs have to be paid for before leaving this world. The Bible says of heaven that those who commit wrong, those who cause inequity, will not enter (1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:9). Romans 3:23 establishes that we are all guilty, therefore, without some way of paying for our wrongs, all of our wrongs, no one is worthy to enter heaven based on the principle of justice.

God is not some vindictive being with a bloodlust, God is a loving God who desires us to live equitably with one another. Our unsettled wrongs have to be taken care of on this earth because that is where they were committed. God created us to love us and have fellowship with us, so where does that leave our relationship with a loving, but just God? Justice demands payment for wrongs committed, we are incapable of restoring equity in our relationships on our own, so the eternal enters time and takes upon Himself every wrong we have ever or will ever commit. When Jesus died on the cross, it was to pay for my wrongs and your wrongs. Our sin or crime debt is washed clean.

Now, before anyone gets the notion of cheap grace, the cross cost God everything. Jesus, part of the Godhead from all eternity, was cut off from everything that gave Him life. The innocent Son became so marred by crime that God the Father could not even look upon Him. For the first time in eternity, God was cutoff from God’s own life-force. That is NOT cheap grace; that is LOVE. For God knew that we had no way to set everything right on our own, so Jesus paid the price for equity or justice that we couldn’t. When the Bible says Jesus died, He died! Jesus, according to 1 Peter 3:19, “went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.” This means that Jesus literally went to Hell for us. If that isn’t love, I don’t know what is. This way of thinking that the message of the cross is that of a bloodthirsty God couldn’t be further from the truth. Love, not wrath, put Jesus on the Cross. Love also broke the chains of Hell and restored to us eternal life! THAT is the message of Easter!!

Yes, the Cross has been, and still is a stumbling block for some. But rather than remove the Cross from our theology, isn’t it better to focus on the Good News that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life?

Spreading Hope

If you were at either of our worship services on July 22, you know that the recent shooting in Colorado has affected me deeply. The personal impact on my life is not because I knew anyone involved, but rather that I see the increasing frequency of events like this as a symptom of the hopelessness that is so pervasive in our society and around the world. As we hold up the “beautiful” people and their lifestyles as the golden carrot for which we must all aspire, a hopelessness sets in that we will not measure up to their standard. As our own standard of living in this country is lifted up around the world, the reality is that most people will never reach the level of affluence that even the poorest in our country have. As we look to wealth and status for our feelings of significance and security, we become despondent when we fall short of the mark set by Hollywood or Madison Avenue or any number of other places.

According to the traditional definition of the “American Dream,” anyone in this country has the potential to succeed if they only work hard and are persistent. While that once meant self-sufficiency and home ownership, thanks to Robin Leach and his successors on reality TV, the American Dream now means that we have to have a lifestyle worthy of an A-list celebrity. A recent Providian Financial study shows that only 4% of Americans are worth over $1 million, and of that 4%, 43% of those inherited their way to millionaire status. That means that only 2.28% of Americans are self-made millionaires. Over 97% of Americans will not achieve the new American Dream. Over time, this realization leads people to become discouraged and lose hope. But, is that what our hope should be built on? Has the new American Dream become our god? If it has, then it is a god that will constantly let us down. There is nothing wrong with shooting for the stars, just don’t place your hope in the stars, but instead in the Maker of the stars.

Our hope should not come from the slim chance that we will be the next Kardashian family, but from the One who offers us a hope that will never fail us, Jesus Christ! Hope is mentioned in the Bible 174 times and “Fear Not” is mentioned 365 times. It seems that God wants us to be secure in the knowledge that in Christ we have hope. This does not mean that we will never have problems or trials in our lives, but that we have a hope built on the love of God in Jesus Christ and that is what sustains us.

Paul’s letter to the Romans is a wonderful lesson in finding hope in Christ. The Christians in Rome were undergoing persecution at the hands of the Roman authorities, but Paul encouraged them to cling fast to the hope they have even in the middle of their trials. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Romans 5:1-5 NIV) Hebrews 6:19 tells us that hope is the anchor of our souls. This hope in Christ in which we can rejoice and will never be disappointed is a promise we receive from God Himself.

What, then, should our response be to a world that is increasingly without hope? Jesus said, “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.” (Luke 8:16 NIV) We, as the recipients of God’s grace and hope, must shine that light as a beacon to the world that there is a lasting hope that is offered to everyone.

Blessings,

Jody

Why I Hate Hypocrisy and Love Jesus

There is a video that has been sweeping the internet since Tuesday that is called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” The reactions to this video have been both swift and polarized. One side praises the bold “truth” of the video, while the other condemns it as a misleading set of naïve and misguided statements. So, what is it?

I have titled this entry “Why I Hate Hypocrisy and Love Jesus” because I really believe that is what the author of the video, Jefferson Bethke, really meant. Had he titled the video that, I don’t think any Christian would have had a problem…but he didn’t. Herein lies the controversy.

The major cause of the problem is that our society has various definitions for the word “religion.” Our culture has traditionally defined religion as faithfulness to a set of beliefs. Bethke, and most of the emerging culture define religion as devotion to an organized system of man-made rules and regulations. The etymology of the word itself goes back to the Latin religare which means to bind or to tie; actually re ligare which means to re bind. It was not until c 1300 that religion was first used to mean “a particular system of faith.” (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=religion)

The video starts with a bold and bristling statement, “What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion.” Defenses immediately shoot up among the Christian population to whom religion is defined as a system of beliefs or faith. At the same time, members of the emerging culture say, AMEN!” Did Jesus come to abolish religion? Not adherence to a faith or set of beliefs certainly. However, Jesus did come to set us free, and if religion really means “to bind,” then Bethke’s statement is true. Jesus did not come to bind us to a new set of rules but to free us to live by the rule of love; His “New Commandment.”

In my view, this video is speaking to the hypocrisy of those who call themselves Christians while living no different than our self-focused society. There is a difference between “the faith” and “religion.” The Church is called to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ bound together by our love for God and each other. Our faith compels us to love the hurting, to be makers of peace, to feed the hungry, and to clothe the naked. Jesus asks His followers to love our enemy, to pray for our persecutor, and to do good to those who hate us.

This video is reaching a lot of people, especially young people, who have been turned off by the hypocrisy of many people who call themselves Christians. If this video helps people to see Jesus a little more clearly without the fog of 2,000 years of human misrepresentation, then who am I to nitpick line by line?


Blessings,
Jody

Welcome to our blog.

This is the first blog from Church of the Master in Mesa, Arizona. I am pastor Jody McKewen and I have been here since August. We simply desire to serve the Lord and be instruments in the Master's hands. Follow us on our journey of love and service.