A Snapshot

I recently had to discipline my 6 year old son for barking a “NO” at me. He cried so hard I thought he’d blow something internally. I really hate correcting him but I know I must do it for his sake and future. I love him therefore I am compelled to when he’s defiant. The only part I like is that after the incidence is over we make up, cuddle, tell each other “I love you” and read a story. I had an interesting thought recently about how someone might view the moment I am disciplining my boy. If someone video taped that 30 seconds of discipline then slapped that deal up on YouTube, I’m sure the masses would perceive me as a fuming Dad or a mad Dad. It’s easy to take a snapshot of someone and then lock-in their personality or character according to that snippet.

I think this is what we do to God. It’s easy to read a verse like Rev 19:11 or Exodus 4:24 and see only the wrath of God. We get a snapshot of God’s anger burning towards people and then typecast Him as primarily seething in judgment over His creation. Just as I would feel that a YouTube clip of me disciplining would create an unfair representation of me as a person, I feel much of the anger/holiness preaching is an unfair representation of God. Is it true that I get angry with my son for his defiance…absolutely. But is that the basis of our relationship? Is that my dominant character trait? The way I primarily look at him is with a love so full it sometimes overwhelms me. I do not believe that more discipline leads to more of my boy’s heart being won over. I don’t think God does either when He says in his word “it’s His kindness that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4).”

I find that many theologians and teachers accept a formula of looking at everything the Bible says about God throwing it into a blender and “bam!” out comes a definition of who God is and how He relates with us. Often we accept such a God portrayed in Rev 19 and Exodus 4 as the whole story because we believe whatever the Bible says about God must be the whole truth. A large swath of American Christianity derives its understanding of God by taking all the references in the Bible to God and seeking then to delineate certain major characteristics of God. Systematic theology strongly supports that line of forming propositions and truths. Then what happens is that the relationship between the Father and Jesus looks like a good cop/bad cop story. We end up having some directly conflicting attributes of the very God we worship and follow.

This is exactly what the early apostolic church wrestled deeply with. If Jesus is the fullest revelation of God then what about all those other things we’ve came to understand from the Old Covenant? Frank Viola said in his book Jesus Manifesto “the early churches main challenge was to work out the parameters of what a Jesus-centered God and theology would look like.” For first century Jews their scriptures showed God’s holiness, God’s otherness, God’s inapproachability, God’s might, God’s standards. Those things are all true. But they were never intended to be the full picture, never the whole movie, they are more like YouTube clips. Jesus incarnated to show us the full presence of who God is, how He acts, what He’s like, how He relates, what makes Him tick. I love when Colossians 2:9 says “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.” That is a mind blowing reality. This is why the early church struggled so much against the totality of Jesus Christ. They wanted to make Jesus an addendum, another part of the puzzle but the apostle Paul would not let them. Paul made it clear that everything previously stated, written and proclaimed about Jehovah must submit to Jesus Christ.

Some may read this and think I endorse a fluffy-bunny God, I don’t. Like I said, I get angry and so does God, and justifiably so. But there does need to be a recovering of who God is from the extreme edges He’s been pushed to over the years. I’m advocating for a more balanced recovering of God’s image, one that holds the tension in the center instead of letting it slide to one end or the other. This blazing focus on Jesus is of epic importance because Jesus is the CEO of my church. How I see and understand God embodied in Jesus changes everything. It informs everything. It commands how I represent him in my circles of influence and in the world. Snapshots of God do not typically provoke heart and character transformation (Galatians 5:22) more like visceral reactions, staunch postures and guilt inducement.

Unity Is Not a Wimpy Doctrine

In the last few months, I’m not sure why I’ve noticed it more recently but the rhetoric and grenade throwing inside the evangelical/theological community has really amped up. To be honest…it's driving me nuts. Because of authors and preachers throwing their weight to one side or another, a rapidly enlarging canyon seems to be forming from inside the American family of Christ. I’m not sure if the political climate is affecting our evangelical leaders but we seem to be taking on the same divisive, name dropping, polarizing approach to talking about theology and doctrine.

As a pastor I am feeling a gravitational pull to align myself with camps. I’ve historically tried to be about going after the tension in the center, balance and embracing humility about what truth I think I’ve apprehended. Being a moderate or a centrist theologically is increasingly becoming unpopular and an unacceptable place to sit.

There seems to be a new fundamentalist/confrontational movement brewing out of the reformed stew and there seems to be a new liberal/amoral movement brewing out of the emergent stew. What’s a guy or pastor to do that loves rich, robust theology but doesn’t want to park his butt in either camp?

Both of these groups are planting their feet, forming their books and sermons in reaction to the other side. Both sides are punishing the Bible with their predispositions in order to defend against the perceived opposing team. Church history is filled with this nauseating back and forth; church leaders over shooting the center to respond to a current stream of thought in their day.

When the Apostle Paul is talking about rooting out false teachers and those who are proclaiming a false doctrine, he’s talking about sanctioned teachers who were intentionally subtracting from the gospel being solely about the person, words and work of Jesus Christ. Much of the defensive back and forth going on right now between pastor, theologians and communicators isn’t related to that issue at all, its often between thinkers like John Piper vs N.T Wright or Mark Driscoll vs Rob Bell or Greg Boyd vs R.C. Sproull all who believe with fiery passion in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Instead one often demonizes the other over the nuances, expressions, language and different ways to look at the same coin.

A healthy contextual understanding of the Pauline letters portrays for us an urgent piercing theology of unity among the early growing church. For some, unity is a wimpy doctrine but out of Jesus' own mouth comes a high priestly prayer for all believers to be one, ‘I have given them the glory which you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be completely one, so that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them just as you loved me’ (John 17.22). The aim of this prayer is not simply for getting along in pragmatic terms, but more at the eventual goal, which is the Creator’s promise to fill the whole earth with His glorious love. Jesus' prayer launches and partners with this dynamic theme in the letters to the Romans, the Colossians and the Ephesians, and powerfully with the closing chapter of Revelation. Our unity in diversity is a potent declaration and confirmation of who Jesus is. The unity of the church is a sign, a foretaste and a means of God’s eventual plan for the earth. When the world looks at the church's unity it should mystify them, intrigue them and draw them to see that only Divine love can accomplish such an impossibly crazy task. It’s almost as if Paul sees the enemy to the mission and advancement of the Kingdom of God and it’s name is Division.

When the glorious supernatural Body of Christ shoots each other over interpreting minor doctrines (some think major); creationism, sign gifts, election, woman in ministry, double imputation, proclamation vs incarnation, social justice, and the end times, it breaks the legs of our commission to bring renewal to the world through Jesus Christ. I do believe we should dive in and swim around in Scripture that leads to living doctrines but the outcome should not be to push each other further away. For many the study of doctrine intrinsically is looked at through a combative lens. Doctrine should not have a direct connection to confrontation, it should be directly connected to further intimacy and submission to the rule and way of Jesus.

We really need to stop using words like “wolf” “heretic” or “false teacher” for those who are building on the foundation of Jesus Christ (Colossians 2) and reserve that term for those who are intentionally taking down Jesus as the full expression of God and his means of rescue.

Thoughts?

Clearing Space for the Gospel: Part 1

The gospel needs room, room to breathe. We don’t realize it sometimes but we can gradually suffocate the gospel’s power in our lives and in our church communities. It happens ever so slowly. The centrality of what Jesus Christ did, began, said and accomplished can be scootched to the perimeter of our spiritual life without us being aware of it. In my assessment I don’t think we intentionally take something that is at the center of our lives and move it aggressively to the back corner of our lives. In most cases something else subtly begins to take center stage and whatever was there before finds that it doesn’t have space anymore and so vacates the center. In the next few blogs I want to briefly converse about 3 different agendas (politics, moralism and pragmatism) that end up crowding out the power and life of the Gospel in a church or in an individual life.

For this post let’s look at political agendas.
There is an interesting back story to Judas the betrayer. Judas was a rich man and an active member of the Zealot Political Party of the Jews. This political party was advocating for the forceful removal of the Romans out of Israel. This Zealot Party believed that when the trumpet sounded and the Messiah returned to reclaim His thrown He would over throw Rome in an epic battle. Zealot’s where known for carrying their sword with them at all times to be ready for the Jewish take back that the Messiah would begin. So here is Judas following Jesus around for three years, listening to His every teaching about the coming kingdom. What Judas and the majority of the disciples where hoping and expecting Jesus to do, was over throw the Roman Empire for the glory of God and the reinstallment of the Chosen People to their rightful place. Judas wasn’t only expecting and preparing for this, his theology was fused with his political fire. Hence the problem when Jesus refused to be a political leader. Jesus gradually aired out His agenda to inaugurate and establish a different type of kingdom that was supernatural. Judas was let down. He felt tricked and then we know how the rest of the story goes.

This is a perfect example of a political agenda crowding out the real gospel. Let me get practical and pointed about the application. I know and meet many believers who are wrapped up in the current political environment. They see that every twist, every news flash, every law passed or not passed somehow has grave implications for Christianity in America. Be careful. Jesus agenda is not our earthly agenda. His approach, strategy and kingdom way is not glued nor tied to the political landscape. When we look at Jesus tactic of bringing about his beautiful and glorious kingdom it’s quite backwards. Instead of a power-over move, what I mean by that is; instead of getting a position or leverage that comes with authority or gaining a louder voice in the culture, Jesus went the route of power-under; sacrifice, humility, and fierce servant love (Phil 2:1-11). That is a completely different politic. Kingdoms of the world seek to acquire and exercise power-over others, whereas Jesus incarnated and demonstrated a kingdom that advances by exercising power-under people.

Let me reign in my A.D.D. and get back to the original point about the gospel slowly being crowded out. When we become ravenous, amped up and are searching for any political breakthrough we may not realize it but the true, undiluted Gospel of Jesus Christ gets less attention, thought, treasuring and in turn, less of a role in our life. Whenever we get too close to any political or national ideology, it is disastrous for the church and for the clarity of what God is all about. The Gospel becomes no longer central. You see the Gospel needs room to breathe, no competition in its sole position in our hearts, lives and churches. It requires us to clear out space.

For deeper reading on this check > "The Jesus Driven Life" by Michael Hardin & "Myth of a Christian Nation" by Gregory Boyd