Sunday, February 3, 2013

Did and does Jesus love the church? Part 2.

If you read Part 1, you will know that the "church people" of Jesus' day rejected Him and had Him killed.  They turned Him over to the Roman authorities.  They chose to free a criminal, rather than Jesus.  They asked Pilate to kill Jesus.  They had Jesus killed, because He pointed out their self-righteousness.  They had Jesus killed, because Jesus pointed out God's grace towards pagans.  They had Jesus killed, because He challenged their idea that God loved "good people."  They had Jesus killed, because He loved the unlovely.

So, if the "church people" during Jesus' day were so bad, are they any different today?  And, let me preface what I'm going to say with: "I was and am a church person."  No, "church people" are no different today.  They still tend towards self-righteousness.  They still want to bring others into their idea of what church is, rather than allowing others to experience God in the way that God desires to reach others.  They still think they have the truth for living "good lives," and "experiencing God's blessing."  They are still offended by others who don't think like them.  Most churches seem to either be inhabited by Republicans or Democrats, but not a mixture of both.  Many who don't believe in God say: "How can I believe in Christ when his so-called followers don't live what they preach?'  So, what is God's view of "church people"?

Jesus said:  "I came for the sick.  The well have no need of a physician."  Jesus wasn't saying that some people are well.  He obviously wasn't saying that the "church people" were well given the number of rebukes that He had for the "church people."  Instead, Jesus was pointing out that only the sick can receive Him.  The "well" have no need of Jesus.  That is why Jesus spoke so harshly to the "church people."   He loved them and wanted them to know that they had need of a physician.  He wanted them to understand their sinful self-righteousness.  He wanted them to understand their need for God.  Because, then and only then, could they experience the amazing love of God. 

For while we were yet sinners--whether our sins be of licentiousness or self-righteousness, Jesus died for us.  Jesus let the "church people" kill Him--both to reveal the depth of their sin (the coldness of their hearts) and to reveal the immeasurable expanse of His love.  As Jesus died, He got in one last shot at we "church people," He told God to forgive the Romans--the persons most despised by the "church people" of Jesus' day.

So, may God continue to reveal my self-righteousness.  May God turn my heart towards sinners.  May God have mercy on me--a "church person."

Did and does Jesus love the church? Part 1.

A friend's wife mentioned that they had attended a marriage conference and that she wanted to love her husband as "Christ loved the church."  This really offended me.  I shared with my wife, and she thought I was crazy--she thought it was a beautiful sentiment.  I'm sure that it was meant to be a beautiful sentiment.  I have ruminated over it, and I finally realized why it struck me so badly.  It implies that Christ loved the church, and not others.  It implies that, if we attend church, Christ will love us.  The problem with this idea is that it marginalizes the love of Christ; it homogenizes Jesus;  it discounts the radicality of Christ's love.

I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and fully embraced the Southern Baptist world of "righteous living."  When we had Youth Sunday, I was the Pastor for the day.  I sometimes taught in adult Sunday School classes.   I had learned that Jesus loved those who were good.  While the Bible made much of faith, it was good people that had faith.  I was a good person.  I had a relationship with God.  I could teach others about Jesus.  Only an idiot would not respond to Jesus' call to become a follower of His. I believed that God loved the church.

Then, I came to realize that I didn't understood who God was at all.  I realized that I had made God in my image--loving good church people.  I learned that God's love was much more radical, that God's love for man was incomprehensible.  I found out that I wasn't a good person--I was a self-righteous church person, and Jesus spoke harshly to the church people of his day.

So, does Jesus love the church?  Jesus addressed the "church people" as a "brood of vipers."  He told them that they didn't care for the widows and orphans.  He told them that God had come to the pagans, and not the Israelites.  In response, they tried to throw him off a cliff and kill him.  So, did Jesus love the church?

Who did Jesus express love towards?  Prostitutes, tax collectors, pagans, Roman soldiers, his own murderers.  From the Cross, Jesus asked His father to "forgive them for they know not what they do."  Jesus asked His father to forgive the people that were killing His son!!!  Jesus told us to love our enemies and to forgive 70 times 7.  Jesus' love was radical and incomprehensible to us.  So, did Jesus love the church?

If Jesus asked his Father to forgive those who killed Him, would God not do so?  If God forgave those who murdered His son, who else would He forgive?  Hitler, Osama Bin Laden, serial killers?  Maybe even the church people that Jesus rebuked.  Maybe even the church people that told Pilate to hang Jesus on the Cross.  Maybe even you and me.


Saturday, February 2, 2013

Courage to speak frankly--Tullian, PZ, and Steve Brown

We are all so concerned about what others think of us that we rarely speak frankly.  Some may guard their mouths because they don't want to hurt others.  For me, my frank talk used to come out under pressure.  I would forbear and forbear and then forbear some more, then my frank talk would come exploding out.  When it occurred this way, it was not only injurious to others, but people thought I was crazy.  Well, I am a little crazy, maybe a lot, but over time I've come to speak frankly more often on the "front end," rather than letting it come out only when I'm frustrated.

There are three preachers who speak frankly every time that I hear them speak.  They speak frankly even though their words cause many to criticize and even ostracize them.  They speak courageously on the most important subject facing mankind--our relationship to God.  Each of these three has faced criticism from the institutional church.  But each speaks life-giving truth--truth that liberates and frees us to love.

Why does their preaching require courage?  Because they proclaim two things without fail.  First, each proclaims the perfection of the Law.  Jesus didn't say, "be a good person;" "live a righteous life;" "strive for piety;" or even "treat others as you want to be treated."  These axioms all belittle the law.  Each of these sayings makes it appear that we can keep the law.  (By the law, I mean any standard for being good.)  Each of these sayings leads us to trust in ourselves.  This is devastating.  For persons tending to self-righteousness like me, I begin to think that I am keeping the law better than others.  For persons tending to despair, like my wife, they begin to think that that are not keeping the law as well as others.   Neither of these ideas leads to joy and peace, but rather to bondage.

Jesus' instruction about the law was that it was incapable of being kept.  Jesus told us not to merely love our friends, but to "love our enemies."  Jesus told us to "be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect."  Jesus set a standard that no one can keep.  This prevents people like me from being self-righteous.  This prevents people like my wife from experiencing despair.  It levels the playing field, which is liberating.

The second thing that each of these men proclaim is "one way love," as Zahl says, or grace.  Grace is the most radical relational concept.  Grace says that "we get what we don't deserve."  Since we all fail under the standard of legal perfection, grace is the only answer.  Grace says that God loves sinners.  Jesus lived this out.  He loved the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the lepers--those ostracized by the "church people" of his day.  This is an infuriating concept to those, like me, who think they are "good people."  It is maddening to think that going to church, teaching Sunday School, being kind to others, and "living a good life" have no merit before God.  But it is also liberating--it is our only hope.  For it is only when we know that the standard has already been satisfied, that we are freed from expectations.  Expectations crush relationships.

What does the preaching of this law/grace dichotomy produce?  Perhaps a simple  question is the best illustration.  How do you want to be loved?  Do you want your parent's, or your spouse's, love for you to be conditioned upon your good conduct--upon what you can do for them?  Of course not.  We all long for "unconditional love."  We want to be loved when we screw up, not just when we get things right.  Think about those few relationships in life where you experience unconditional love.  Does your heart not swoon before this type of love?  This is the love of our Father/Creator--that while we were yet sinners, He died for us.  This is the story told time, and time, again in the Holy Scriptures.  This is the story of the Old Testament and the New Testament.  This is the story of mankind's only hope.