I have a Vietnamese friend who converted to Christianity as a young adult. She talks about when she was a young girl in her native village; she was frightened of the crucifix outside the church in her little town. It seemed terrible to her that the people who went into that building could have done such a terrible thing to the poor man. For years, she refused to watch the Jesus movie because, as she put it, "I don't like horror flicks!"
That statement amazed me – to think that someone could view the crucifixion as a horror movie was beyond me. Then it struck me – why wouldn't I view the crucifixion as a horror movie? After all, the story of the crucifixion is horrible and gory beyond description. What is really strange are the sweet songs we sing about the crucifixion. It's sort of like playing a score from Mozart to scenes from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
And what's up with the crosses we wear around our necks? Isn't that like wearing little gold statues of electric chairs? We don't wear silver hangman's nooses around our necks. So what is our obsession with this ancient Roman method of execution? Isn't it a strange way to show honor to the man who was crucified so cruelly?
Actually, modern Christians are getting more and more uncomfortable with the cross. We try to push the idea that our faith is supposed to be inspiring, uplifting, and happy. A lot of talk about suffering and death just doesn't connect with many of us. But the New Testament plainly teaches that the removal of the cross from the center of our faith removes the power from the gospel. Without the cross, there is no transformed life. Without the cross, we are lost. That is what the New Testament plainly teaches.
In the end, Christianity cannot survive the removal of the cross. It becomes a mere philosophy about morals and ethics. It turns the faith into a talk about self-improvement.
As it turns out, the real cruelty is the removal of the cross because with is goes "the power of God unto salvation."
Monday, February 11, 2008
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Word of Promise #4
Jesus was a teacher. That’s what the word “master” means in the older versions of the Bible. Jesus was also called “rabbi”, which is another word that means “teacher.”
However, there is a theological danger in viewing “teacher” as the Lord’s primary role. The path that liberal theology took in the nineteenth century began with viewing Jesus as primarily a great teacher, even as the greatest teacher of all times. The problem is this: what Jesus taught was not essentially different than what great teachers had taught before. Moses, the Buddha, Socrates, Solomon, Lao Tse and other great men taught people how to live, think and act in ways that turned their hearts toward others.
They all taught their followers to cultivate gratitude and forgiveness. It is easy to print the teachings of these people side by side, demonstrating their common ground. In fact, many eighteenth century books did this, giving the impression that Jesus was a member, perhaps even the greatest member, of an elite club of great spiritual masters.
Orthodox Christianity does not require us to ignore the greatness of the world’s teachers. A faithful Christian should have no difficulty admiring the Buddha or respecting his followers. However, the Buddha is not a peer of Christ. The Buddha was a very great man; Jesus is the incarnate God. Like the Buddha, Jesus taught others, and it is obvious that our Lord said many things that are incredibly similar to things the Buddha said. The difference between them though lies not primarily in what they taught but in who they were and in what they did. Jesus was God as well as man. Jesus died and then resurrected from the dead.
So what might we say is the Lord’s central title or role? In my last blog, I talked about Jesus as exorcist and offered the idea that this was a deeper and more fundamental role for Him than “teacher.” The more I think about it though, exorcism, as vital and fundamental as it was to our Lord’s work, was not His central role either. Like teaching, exorcism served an even more fundamental aim in our Lord’s ministry.
Jesus is the Lord! He is the ruler of a kingdom. He drove out evil because evil does not submit to the rule of God. He taught because He wanted us to learn what it means to be citizens of His kingdom.
If Jesus is only a teacher, we can learn good things from Him without really changing who we are. If He is only an exorcist, we can gain deliverance from oppression and break into new personal freedom. However, if He is our Lord, it means we have turned our primary allegiance away from our culture, our nation and our family (and all their customs, laws and values) and are adopting the laws, customs and values of a very different kingdom.
That is what it means to be a Christian – a follower of Christ. It means that we are delivered from darkness, given eternal life and taught a new way of living and thinking. These are the gifts of our Lord, who came that we might have life and have it in abundance.
However, there is a theological danger in viewing “teacher” as the Lord’s primary role. The path that liberal theology took in the nineteenth century began with viewing Jesus as primarily a great teacher, even as the greatest teacher of all times. The problem is this: what Jesus taught was not essentially different than what great teachers had taught before. Moses, the Buddha, Socrates, Solomon, Lao Tse and other great men taught people how to live, think and act in ways that turned their hearts toward others.
They all taught their followers to cultivate gratitude and forgiveness. It is easy to print the teachings of these people side by side, demonstrating their common ground. In fact, many eighteenth century books did this, giving the impression that Jesus was a member, perhaps even the greatest member, of an elite club of great spiritual masters.
Orthodox Christianity does not require us to ignore the greatness of the world’s teachers. A faithful Christian should have no difficulty admiring the Buddha or respecting his followers. However, the Buddha is not a peer of Christ. The Buddha was a very great man; Jesus is the incarnate God. Like the Buddha, Jesus taught others, and it is obvious that our Lord said many things that are incredibly similar to things the Buddha said. The difference between them though lies not primarily in what they taught but in who they were and in what they did. Jesus was God as well as man. Jesus died and then resurrected from the dead.
So what might we say is the Lord’s central title or role? In my last blog, I talked about Jesus as exorcist and offered the idea that this was a deeper and more fundamental role for Him than “teacher.” The more I think about it though, exorcism, as vital and fundamental as it was to our Lord’s work, was not His central role either. Like teaching, exorcism served an even more fundamental aim in our Lord’s ministry.
Jesus is the Lord! He is the ruler of a kingdom. He drove out evil because evil does not submit to the rule of God. He taught because He wanted us to learn what it means to be citizens of His kingdom.
If Jesus is only a teacher, we can learn good things from Him without really changing who we are. If He is only an exorcist, we can gain deliverance from oppression and break into new personal freedom. However, if He is our Lord, it means we have turned our primary allegiance away from our culture, our nation and our family (and all their customs, laws and values) and are adopting the laws, customs and values of a very different kingdom.
That is what it means to be a Christian – a follower of Christ. It means that we are delivered from darkness, given eternal life and taught a new way of living and thinking. These are the gifts of our Lord, who came that we might have life and have it in abundance.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Word of Promise #3
Christians in what we used to call “the third world,” often view the work of Jesus as centered around exorcism. Western Christians tend to view Christ as either teacher or savior. So it usually strikes Westerners as strange to hear believers in other places focus so intently on this “spooky side of things.” When we hear the word “exorcism,” we think about the movies in which people levitate and growl. So what are they talking about, these Christians in the developing world?
Well, actually, they have returned to a much older way of looking at the work of Christ and the meaning of the New Testament. The fact is, exorcism is a constant topic of the New Testament writers. They tell us again and again that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil,” and to make it possible for ordinary people to “resist the devil.”
In Matthew, chapter 3, Jesus meets Satan himself in the wilderness. The tempter offers the Lord fame and fortune without suffering or trial. Jesus rebukes him with the words of scripture and then goes out to heal the sick, cast out demons and to proclaim the kingdom of God.
The backdrop of the New Testament is the belief that the world had been overtaken by evil. Satan ruled the governments of the world. The world’s people were afflicted by darkness so profound that they could find no way of escape.
This was a central theme of Christian teaching for a long time. Just think about how the Christmas carols draw on this idea!
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
In this view, Jesus both teaches and acts in ways to deliver people from darkness. His words bring the light of truth to the human mind. His healings bring relief from the affects of evil on the human body. His death and resurrection undo the knot of darkness that holds together the work evil has weaved through human culture. So everything He does is about deliverance!
In this view, salvation from our sins is Heaven’s pronouncement of human freedom; it is hardly the central theme of the gospel. Jesus frees us from the power of darkness so we can manifest the dignity God granted to us as creatures made in His image and likeness. Therefore, Christ came to restore God’s original purpose for us, not just to save us from sin. He wants us to shine like the stars, not just limp into Heaven.
This is why, in many countries, when Christians arrive at a remote village and see the devastated farms and the diseased bodies, they immediately begin to rebuke the evil one. They are angry against the powers of darkness that afflict the people. However, as they pray, they also call their brothers and sisters from the city who are schooled in agriculture. They call for the doctors and nurses. They call for teachers and construction workers. Soon, an army of believers descend on that village to pray, teach, heal, and build. If you ask these believers what they are doing, they will tell you, “We are casting out the works of darkness so that they who sit in darkness may see a great light.”
It is wonderful to read the New Testament this way; to see the work of “exorcism” simply as delivering the peoples of the earth from the clutches of evil and despair.
This is what Jesus did. This is what we do. For this is kingdom work, proclaiming in word and deed the power and glory of God until no one rattles a saber and no one drags a chain.
Well, actually, they have returned to a much older way of looking at the work of Christ and the meaning of the New Testament. The fact is, exorcism is a constant topic of the New Testament writers. They tell us again and again that Jesus came to “destroy the works of the devil,” and to make it possible for ordinary people to “resist the devil.”
In Matthew, chapter 3, Jesus meets Satan himself in the wilderness. The tempter offers the Lord fame and fortune without suffering or trial. Jesus rebukes him with the words of scripture and then goes out to heal the sick, cast out demons and to proclaim the kingdom of God.
The backdrop of the New Testament is the belief that the world had been overtaken by evil. Satan ruled the governments of the world. The world’s people were afflicted by darkness so profound that they could find no way of escape.
This was a central theme of Christian teaching for a long time. Just think about how the Christmas carols draw on this idea!
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining, till He appeared and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.”
In this view, Jesus both teaches and acts in ways to deliver people from darkness. His words bring the light of truth to the human mind. His healings bring relief from the affects of evil on the human body. His death and resurrection undo the knot of darkness that holds together the work evil has weaved through human culture. So everything He does is about deliverance!
In this view, salvation from our sins is Heaven’s pronouncement of human freedom; it is hardly the central theme of the gospel. Jesus frees us from the power of darkness so we can manifest the dignity God granted to us as creatures made in His image and likeness. Therefore, Christ came to restore God’s original purpose for us, not just to save us from sin. He wants us to shine like the stars, not just limp into Heaven.
This is why, in many countries, when Christians arrive at a remote village and see the devastated farms and the diseased bodies, they immediately begin to rebuke the evil one. They are angry against the powers of darkness that afflict the people. However, as they pray, they also call their brothers and sisters from the city who are schooled in agriculture. They call for the doctors and nurses. They call for teachers and construction workers. Soon, an army of believers descend on that village to pray, teach, heal, and build. If you ask these believers what they are doing, they will tell you, “We are casting out the works of darkness so that they who sit in darkness may see a great light.”
It is wonderful to read the New Testament this way; to see the work of “exorcism” simply as delivering the peoples of the earth from the clutches of evil and despair.
This is what Jesus did. This is what we do. For this is kingdom work, proclaiming in word and deed the power and glory of God until no one rattles a saber and no one drags a chain.
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