Christ or Culture

I continue my consideration of the "demands of Jesus," which are drawn from John Piper's book, What Jesus Demands from the World.

We Christians seem perfectly willing to tell other people all about our church, but we seldom talk to people about Jesus. We do not invite people to Jesus. We invite them to church.

But Jesus said, "come to me." This is one of the "demands" to which John Piper dedicates a chapter in What Jesus Demands from the World. "Come to me," he says, "all you who are heavy-burdened, for my burden is light."

But I wonder.

I happen to think Jesus is an awful lot more attractive than the church. I mean, I love the church now, but I can't say I did when I first became a Christian. The church didn't seem all that attractive to me then, as a matter of fact, and even today my love for the church is hedged about with many qualifiers. I think it was Augustine who said, "The church is a whore, but she's my mother." How's that for shocking?

So when we talk to people about our wonderful church, and all that it does for the community, and all the great fellowship, etc., I wonder if we are really inviting people to an unburdened walk, or just loading more baggage on their backs.

What I mean is, instead of Pharisaical legalism, we're loading them with lifestyle choices. In effect, we've replaced Jesus Christ with our particular flavor of Christian culture, with its host of preferences and choices. We offer "Christianity" instead of Christ.

There is only one Jesus Christ, but there are many Christianities. Christ, when we come to him, always lifts our burden, but Christianities always add more. And I think it's sometimes very hard for us to understand the difference. What are some of the lifestyle "burdens" we allow and even encourage? I thought about it for all of 5 or 10 seconds and came up with the following list. We sometimes allow and encourage people to believe that when they come to Jesus they are at the same time coming to:

1. the espousal of typically Republican political views.
2. the love of cheesy "Christian" products (posters, t-shirts, etc.).
3. the necessity of going to church every week (or feeling like a schmuck if you miss a week).
4. the enraptured admiration for Mel Gibson's "The Passion" (never admitting to the slightest reservation).
5. the belief that "America is (or was) a Christian nation" (never conceding that those words are in the least bit historically inaccurate or theologically un-Biblical). 
6. deep interest in all things "prophetic" (this if your "flavor" is charismatic/pentecostal).
7. Veggie Tales as the primary tool for child-rearing.
8. CCM.

Well, that's my short list.  I bet you can come up with more.  

I used to know a pastor who'd say, "Invite people to church, and who knows, maybe they'll bump into Jesus!"

Sounds simple, but the trouble is, nowadays, maybe they won't. I've gone to church many times and not bumped into Jesus. The contemporary Christian church and Jesus aren't always as closely allied as we think. Once I pointed out to a couple of people that a worship set of six songs that we'd all just heard had not contained a single reference to Jesus. The thing is, no one had noticed!

So, getting back to the "Jesus or Christianity" thing, what's the solution?  My off-hand suggestion is, let's talk with people about Jesus more, and church less. A lot less.

Maybe we should invite people to Jesus, and who knows, they just might bump into His Bride.

On Repentance

I continue to take up the themes of John Piper's book, What Jesus Demands of the World. This series is neither an extended review of the book or a recapitulation of its contents, but a interaction by one reader with the "demands of Jesus" as laid out by Piper.

The second "demand" is repentance.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 4:17.

Of repentance Piper writes:

Repenting means experiencing a change of mind so that we can see God as true and beautiful and worthy of all our praise and all our obedience. This change of mind also embraces Jesus in the same way. We know this because Jesus said, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God" (John 8:42). Seeing God with a new mind includes seeing Jesus with a new mind.

Repentance of this kind comes of realization and recognition of who God is and what he has done. It is the burden of all the New Testament Gospel accounts to bring readers to that realization and recognition.

What then? With every such recognition, in whatever degree, comes a corresponding degree of repentance. There is a well-known poem by James Wright which describes something like this. The poem does not use the word repentance, nor is Wright talking about Biblical repentance here, but in his poem we see the motion of the mind that moves from recognition of something true and beautiful and on to a sense of repentance that is not abject ("woe is me, a slug, a worm, a total creep") but the beginning of a life that incorporates that new recognition into its understanding and is lived accordingly. The poem is called Lying In A Hammock At William Duffy's Farm In Pine Island, Minnesota:

Over my head, I see the bronze butterfly,
Asleep on the black trunk,
blowing like a leaf in green shadow.
Down the ravine behind the empty house,
The cowbells follow one another
Into the distances of the afternoon.
To my right,
In a field of sunlight between two pines,
The droppings of last year's horses
Blaze up into golden stones.
I lean back, as the evening darkens and comes on.
A chicken hawk floats over, looking for home.
I have wasted my life.

[See all previous posts in this series here.]

You must be born again.

That is the first "demand of Jesus" in Piper's book, What Jesus Demands of the World. I personally would not call it a "demand" so much as an analysis or an explanation. It is something Jesus said to the rabbi Nicodemus when he showed a certain incapacity to understand the meaning of what Jesus was doing and preaching.

"Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

Before I was born again, I had an inward predisposition characterized by severe skepticism concerning spiritual things. If you told me then that God loved me, I would have said, "whatever." Supposing that this God of love did exist, his love for me seemed to have made not one wit of difference in my life or the life of the world. So it seemed to me. All your efforts to talk me into believing in this God of yours, dear Christians, were manifestly fruitless. In short, I believed you were living in a fantasy world.

But when I was born again, God intruded on my skepticism, shattered it, and showed me his love. It took me by surprise, slapped me silly, and (here's the point) transformed my inward predisposition from one of severe skepticism to one of child-like faith.

The ramifications of this change are enormous, rippling outward to transform systems of thought in which I had invested much of my self-identity. But the point is, before I was born again, spiritual things were essentially human myths to me. Spiritual things like the love of God, for instance. I was blind to it. It had no reality for me. And if you had told me that I had to be born again in order to understand such things, which is what Jesus told Nicodemus, I would have said, "What? You expect me to crawl back into my mother's womb!"

Well, but God's wind blows where it will, and eventually it blew on me. I have discovered that it is better to know that God loves me than it is to go through life skeptical of that love. Better by far, because more in line with the way things really are. It is, in fact, relentlessly transformative.

[See all previous posts in this series here.]

Another Word about Teaching and Learning

There were many times that Jesus had compassion for people because they were sick and needed healing. But other times his compassion for people was because they were lost and had no teacher.

For example: the disciples had just returned from their first short-term mission trip. Reporting back with Jesus, they told him "all that they had done and taught." In response, Jesus takes them across the lake to "a desolate place" where they could rest up, but a large crowd follows them there. What do you suppose happens next? Well, after a while, when the day is almost done, Jesus is going to feed them all, even though there is very little food among them. That's a famous miracle of Jesus, of course. The feeding of the five thousand! But before that happens, when Jesus first sees this large crowd of people, people who had no doubt pursued him to this "desolate place" because they had heard of his miraculous healing ministry, well, Mark's account tells us this:

When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things (6:30-34).

Sheep without a shepherd are vulnerable. They need the shepherd's guidance, or they wander into dangerous places and fall prey to predators. When Jesus sees that this is the state of the people who have gathered to meet him on the shore, what does he do?

He teaches them.

I am reminded also of the two men, on the morning the Jesus' resurrection, leaving Jerusalem on the way to Emmaus. They have heard the rumors of the empty tomb, and of people having seen the risen Jesus, whom they themselves seen brutally executed only days before. They are confused, do not know what to believe, or how to interpret these events. Jesus comes to walk beside them, but they do not recognize him. If they had, they would have probably fallen on their faces before him in fear and trembling. Instead, they explain their sorrow and confusion to this man as best they can, and he proceeds to explain to them from the Scriptures the meaning of the momentous events that had just occurred. In other words:

He taught them.

Just think about that. He could have shown himself to them in such a way as to provoke their praise and worship. But for a time he veiled himself from them, the best to teach them from Scriptures that the things that happened were actually the fulfillment of Scripture. He chose to influence them through teaching about himself from the Word of God.

There are numerous examples of this kind. I only mention this to reinforce the message of the last post in this series. Teaching and learning is a profoundly important aspect of the continuing ministry of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and by this means the lost are found, the vulnerable made safe, and the Kingdom of God flourishes in the hearts of men and women.

The Demands of Jesus #3

A word about teaching and learning. The teaching and learning relationship is one of the primary ways by which change happens in the world, and it is one of the primary ways by which the kingdom of God "comes." Piper reminds us of this in his introduction to What Jesus Demands of the World. He notes that Jesus' final instructions to the disciples was that they should go teach people. Every Christian is in this same way sent to teach, but I fear it is a mission for which we are often ill-equipped.

And yet, the kingdom comes, invisibly, inexorably, through teaching. Teaching what? Well, the disciples spent time with Jesus, absorbed his message, and in time went about repeating it. The message was, essentially, Repent, for the kingdom of God is here.

But I feel compelled to note that that message seems profoundly in need of explanation. What does it mean? Why should anyone care? Why not just be a good person and leave it at that? Such questions are an essential part of teaching and learning about the kingdom. Clearly, then, teaching and learning follows from the proclamation of the kingdom as naturally as these questions do.

In the previous post in this series I quoted Piper's saying the great challenge he faced as a teacher (in writing What Jesus Demands), was in discerning "God's way of making impossible obedience possible."

Now check this out:

Jesus said this impossible goal happens through teaching. "Make disciples . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."There is of course more to it than that--like the atoning death of Jesus (Mark 10:45) and the work of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26) and prayer (Matt. 6:13). But in the end Jesus focused on teaching. I take this to mean that God has chosen to do the impossible through the teaching of all that Jesus commanded.

When Jesus sent out the twelve disciples on their own for the first time, they simply repeated the message that Jesus had been preaching. Repent. The kingdom of God is here. In that way they initiated the process by which, person by person, the Kingdom of God salvages lives, heals souls, and fills hearts with joyous gratitude. In the coming posts in this series we will take a closer look at that simple message and its implications, but next up, we will look at the first of the commands of Jesus in Piper's list. "You must be born again."

The Demands of Jesus #2

In his introduction to What Jesus Demands of the World, John Piper lays out a couple of key points that I find tremendously encouraging. In this post I simply want to reiterate some of Piper's introductory remarks, because they're foundational to understanding where he is going in this book.

Jesus' final instructions to the disciples was that they should teach people throughout the world to observe all his commands.

I'm used to reminding myself and others that Christianity is not primarily about behavior. Not primarily about what we do, but about what God has done in Christ. And yet, here is Christ giving what we should assume to be his most important instruction to his disciples. "Teach people to observe all my commands."

This morning I read the following statement over at Nate's blog: "...I don't believe that Jesus' primary revelation is that of moral living. Taken on its own, this assumption is exactly what kills Christianity."

I agree, but then how do I deal with this final instruction of Jesus? And as a disciple, how do I obey that instruction, teaching people to observe Jesus' commands, without falling into the very death-trap that Nate mentions?

Here's what John Piper says:

When a rich man could not bring himself to let go of his riches and follow him, Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.... With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." [Mark 10:25-27]

Therefore, the person who sets himself to obey Jesus' final commission--for example, to teach a rich man to observe the command to "renounce all that he has"--attempts the impossible. But Jesus said it was not impossible. (p.17-18)

Piper goes on to say that his challenge in writing the book--and it is ours in every aspect of following Jesus--is in discerning "God's way of making impossible obedience possible."

And his way of making it possible, it seems, has everything to do with Jesus. Who he is, and what he did. To misunderstand Jesus, his person and work, is to misunderstand God, what God desires, and the means God has provided to make that possible. Piper says:

Therefore, my aim has been to probe the meaning and the motivation of Jesus' commands in connection with his person and work. (p. 19)

After a two page sketch of the person and work of Jesus (who he was and what he did), Piper adds this:

The obedience [Jesus] demands is the fruit of his redeeming work and the display of his personal glory. This is why he came--to create a people who glorify his gracious reign by bearing the fruit of his kingdom.... In other words, the Son of Man came to save people from their suicidal love affair with possessions (and every other idol) and to lead them into a kind of impossible obedience that displays the infinite worth of Jesus.

To obey Jesus (observing his commands), to bear fruit, to love our neighbors, to display the beauty of God with our lives, all these things are like trying to squeeze ourselves through the eye of a needle. They are impossible things. But the overarching miracle of God's plan for his wayward creation is that he makes his impossible demands possible.

The Demands of Jesus #1

Of the reading of books there is truly no end, at least for some of us. I just picked up John Piper's What Jesus Demands of the World, and having just read the introduction, I'm excited.

Now, admittedly, Piper's title put me off some. I've had quite enough of the "demanding Jesus," thank you. But it turns out that Piper expected just such a response. Here's what he says:

I am aware that the word demands is jarring to many modern ears. . . . My conviction is that if we rightly understand Jesus' demands, and if we are willing to find in him our supreme joy, his demands will not feel severe but sweet.

Jesus left his disciples with one of these commands ringing in their ears. "Make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." Ah, it is a command concerning his commands. Teach people, he says, to observe my commands.

Dang.

And it does no good to say, "Well, all that really means is that we should love people. Just love on 'em." As if that were the easy part about obeying Jesus. Oh, well then, I know how to love people. I love 'em all the time. I'm the lovingest guy anywhere!

Right. Well, actually, wrong. This love deal turns out to be pretty damn tricky. Like squeezing a camel through the eye of a needle, in fact. Impossible.

To which Jesus says, "With man it is impossible, but not with God." [Mark 10:25-27].

And, well, I happen to believe it. There is going to be a felt reality about this having Jesus living in us (as we like to say), a noticeable, distinguishable, measurable, real-deal alteration in my way of living, talking, working, playing, etc. And the way that will look is, well, it will look like Jesus back in the flesh, walking around on the streets of my town, in my skin.

I believe that "union with Christ," to use the old-fashioned theological term, makes this kind of difference in the world. I believe it because Jesus promised it. Even as he made his ultimate demand, he also made this promise.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. [Matt 28:19-20]

Have I taken that promise seriously? Maybe at one time I did, but I have to admit, not lately.

The point that Piper makes about all this is that the life of Christ in you, in me, will be lovely, and will ultimately result in glory to the One who made the impossible possible.

Or, as Piper points out, "the Son of Man came to save people from their suicidal love affair with possessions (and every other idol) and to lead them into the kind of impossible obedience that displays the infinite worth of Jesus."

This is what I'm searching for. I'm 52 years old, and want to make the most of the time I have left. What is the most I could make of it? By doing the impossible, living a life that brings glory to the One who is pure love. Jesus, help me with this!

Well, these are the thoughts that have been scurrying around my brain since I read Piper's introduction. I haven't done that introduction justice, not by a long shot, for it has much to say about these things, but here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to gradually blog my way through this book. Not so much simply to tell people what's in it, but to chronicle my own interaction with the thoughts and ideas within these pages.

Each chapter is about 6 or 7 pages, and I will try to spend a few days with each, posting here on the subject once or twice a week. I find that journaling through a book can encourage a more intense engagement with the work, and I hope my doing so on this blog might also be a blessing to others.