The more I study about who the Jesus of the Bible is, the more I am intrigued and fascinated by His joy and purity and absolutely alarmed by how much I am not like Him.
And here’s the truth that’s been haunting me. If our conception of who Jesus is false, then it is better for us to be atheists because our allegiance and adherence to a false Jesus is absolutely devastating. It would be far more preferable if we just didn’t believe anything.
The false Jesus who says it’s all about comfort and security destroys Christian mission.
The false Jesus who says it’s okay to turn a blind eye to the suffering in our very inner cities as long as we’re raising our children undermines Christianity.
The false Jesus who says it’s okay to keep accumulating goods and bank accounts at the expense of investing ourselves fully to the cause of alleviating the suffering of our community repudiates everything the Christ of Scripture lived for and died for.
If that’s what being a Christian and being a part of a church means, is what we are doing here at Trinity and thousands of churches like us around the United States worth doing? multiplying? Worth imitating?
The Jesus of scripture is not very nice to the comfort seeking suburbanites like you and me.
And yet Christ keeps bidding us. Christ keeps calling us. Christ keeps challenging us to grow deeper into the word so that Christ can go deeper into the world. I am absolutely convinced that Christianity as we know it has to go through a major overhaul if we are to be faithful to the Christ of scripture.
I confess that I need to grow. I confess that I need to change. I want so desperately to know how to live a life that is holy and so full of joy that it is profoundly attractive to our world. I ask you to go on that journey with me. And as we pursue together how we might be more like the Christ of Scripture, I am absolutely convinced that God can change our world.
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