Everything That's On My Mind

Once again Scot McKnight simply knocks one out of the ballpark, this time in a post on Christianity Today's Out of Ur blog. Be sure to read the comments, too. Good stuff.

Mark Lauterbach over at the Gospel Driven Life blog offers a variation on the theme of my easter sermon. Enjoy!

P.S. I know I haven't been posting much lately. No excuses, but I do hope to be a little more active soon.

There's an interesting scene in The Nativity Story where Mary asks Joseph, "Do you ever wonder when we'll know that he's more than just a child? Will it be something he says, a look in his eye?" In response, Joseph wonders if he'll even be able to teach Jesus anything. This reminded me of a question that has interested me for many years. When did Jesus become "self-aware"? When did He realize that He was the Son of God, the Messiah, the sacrificial Lamb? And how did that realization come about?

The scriptures are nearly silent about Jesus' childhood and early adulthood. Beyond the nativity story, we have only the story of Jesus' visit to the Temple when he was twelve years old in Luke 2. We have no direct witness to reference on this question. Perhaps that is why I've never seen it addressed in any books I've read. Nevertheless, I find the question interesting and I think it's possible to make a few safe assumptions based on what we know and perhaps develop a reasonable theory. What follows is my theory, for what it's worth.

First of all, I think it's obvious that Jesus didn't emerge from the womb fully self-aware. There's no indication He was gathering disciples and teaching in parables as a child. There are apocryphal stories of Jesus performing miracles as a child, but nothing in the canon. The story of Jesus at the Temple indicates that Jesus was an amazing child and exceptional in His understanding of scripture, but it also indicates that He was asking questions and listening to the teachers; learning as any normal child would. He does, at this point, recognize who His Father is, but that is no surprise. Joseph and Mary certainly would have told Him about His miraculous birth and the messages the angels gave them. Did He realize at this point the magnitude of His mission? Did He know that he would suffer and die? I don't think so. Luke 2:52 states "Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." His understanding developed gradually just like any other child.

I believe Jesus' wasn't aware of the full magnitude of His mission until He began His earthly ministry. In fact, I think it's possible if not likely that he received that revelation during His time of prayer and fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). I also believe that His understanding of His mission on earth developed primarily through His study of the scriptures and through prayer. Why? Because I believe in the most basic of Christian doctrines, Jesus' full divinity and full humanity. If Jesus was fully human while here on earth, then He received His commission from God the same way we do. Once He understood His calling, He had to choose to follow it just as we do. If He was "tempted in every way, just as we are" (Hebrews 4:15), then He was required to live by faith just as we are. Doubting His understanding of God's plan and His place in it must have been a possibility for Jesus, and clearly was. Satan's first two temptations of Jesus in the wilderness were prefaced with the phrase "If you are the Son of God...". Satan was clearly trying to chip away at Jesus' faith in who He was and whether or not the Father was with Him. If Jesus' had actually just received the knowledge of His impending sacrificial death, then Satan's temptations were all the more sadistic. Either way, I believe Jesus was just like us. He received His instructions from God via scripture and prayer and was required to follow by faith, which He did.

You may ask, what is the point of this theological flight of fancy? Simply this. I think we often minimize the reality of Jesus' humanity. We think that because He is the Son of God, He had special access to God that we don't have. We think (though we may not say it out loud) that because He is the Son of God, we can't truly be Christ-like, therefore we don't really try to attain it. We choose some lesser measure of godliness to be our standard of achievement. This attitude keeps us from being all that God has intended us to be. Jesus said we would do everything He did and more (John 14:12), but we don't really believe it...or at least we don't act like it. We settle for so much less. A true understanding of Jesus' humanity will lead us to a deeper understanding of the power that is available to us through the Holy Spirit and the responsibility that is ours to truly become Christ-like.

Ben Witherington, who was quoted in the Time article I mentioned in my last post, has extended comments about the subject at his blog. He includes a Letterman-esque "Top Ten Reasons Why God Doesn't Want You Wealthy." Check it out.

P.S. Witherington is a Gordon-Conwell grad, just like one of my other favorite theologians.

I finally got around to reading Time Magazine’s current cover story, “Does God want you to be rich?” All things considered, it’s a pretty balanced article…and that’s the problem. It accurately describes a dominant strain of current Christian thought. Dominant in bookstores and on TV and radio, at least. The Word/Faith “Prosperity Lite” teaching isn’t anything new, I’ve heard it all my life. As a child, I slept on folding chairs while my grandparents listened to the Kenneths (Hagin and Copeland) preach tent meetings. It just seems like it used to be more marginalized than it is today. I hope this is just a passing fad.

I’m not going to go so far as to condemn all these ministries. God uses imperfect vessels all the time, including every Sunday at our church. However, I will list a few problems I have with the name it/claim it folks.

• Creating promises ex nihlo: Not every statement in the bible is a promise. I’ve seen Word/Faith people use Psalm 90:10 as a promise we can claim for long life. To borrow an eloquent phrase from Rick Warren: “Baloney!” It isn’t a promise, it’s an observation David is making about the nature of human life. You don’t need a PhD to recognize that.
• Misappropriation of promises: Many promises in scripture are directed to a specific person or group of people. We can’t just “claim” every promise in the bible because we like the sound of it. Old Testament prophecies directed toward Israel are not automatically ours. Just because God gave the Promised Land to His people doesn’t mean I should just head over to the Holy Land and claim my share.
• Over-individualization of promises: The rampant individualism of modern society has infected the church, and it’s not a good thing. Many promises in scripture are to the faithful as a group, not as individuals. For example, Exodus 20:12 is a corporate promise to the Israelites, not a promise to every individual. Some might say that Paul applies this promise to individuals in Ephesians 6:1-3, but I don’t see it that way.
• Using an Americanized definition of “blessings”: Since when did the word blessings refer primarily to material things? Material things are a blessing from God, but that is not the sole definition of the word. It’s not even the primary definition. There are many ways God blesses us, but it is not our place to mandate how he will do so.
• Ignoring church history: Joyce Meyer is quoted in the article as saying “Who would want something where you’re miserable, broke and ugly and you have to muddle through until you get to heaven?” Ummm, let’s see…all of the apostles and most other Christians for the first few centuries. Except the miserable part, of course. Meyer seems to think that being broke and ugly makes you miserable. How shallow is that?
• Pandering to the audience: See Meyer’s quote above. Did Jesus sugar-coat his message to get a bigger audience? If you’re not sure how to answer that question, go read the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and then come back. I’ll wait…

I could go on, but I’ll stop here. Does God want you to be rich? Maybe, maybe not. Does he want us to make the most of the talents and opportunities He gives us? Yup. Some will acquire wealth in doing that, some won’t. Those who do are required by God to use that wealth for the benefit of others and for His kingdom. I don’t think designer suits and alligator shoes qualify. They wouldn’t for me, at least.

It is with great pleasure that I welcome my very good friend Keith Schooley to the blogging community, or as it has been described elsewhere, "The Cabal of Self-absorbed Part-time Theologians." He certainly doesn't qualify as "self-absorbed," but he makes up for it by being a full-time theologian. As you may have noticed, Keith has been clogging up contributing to the comments section of my blog for months now. Now I have the opportunity to return the favor. I guess that makes me a blog parent of sorts.

Check out Keith's blog at The Schooley Files. The truth is out there.

I can't remember where I first saw this, but I love the humor of it:

Jesus said unto them: "Who do you say that I am?"

And they replied: "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the kerygma in which we find the ultimate meaning of our interpersonal relationship."

And Jesus said: "What?!?"

This morning I spoke about "missing the point" and how we so often do. We overcomplicate the gospel, we add to it, we confuse it with other things. Jesus said "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself." The religious people of his day had complicated faith to the point that it was unattainable by the average person. Jesus simplified things. He explained God's purpose for mankind in simple, yet challenging terms.

I love theology as much as anyone. I love the depth of people like Dallas Willard, D.A. Carson, F.F. Bruce and A.W. Tozer.* That being said, there's also a place for the depth of "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so." Modern worship music has long been criticized for being too simplistic and lacking theological content. While some criticisms may be warranted, in general I think the critics are off-base. Music, in particular, is not a tool for theological dissertation; it's a tool for helping us feel what we know.

Yes, we need to maintain orthodoxy and avoid a pop-psychology version of the Christian faith, but at the same time it's not just about believing the right facts. Being a Christ-follower is not just intellectual, it's experiential. We know it and we feel it. Our interaction with God is not limited to simply agreeing with certain facts. It's submitting all that we are to Him; heart, soul, strength and mind. Anything less is missing the point.

Now and then we need to stop and remind ourselves to receive the kingdom of God like a little child. "Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so."

I'll close with the prophetic words of a brother of mine:

God's laughter echoes in heaven
We really think that we've figured Him out
With our systematic theologies
There's just one thing I wanna know beyond a shadow of a doubt
Does Jesus love me?
If that alone is true,
Maybe then I have a clue to ponder:
What's the Big Idea?

*Side note: Why do so many of these great authors simply use their initials? Carson, Bruce, Tozer, Tolkien, Lewis, Torrey, Wright, Packer...all known just by initials. Would I be taken more seriously as J.R. Mitton rather than just Bob? Actually, I already know the answer to that question, but that's another story.

My wife was teasing me last night about not having written a new blog entry since Friday. Boy, she can be demanding. Seriously, I don't know how some guys find the time to write as much as they do. For example, Mark Roberts, who seems to blog a dissertation every day. I'm glad he has that kind of time, though. I've been enjoying his series on biblical inspiration.

What Dan Edelen writes here today is so true, not just for the "Godblogsphere" but for much of modern Christianity. Some of us are so busy proving our own "rightness" that the mission is forgotten. Judgments are made based on "doctrinal purity" or how someone voted in the last election or any number of other trivialities. Rick Warren gets accused of heresy because he tries to explain the Gospel in terms the average non-Christian can understand. Bono gets vilified for dropping an f-bomb here or there, despite the fact that he's done more for the sick and needy in Africa than any other Christian leader I can think of. Just because someone's docrine isn't exactly the same as ours doesn't mean they need to be attacked.

Doctrine is good and necessary, but without faith-driven, compassionate action it's empty. It's too easy to become modern Pharisees, neglecting justice, mercy, and faithfulness. May we repent and follow Christ's example. Let's know what we believe, put our beliefs into action, and be merciful with fellow Christians.

Read an interesting article today on Next-Wave.org regarding the nature of the gospel, or at least how we communicate it. It's an interesting perspective. The gospel is "holistic" and affects our entire existence, and should not be limited in scope. I do believe the gospel does need to be understood in the context of the entire "story" of history. Otherwise, we approach our faith with a very self-centered mindset. However, we do need to keep in mind that the Cross is the central focus of the gospel story. In literary terms it is the "climax" of the story...at least the story so far. There is another "climax" to come. The gospel is not just about my salvation, however, it's about the redemption of all creation. I'm just a part of the story...and I need to play my part.