Following the Historical Jesus?

I was talking with someone today who claims to be unsure of God's existence.  Of the existence of any god for that matter.  The interesting thing is he grew up in the church, his parents are in ministry in the church, he's been a part of our youth group, he's played for our worship gatherings, and unsure of God's existence.

We've known each other for a year now, a year this Easter.  I love this guy.  He's special to me.  I don't believe him.

We've been having this conversation for a while now.  The one about him not believing in God.  He's been told about God for much of his life, believed for a period of time, and then one day began to ask the question, if God is actually real, why won't He just show Himself?

He asked this in church one day...they told him that he couldn't play the drums in the church service anymore if he was questioning the existence of God.

His question became a decision.  If this is how christians are going to react to a question I have, then I don't want to believe in their god.

Done.  Just like that.  God doesn't exist.

So our conversations have morphed a bit now.  Like I said, I don't really believe him.

Today we were talking again and I told him that I didn't think he struggled with the reality of God so much as he struggled with the picture of God that has been presented by those who claim His name.  He said he thought I might be right...

I encouraged him to follow Jesus, there is no questioning His existence.

Is it possible to follow Jesus and question the existence of God?

Is it possible to follow Jesus and not know that He is God?

I'm thinking of the story in Mark 2 where the four men bring their friend who is lame to a house that Jesus was teaching in.  The house was packed so they climb to the roof, tear a hole in it, and lower their friend down.  Mark tells us that Jesus saw their faith, and said to the man "Your sins are forgiven."  Then He heals him.  Not once do we see the man, or his friends for that matter, say anything at all.  What was their faith?  Was their faith that Jesus was God?  Was their faith that Jesus was the Messiah?  Or was their faith simply that Jesus had a reputation for healing people, so chances are He could heal their friend too?

The interesting thing is Jesus was ok with whatever their faith was, they had come to Him with their need.  So he forgave the man's sins...and He met the man's need.  He healed him soul and body.

Oh, and Mark says that Jesus claimed to do this so that all present would know that He is the Son of Man, a direct reference to being divine.

It's as if Jesus were ok with the friends bringing the man to Him with no claim of recognizing who He really was.  He then used that as an opportunity to clearly state who He is.

I really hope my younger brother will choose to follow the historical Jesus.  I'm not even concerned that He may not be able to recognize Him as divine.  I don't think Jesus is concerned with it either.  I do think it won't take long for any disciple of Jesus, under any circumstance, to begin to recognize that there is more to this One, He is no mere human.

Redefining Sin (part 2)

The scene opens on a beautiful, sunny spring like day.  Every flower is in bloom, the smell of the pollen on the breeze is intoxicating, but not assaulting.  A wolf and a lamb are grazing side by side on the lush grass in the meadow.

A stir in the brush and the man and the woman step into view, hand in hand.  A lion lopes forward and nuzzles his mane nto the man's bare chest.

All is as it should be.

There is no fear, for none would do harm.
There is no pride, for all have been created by God.
There is no anger, for all are living in perfect harmony.
There is no selfishness, for all is God's and God has given all.

Yet a thought begins to tickle at the edges of the woman and man's thinking; might there still be more?

Why has God said not to eat from that tree?
What must that fruit taste like?  Might it be better than the other fruit of the other trees?
Why is this tree here if not to be eaten from?

Then the serpentine voice begins to speak; there must be a reason God does not want you to eat...
Maybe there is something about that fruit that God does not want you to know...
Maybe that fruit tastes better than all the other fruit and God wants to keep it from you...
Maybe God is afraid that if you have that fruit you will no longer want Him...
Maybe that fruit will make you like God, and He is afraid that you will no longer need Him...
Maybe God is holding back on you...
Maybe God cannot be trusted...

...and sin entered the world, and they took a bite.

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I have spent much of my life viewing many of my actions as sinful.  I have spent many years trying to purge sin from my life by stopping bad actions, bad thoughts, bad emotions, bad reactions and so on.  As many would probably agree with me, it is a long and hard and uphill battle fraught with guilt and sometimes despair and only brief moments of joy at success sloughing all to quickly back into pits of despair at how little ground is actually won.  All the while painfully burning in the radiance of Jesus' call to "...be perfect as Your Father in Heaven is perfect."

It was only when I began to question what was at the core of my sin, my "sin nature", that I began to see things change in my life.  But it got worse before it got better.

I was reading in Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus is calling out those who believe themselves to be righteous on their own merit.  Jesus says,  "You have heard it said 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment...You have heard that it was said 'You shall not commit adultery'.  But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart."

Honestly, my first reaction to this was, great...I'm even worse off then I thought.

What I began to realize though, is that Jesus had no interest in making things easier on us; He had no interest in assuaging our guilt over sin.  He lived to show us another way, a way to be completely free from the power of sin once and for all.

What is this way?  It is a way to become someone different all together.

I began to realize through the creation story, through Adam and Eve, through the multitude of stories shared throughout the Old Testament, through Jesus message while physically here with us and the writings of all those who followed him, that love is the answer to the question of what is a life that is pleasing to God; love is the answer to sin.

Jesus summed it up beautifully in Matthew 22:37-40 when asked what is the greatest of all the commandments. He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (here Luke adds, "with all your strength") and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."  All the Law and the Prophets, all of the scriptures to that day, all of it summed up in Love God, Love each other.  You want to live a life that is pleasing to God, love.

Sin, I think we could all agree on, is not pleasing to God.  Sin, then, would be the choice, the decision to not love God, to not love each other.

Love, in this passage, is the greek word Agape.  It is defined in the Strong's Greek concordance, among other things, as "to wish well to, to regard the welfare of".  We could also say to desire another's good, or to want what is best for another.  What is it to desire God's good, to want what is best for God?  Interestingly enough it is inexplicably tied to our own good, to what is best for us.  What is good for God, what is best for God from us, is that He is followed, that He is obeyed.  The root of all this comes when He is trusted above anything or anyone else.

So let's look back at the garden.  What happened?  When did things go so wrong?  It wasn't when they took the bite, things were already broken then, it was when they decided that God could not be taken at His word.  God ultimately could not be trusted.

What happened next is very telling, God came looking in the garden...and they hid.  Why?  Because they were afraid.  One does not fear what is trusted.

Trust and love are inseparable from one another.  Look what John says in I John 4, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love."  

One does not fear what is trusted.
One who loves has no need to fear.

I began to see how sin is not found in my wrong actions, but rather my wrong actions are a direct result of sin, a direct result of not trusting God.

Not trusting God leads me to do my own thing, find my own way, seek my own peace, my own joy, my own pleasure, my own safety, my own security, my own success...and we can go on...

Biting into the fruit only comes as a result of deciding that God cannot be trusted.

My sin nature then can be defined as my distrusting nature.  It is what we are all born with.  A baby cries because if he does not then you might forget about his need for milk.  A child lies because if you knew the truth then you would reject her.  A teenage girl has sex because if she doesn't her boyfriend will find another.  A man cheats on his taxes because if he doesn't then the government will try to take too much of his money.  A dictator indiscriminately kills because if he does not the people will rise up and overthrow him.

It is in our nature to distrust, it is our sin nature.

How then do overcome our sin nature?  How do we overcome sin?  How do we start living lives with no room for sin, lives that result in doing good rather than wrongdoing?  How do we be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect?

By choosing love.

Listen to what Jesus says just before He calls us to perfection, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons (and daughters) of your Father who is in heaven.  For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (so just trust Him, He's got it all worked out).  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?  Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?  You therefore (for this reason) must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  ...and how is our Heavenly Father perfect?  He causes His sun to rise and rain to fall on the evil and the good, the just and the unjust.  He desires the good of everyone alike.  He wants what is best for everyone alike.  He loves everyone alike.  He is perfect in love.  Now you, you be perfect in His way of love.

Overcoming sin is not accomplished by attempting to overcome my own wrong actions, overcoming sin is accomplished in the day by day, moment by moment choosing the way of love, which leaves no room for wrong actions.  So when wrong actions are a part of my life, I quickly recognize them as the result of sin in my life, I am choosing not to love, I am choosing not to trust God's way.  I am choosing to not be perfect.

My goal now is to be perfected in His way of love.  My goal now is to choose to trust Him through and through.  My goal now is to grow in His love, to love Him with my heart, mind, soul and strength and to love my neighbor as myself.  As I grow in this I am finding less and less room for sin all the time.  I am leaving sin behind and in the words of King David I have picked up new traveling companions, Goodness and Mercy.

Have I stopped all wrongdoing in my life now?  No, but it is no longer the goal either.

That goal of stopping something in my life has become too small in light of a larger passion of moving forward into new life with Christ (that comes from following Him to His death, but I've talked about that before).  This new growing passion for being consumed with His kind of life will eventually leave me with no room for anything but His way of life.

...and I think that's some pretty good news.