Consider the hymns we sing on Sunday mornings:
"There Is A Fountain <Filled With Blood>"
"Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus"
"There Is Power In The Blood Of Jesus"
"Are You Washed In The Blood"
"Covered By The Blood"
I watched a message on YouTube the other day of a preacher talking about the "gospel". The gospel by definition is "Good News", this was what he was proclaiming is the good news:
"Jesus went to the cross so that you don't have to! He took your place. When you are washed in the blood of the Lamb, when you are covered in the blood of Jesus, then when God looks at the cross He doesn't see His Son, Jesus, He sees you! And when He looks at you, He doesn't see you, He sees His Son, Jesus!"
I understand that might sound like some good news at first, not having to be crucified ourselves (...wait, didn't Jesus talk about us taking up our cross and dying daily? Didn't Paul claim to be "crucified with Christ"? Anyway.....), but really, the good news is I can hide from God by drenching myself in Jesus' blood? Jesus' blood camouflages who I am so God can no longer see me? Let's not even take into account that what appeases God is His eternally bloody Son. And how long do I have to keep up this charade? Is there any point in eternity where I can stop wearing my Jesus camo and God will be ok with me being in Heaven? Do I just sneak by Him at the pearly gates as He's reading the paper, hoping that He doesn't look too closely as I walk by, "Oh, hey Son, be sure to wipe your feet so You don't track too much blood on the carpet."
Jesus went to great lengths to communicate the love of the Father, not His blood lust. He went to great lengths to communicate how we are infinitely special to Him, how we are His sons and daughters, so much so that yes, He did send His Son to die a horrible death by crucifixion. But is that moment in history frozen for all eternity? Is God always looking for a bloody Jesus? Are we to perpetually live with eternal Jesus camo?
Jesus communicated a loving Father, not just in the act of the cross, but towards us His children. Paul understood this and communicated it over and over again in his letters. James understood this. Peter understood this. John understood this possibly more than any one.
When God sees us, He isn't looking for His bloodied Son, He sees us, warts and all, and loves us just as we are. That love is what will wash us. That love is what will cure our sin disease. That love is what will transform us into His very likeness, His image.
Let's trade in our Jesus camo for His very way of life, only accesible because of the cross, His eternal life.
Where in the Bible does it say that? And how can God no longer see you, so that means you still can lie and do all that and get away because you have the jesus camo?? I need help understanding what your trying to say.
ReplyDeleteThe quote is someone else's. He is saying, and I have heard it in church growing up before, "When God looks at you He doesn't see you, He only sees Jesus. When God looks at the cross He doesn't see Jesus, he sees you."
ReplyDeleteMy point in this blog is to point out how ludicrous that thought is. God is not fooled when we are washed by the blood of Christ, but instead we are given new life from above and made new in Christ (II Corinthians 5). This does not hide who we are, but it begins the process of transforming who we are into His very image.
The Jesus camo mentality is one that needs to be rejected.
The good news of Jesus is that he provided a way that we can dwell in God's presence for eternity, but only if we confess our sins and believe that Jesus is God's son. We are all sinners. God's holiness and perfection require a blood sacrifice to make things right between us and him. Fortunately for those who have asked Jesus into their lives and prayed for forgiveness of sins, Jesus' blood, his death on the cross, becomes the payment for sin. You are responsible for presenting the entire message to people because you are in a position of authority. By blatantly discounting or removing the sacrifice message, you miss the entire reason why Jesus came to earth: TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat does this imply? THAT WE ARE LOST UNLESS WE HAVE JESUS AND HIS BLOOD TO COVER OUR SINS! That is the message that people need to hear, and anything short of that is false teaching. I pray that you are able to understand that and communicate it to those who have been entrusted to you.
2 Peter 2:1-3
Ezekiel 13
2 Corinthians 11:1-15
1 Timothy 4:1-10
1 Timothy 5:1
2 Timothy 2 "godless chatter..teaching spreads like gangrene"
Anonymous, I accidentally deleted my last follow up comment to you July 14th comment, but I don't want to leave this one unanswered, so here is a summary of what I said.
ReplyDeleteBy your strong comments "By blatantly discounting or removing the sacrifice message..." and implying "false teaching" and "godless chatter...teaching spreads like gangrene" I see that you have completely missed the point of what I was attempting to communicate. Whether by my own inadequacies in writing, or by your misplaced zealousness in trying to call out a heretic, I am not sure. Either way, let me be very clear, this blog post is specifically pointing out a damaging and destructive viewpoint of how God views us. When I hear comments such as the one in the YouTube video that describe God as a blood thirsty, gore obsessed being who delights in brutal justice being met out in the image of His ever crucified Son...only He does not realize that it is His Son because He has been fooled into thinking that it is you or I hanging there, I begin to wonder how so many could have strayed from the image of Father in Heaven that Jesus taught us so much of.
Please tell me that this is not the horrific view that you have of Father God? If so, I pray that you are able to understand Jesus' message more clearly so that you may know Father, I John 4:13-19.
Please Anonymous, be cautious in your accusations. It is too easy to get caught up in the zeal of rooting out heresy that you begin to see it everywhere. "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;" (James 1:19).