The Promise or the Premise of the Gospel?

I have been thinking about the content and nature of the gospel message – how people differ on what its contents are, how people differ on the presentation of this good news. And it has led me to ask what I consider to be a very poignant question: “Would you follow Jesus if there was no heaven and no hell?” Before you get bogged down on defending the locals of the next life, understand that I am not overtly denying their existence (though I have a discussion of Hell here – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). So, set that aside for a second, and consider, would you follow Jesus if there was no heaven and no hell?

I believe many would have a difficult time answering this question and it may well be impossible because heaven is inseparably bound up in their gospel. A shortened version would read something like this:

God sent Jesus to save us from our sins so that we can spend eternity with God in heaven.

Or perhaps on the opposite side of the coin,

God sent Jesus to deliver us from evil and the punishment of hell.

Thus to extricate heaven and hell from the gospel message would prove to be a difficult task indeed. But I recommend we try because I believe that this exercise gets at the full gospel message. More than that, I believe this exercise would challenge our understanding of why we do the things we do – our motivation for loving, forgiving, and living holy lives. So really consider the following: What if the work of Jesus accomplished reconciliation with the Creator, but there was no expectation of an eternal reward? Would you still seek to live a holy life or would you still try to love God and neighbor?

Might I propose something somewhat shocking – I think that many Christians would not be as “good” (or perhaps would be less “good” as we are not doing a great job currently). Haven’t we all heard preachers and teachers repeat the words of Qohleth when lambasting atheists? These speakers tell us that if there is no God and there is no heaven then we may as well “eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die.” If we found out that there was nothing to look forward to then how would we treat this life? Probably we would seek more pleasure and selfish joy at the cost of loving others. We may not go around killing each other or swindling one another, but my cynical nature believes that we would cease putting others first.

But let me put something out there – a variance of the gospel message. Jesus came to show us the best way to live. He came for more than just saving me from my sins. He came to bring a full life (John 10:10) and that doesn’t have to include heaven. This full life contains a fulfilling existence while on this earth – a lifestyle of love and grace. When we understand that the best life is the one modeled by Jesus and that finds its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God then our motivation for emulating this lifestyle stems not from expectation of eternal reward or punishment but from the firm belief that all joy, happiness, and fulfillment can be found in this life, following the shadow of the Savior.

Thoughts for Communion

A few weeks ago the youth group went to the Tennessee Christian Teen Convention in Gatlinburg, TN to worship with about 4000 other teenagers. The theme for the weekend was “Mystery” and they preached from Colossians 1:25-27 in which Paul says,

“I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Paul says that he is presenting to word of God. Yes this is the proclamation about God, but it is also the word itself – Jesus Christ. He says that this mystery has been hidden, but is now made known.

We all love a good mystery story don’t we? Primetime television is filled with mystery type shows – crimes like murder, kidnapping, theft. And part of the fun is figuring out who did it. How did they do it? Why did they do it?

Well God, though majestic and awesome, and far beyond our puny minds has laid it all out there. He has revealed the mystery, but it was not a crime. No, it was an act of love and grace that caused him to do what he did. God came died in our place that we might have the hope of glory.

And the mystery? It isn’t so complicated. In fact, it is more of a promise. The mystery is that the God of the Universe, the God of Creation, the God of all that is good and holy and pure lives in you and lives in me.

This is the promise that brings us together. This is the promise that allows us to gather around this table. And this is the promise that grants us entry into the very presence of God.

As we partake of communion, we do so with hope and expectation. The expectation that God hears us; that God accepts us; that God extends his grace to us. And the hope that one day, though we see a poor reflection now, the mystery will make perfect sense as we celebrate together before the glory of God. May we, as we celebrate this simple meal, be drawn into the mystery of Christ in us – the hope of glory.

Jesus For President

Shane Claiborne spoke at chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary Tuesday, Election Day, and had some great things to say. They have to change the mics early on, making some of the audio rough to start with, but they get it ironed out about 5 minutes in. The sermon is about 30 minutes long, but well worth the listen/watch. Enjoy.

Back in the 70’s there was a movie called “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind”. Basically the thinking was that there were 3 types of encounters with aliens. The first kind was a sighting. You can see something from far off but not quite grasp it like a UFO. The second kind was physical evidence. Perhaps there was something that you could examine close up left from the presence of the extraterrestrial like goo or something. Then the Third kind is contact – coming face to face with the alien.

Most of us have encountered Jesus in one of the three ways. But what are our expectations when we come into contact with Jesus. Are we in awe? Are we blown away? Or has our understanding of Jesus make our encounter of him casual, as if we don’t expect a lot to happen.

John 1:43-51 contains a story of such an encounter:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Nathaniel thought he knew everything about what God was doing. In Nathaniel’s opinion nothing good could come out of Nazareth. But Nazareth was small and in the boonies, with about sixteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants. It was just a Podunk town that had no significance in the grand scheme of things. And so, Nathaniel did not expect a messiah to come out of Nazareth. And so he asks, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” And that question still lingers. Sometimes we ask it – is this Jesus worth considering?

When you come to church do you have any expectations? Is there any excitement? Or do you think you have it all figured out? Do you think you know what is going on, that you know who Jesus is, and that he has already finished his work with you? It’s just church. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

But Phillip says, “Come and see.” And so the story continues.

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Do you see the irony in this story? Nathaniel thought he knew Jesus, having never met him. But in reality, it was Jesus who knew everything about Nathaniel. It just took one revelation from Jesus for Nathaniel to change his tune. He went from, “Nothing good can come from Nazareth” to “Rabbi (teacher), you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” All it took was seeing Jesus in a new light to completely reverse his perception about Jesus. He went from thinking he had Jesus all figured out to proclaiming him as the Savior.

But Jesus doesn’t let him off the hook there. He says, you think you know me now? You haven’t seen anything. That vision of you under a tree was just a parlor trick. I will show you more than you can imagine. And he references an Old Testament story often called Jacob’s ladder. Jacob had a vision of angels coming down and going up into heaven on a ladder. And the point is clear – Jesus is bringing a new way to encounter God. Jesus is a new ladder to heaven.

We look at this story and think, “That is kind of nice.” Jesus shows Nathaniel something new and Nathaniel begins following Jesus. But this story touches on a much deeper question – a question you may not have actually thought about and considered, but one that you may have already answered in your minds. The question is simple – Do you believe that Jesus can really do anything else in your life, or is it over? Has he already done it all? After all, most of you are baptized and feel saved like you are going to heaven. Is that it? Do you know everything you need to know about this Jesus and how he works?

As I said, most of us have never verbalized that question, but we live like we know it all. Nothing phases us. We aren’t excited to encounter Jesus in worship anymore. And I believe it is because we have not had a close encounter of the 3rd kind. We have had sightings and have caught a glimpse of Jesus perhaps through singing praises to Him. We see evidence of Jesus by hearing what he has done and reading about him in the Bible. But how about encounters of the 3rd kind – have we really come into contact with Jesus? Have we sought him out?

Seeing Jesus is what Christianity is all about because it leads us to imitate Him. That is why those who encounter Jesus are never the same.

The invitation from Jesus is simple – “Come and See”.

Come and see the rock that has withstood the winds of time.
Come and see the flame that tyrants and dictators have not extinguished.
Come and see the passion that oppression has not squelched
Come and see what Christ has done.
Come and see the changed lives.
Come and see the pierced hand of God touch the most common heart, wipe the tear from the wrinkled face, and forgive the ugliest sin.
Come and see. He avoids no seekers but makes contact.

The invitation is to come and encounter Jesus. Perhaps a closer encounter than you have ever experienced. May we become like Nathaniel and proclaim anew that Jesus is the Son of God and our King.