Missing Jesus
Picture yourself at church, engaged in a spirited discussion about Jesus' life. Where did that discussion happen? If you are like most of us, you probably pictured yourself pulling up a tiny chair at a tiny table. Why? Because in most churches, lower elementary Sunday school is the only place where Jesus is systematically studied.
Of course, the church loves and worships Jesus and studies the Gospels. Jesus is the glowing center of our faith. But in her ongoing quest to plumb the depths of justification, the church has, inadvertently, become more enamored with what Jesus has done than who he is. Yet the two truths are inseparable!
What I mean is there is virtually no systematic study and analysis of the person of Jesus. Hundreds of thousands of scholarly articles and books have been written on the work of Christ, but virtually nothing systematic and comprehensive on his person.1
We’ve studied how to fix the bad (redemption and salvation), but we’ve not studied this beautiful thing we are supposed to all become: Jesus.
I’m describing a hole in our systematic theology. Our doctrine of the person is almost vacant. A typical seminary class on the person of Christ studies the early creeds, which help us understand the relationship between his divinity and his humanity, but little study is focused on him as a person. We’ve studied how to fix the bad (redemption and salvation), but we’ve not studied this beautiful thing we are supposed to all become: Jesus. So we don’t have a clear sense of what it is to be human.
This leaves us with a weak doctrine of humanity and no framework for understanding love. We don’t know the answer to basic questions like, what does good sadness look like? How does Jesus handle grief? When does he say no? When does he say yes? Or what makes him angry? We don’t know Jesus’ compassion, his honesty, his dependence, or his faith. We aren’t gripped by the beauty and wonder of Christ. But we will be when we see him.
Secular-liberalism is crushing Christianity with a vision of what it is to be human. In the popular mind, Secular-liberalism feels inclusive, compassionate and relevant, while Christianity feels judgmental, narrow, and old fashioned.
Our design for “church” has been focused on what we do, sometimes what we say, but rarely who we are and what we are made to become. Doing things for Christ takes the place of knowing Christ. Being busy as a Christian replaces intimate relationship with Christ. All of our worship, praise, sacrifice, offerings, work, love, etc., should flow out of a relationship with Jesus that is ever deepening and growing. As we become more like Jesus, all of the things that we do in the church will fall into proper perspective and priority.
Pastor Dale