who gets jesus?

this year has been interesting to say the least. i have been going through a lot of change, personally and spiritually, and i am beginning to see how the struggles i have been through are teaching me what the grace of God is all about. these past 4 months have also been rife with contention in the evangelical world. rob bell has set off a firestorm among protestants throughout the country and it doesn't seem that the hype will be dying down anytime soon.

it has been this particular split in christian thought that has got me thinking more about who gets to claim jesus, and about who gets to absorb God's grace. there have been many on the blogosphere and in national magazines who are eager to make judgments, claims, accusations and have come to conclusions about who can retain ownership of jesus (as if he is yet another one of our consumer products), yet there are few who have stopped to realize the foolishness and futility of our passion for a good fight.

we all think we "get" (understand and own) jesus. the problem i see is that it seems many of us who claim to get him are actually against him at the moment.

heresy hunters were chomping at the bit on this one. there were premature tweets over bell's departure from orthodoxy (or salvation, depending on who you're talking to). people have been quoting paul's letters about condemnation for the judaizers as though it is right and proper to condemn bell and others in the same way. however, it is in paul's very words that the heresy hunters find condemnation for themselves. paul is admonishing the galatians, timothy and titus that they must be on guard against anyone that tries to narrow or confuse the gate that leads to salvation. the judaizers were doing just that. they took what jesus called narrow and made it nearly impossible to be saved. it is true that paul instructs timothy about times when he will have to "reprove, rebuke, and exhort," but that he is to do it with "complete patience and teaching (1 timothy 4:2)." it seems we prefer aggression and annihilation over "complete patience and teaching."

we must understand that paul was sending letters to churches that were facing more persecution and struggle than most of us have ever known. his letters were written to instruct and preserve the good and gracious news that jesus came to save the world. his passionate commands to teach sound doctrine and rebuke the false teacher were necessary and to the point, since there were many who were leading those who had once been shown grace down a path of burdensome works.

the people paul got most furious with were the same people jesus called a brood of vipers and sons of the devil. they were the religious leaders. the ones who got God. they held the keys to the kingdom and they were going to tell all the people who didn't know any better what to believe. jesus scolded these people harshly, and paul followed suit. but when jesus taught, healed and raised from the dead, i can't recall a single incident where he demanded that the person who had experienced the grace of God should go and learn the proper doctrines that would lead them to real salvation. he simply healed them and told them to stop sinning. this doesn't mean we neglect doctrine, teaching and preaching, but it means that we need to be careful not to make it burdensome and sectarian.

jesus was as inclusive as you can possibly be. by talking to a samaritan woman, eating with tax collectors and prostitutes, and pleading with his Father to forgive his murderers, jesus displayed the wide and beautiful grace of God that is available for all of us fools who don't deserve it. the "sinners" were attracted to jesus, but repelled by us. does anyone else see anything wrong with this picture?!!

beware of claiming jesus as your own before understanding that you are his. it is God who does the saving and God who will do the judging. may we never forget that.

do yourself a favor. read romans 12:9-21. paul is explicit about what it looks like to be someone who gets jesus.


-dave-