Sep 19 2008
Customizing Christ
We rely on the Bible to teach us the ways of righteousness and truth, to point us to the Saviour and lead us in our faith. The Word of God is the roadmap in our daily walk, the lamp to our feet and the truth that we depend upon. So why then do we change what it says to suit ourselves? It’s an easy thing to proclaim that we trust our all to Christ Jesus; or is it? The popular credit card commercial asks, “What’s in your wallet?” Let me ask you, “Who’s your Jesus?”
Am I suggesting multiple Gods? More than one Christ? Not in as much as there can only be one true God, or one genuine Jesus, but in another sense, I suppose I am. The key hangs in the words, “true,” and, “genuine.” There are many gods held as deity throughout the world and yet, only One True God, the Lord God Almighty; all others are but worthless idols. But this is the difference between the major religions; what I want to focus on is differences within the framework of Christendom. Within the professing Christian faith there seem to be many different saviours called Jesus.
This one says that Jesus may be too busy to hear our prayers so we should pray to Mary as our intercessor, pro-tem. Another claims that Jesus could never turn anyone away because He is pure love. Another sees Jesus as the mighty warrior who reigns in power and with vengeance, chastening us this very day to abide or be struck down. Still another thinks that Jesus was no more than a good moral teacher and that the Bible, while entertaining, is primarily figurative and needs to be read today with a grain of salt and an eye toward metaphoric interpretation. So, “Who’s your Jesus?”
We all read, basically, the same Bible. Sure, we could argue that this one diminishes the power and glory of deity and that that one is simply too hard to read in it’s outdated use of language, but the fact remains that the Spirit can use them all to bring forth the truth of God and lead us to the redeemer. They all reveal the same Adam, the same Jonah, the same King David, the same Ahab… how can it be then that we end up with so many different depictions of Christ? It appears that instead of reading the Bible to see what it says, to take it as a whole, to receive the entire revealed Word of God as the foundation for our faith; we have somehow decided in our, somewhat limited, infinite wisdom to set up the Holy Scriptures as the great cafeteria plan of theology.
We walk into the local chapter of , “Jesus-R-Us,” take our tray and start down the serving line. We get to the fall of man and pick between literal and figurative as though it was no more than the beverage choice of regular or de-caf. Fruit, or apple? Talking serpent or presence of evil? We go on to the Doctrine Section and choose free will or predestination? Heaven, “yes please;” Hell, “No thanks.” Jesus beat the money changers with His whip of cords, or He stood in a position of non-violence and though angry, sinned not. The writings which God has compiled for us in His Word are sliced and diced until we have the pieces of faith small enough to allow us to concoct a charismatic coleslaw for ourselves the same way we choose toppings for a pizza!
Are there contradictions in the text of the Bible? No! Does it seem as though there are; undoubtedly. But all they really are, are opportunities for us to see that we can not possibly understand all the ways of God in our limited human state. God can not tolerate evil and yet we find Satan walking in Heaven, presenting himself to God in order to receive the challenge to try to tempt Job. How can this be? I don’t know the answers to these types of questions, but I do know that when it becomes necessary to God that I understand such things; the Spirit will reveal them to me. What it does not mean is that God is offering us a choice to decide which option we prefer. Since the Bible can not contradict itself, when these issues arise it means that we need to apply ourselves to study in order that we might reconcile the matter, not choose the thing that we think suits us the best.
I know some who are firmly rooted in the Old Testament and seem to deny the entire doctrine of grace, being chained to the law of the Sabbath, others find it acceptable to engage in polygamy. Some professing Christians adhere to the claim that, “they who live by the sword shall perish by the sword,” and others are convinced that Jesus calls us to arms by telling the Apostles to take a sword if they have one. One church sees baptism as the first act of obedience for the believer while another says that there is no salvation without the act of baptism. Then there is the dispute between the sprinklers and the immersionists. If there were a right understanding of the Bible, as a whole, then there wouldn’t be so many different denominations.
I believe that what we are seeing is the result of people who are looking for a religion that confirms the life that they are already living. These folks don’t really want to come to the cross, they want the local lumber company to deliver the cross to them after it is cut it up into planks that fit the use that they have in mind for it. But it can’t ever work that way. God is absolute, His Word is absolute truth, and the plan of redemption can never be altered. We must conform to God, not ask Him to bend His standards to bless the mess that we call our lives.
If we want to allow our witness to the world to be frequenting the bars and strip clubs, that’s one thing; if we want it to be that we take Christ and the truth to really mean something, that’s far better. But we can not hope to combine a sinful life with some religious trappings and expect that we will ever accomplish anything. What people want is to be comfortable; comfortable in their lives and comfortable in their faith, but faith, (while resulting in the highest degree of peace and comfort imaginable), is not meant to be comfortable. We are sinful by nature! The walk of faith is a war which rages against sin, so a genuine faith should be anything BUT comfortable.
When we take on the Christian faith we are mere infants who have stepped into a pair of adult shoes. They will protect our feet as we walk the path of righteousness but they will not fit well in the beginning. Though they will ultimately deliver us to our desired destination, we feel awkward in them and we are bound to develop some blisters along the way. We are wearing a pair of floppy shoes that requires that we grow into them. As we grow and mature in our faith, the shoes fit better and we learn to be more confident in our steps. We may still slip occasionally, but with each passing day, we clop and stumble a little bit less than we did the day before.
The Bible tells us that there will be many who appear before Christ claiming the works of driving out demons and performing all sorts of miraculous signs in Jesus’ name to whom He will say, “Depart evildoer, I never knew you.” The Christian faith is not something that can be entered into half way. If you choose to be out, then stay out; if you are going to be in then you must be, “All-In.” Pick one and move forward with your life, but let’s have none of this smorgasbord salvation. You can either accept the truth of God and believe His plan of redemption in the person of Christ Jesus, or you are free to reject it out-of-hand. What you can not do is select the parts you like and leave the parts that you feel rub you the wrong way. Jesus Christ can not be your sometimes saviour, either He is nothing in your life, or He is everything.
So I’ll ask again, “Who’s your Jesus?” Are you customizing Christ? Pull that dusty old Bible off the shelf and read it, study it, learn who Jesus is. Make sure that you are striving daily to work out the faith that God, through Christ, is working in you. Make sure that you are pursuing Jesus with all your heart, to find the beauty of the one who first loved you, to be able to rest in Him. There is really no other way to live…
All for the Glory of Christ