Defining Jesus

The Gospels make it clear that those who understood Jesus and His message the best were the ones who wanted Him dead. He was considered a threat to the religious system they had grown accustom too. The religious establishment of Christ's day saw Him as a blasphemer, a heretic, a drunkard, a glutton, and a false teacher who twisted the scriptures and deceived the masses. To others Jesus was nothing more than an unschooled, self proclaimed rabbi from the God forsaken north who was stirring up trouble among the common, uneducated people who simply did not know any better.

Voltaire said, "that God made us in His image and we returned the favor." It is the tendency of man to re-create God in his own image because the real Jesus of the Gospels can be scary to the institution of the Church and the status quo of the individual. We do not want a Jesus who scares us so we put Him on tap so we can turn Him on and off as needed. We remake Him into our broken and needy likeness.

This is why we need a preoccupation with the Jesus of the Gospels. Without the Gospels we will fashion Jesus into our image and before long, He will hate the things we hate and like the same things we like. Without the Gospels we will shoehorned Jesus into our agenda and made Him fit our church structure.

It is time for those of us at Willoughby Hills Friends Church to recalibrate to the "true north" setting on our spiritual compass. Individually and corporately we must be discovering and rediscovering the Jesus of the Gospels and constantly bringing ourselves into alignment with His likeness. Our teaching Pastor must continue to break open to Gospels each week and expose Jesus for who He is. Our Christian education department must offer more Christocentric material to attendees. Perhaps we should change the focus from "adult discovery groups" which meet throughout the week to "Christ discovery groups").

We must involve more of our constituency in practicing/emulating the life of Christ outside the walls of 2846 SOM Center Road on a weekly basis. We must not be satisfied until we have 100% participation among our leadership in the Neighborhood Network outreach each year. Those in leadership must model for our attendees the life and teaching of Christ.

The administrative model and functionality of our church must represent the core truths of Christ's life seen in the Gospels. This must become the study and topic of conversation among our leadership. We can begin with the following scriptures/core truths:
1. Jesus ushers in the Kingdom – Mark 1:14-15; Luke 11:20
2. Demonstrates active faith/trust in God – Mark 1:14-15; Matt. 17:20
3. Mediates the grace and mercy of God – Matt. 12:7
4. Forgives sin – Matt.9:2; Luke 7:47
5. Demonstrates the love of God for His world – John 3:16; 14:21
6. Heals the sick and casts out demons – Mark 1:23ff; Luke 11:20
7. Calls all to follow and imitate Him – Matt. 4:19; 8:22
Key missional passages that define Jesus:
Luke 4:16-30
Luke 5:1-11
Luke 9:57-62
Matt. 4:23-25
Matt. 7:12
8. Sets the standard for holiness – Matt. 5-8
9. Introduces a non-religious way of loving and worshipping God – Matt. 21; Jn. 4:20ff
10. Shows love and compassion to the marginalized – Luke 4:18-19; 7:22-23
11. Befriends the outcast and misfit – Matt. 9:9-12; Luke 19:10
12. Follows the pattern for God’s redemption – Luke 15:4-32
13. Proclaims and demonstrates the good news of the Kingdom – Matt. 5:13-16
14. Calls for the redemption of the “whole” person – Matt. 22:37-40
15. Offers new beginnings – John 3:1-7; Luke 7:38-50
16. Hates hypocrisy (and defines it) – Matt. 23:28ff; Luke 12:1
17. Is coming again – Luke 11; Matt. 25:1-13
18. Lays down His life for others – John 15:13
19. Only means for salvation – Luke 1:76-77; 19:9

With each of the passages listed we must ask two questions: (1) "What is the implication to us?" (2) "How can we make it happen?" Are we ready to allow Jesus to define us? What say you?

Thanks for stopping by!
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Adrian