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January 14, 2008

Jesus = No Rules...Kind of.

You probably know what this video is getting at. I found it as well as other ones posted by Vintage21, a church in Raleigh, NC, humorous enough to go on SNL's TV Funhouse. However, as funny as this video is at mocking the wrong perceptions we have of Jesus and how we are to live as sinners who follow Him, there is, unfortanately, a lot of truth found in it as well.
We all fall into the pit of keeping tally of our sins...and act as if 'do-gooding' is what the Christian life is all about. We feel good about ourselves when we go to church or open up the Bible or when we volunteer at a church-y event...we almost treat Jesus as some sort of Karma, "If I pray for 30 minutes, then I'll be right with God and will feel good about myself."
We also make Jesus to be such a Holy Being that He can't get near us emotionally, to know what our real struggles are. We do these as if He never was human to begin with and as if he couldn't come close to identifying with our mess. I know that scripture tells us that He was tempted in every way. Maybe He didn't commit the sin, but He knows what it looks like, and He knows the tough world that we live in.
Life as a Christian is not about following rules or getting things right all the time, it's about recognizing what is true, (the Bible), and living in response. In fact, God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites because He knew that sin was going to be a part of humanity forever, well, until Jesus returns. He knew they, nor us could live as He had originally created human beings to do so. If that is true, then a book that outlines what's OK and what's not is a good thing; we obviously can't live appropriately on our own. We now have a templet of how God calls us to live.
As you saw in the video, Jesus goes around telling everyone what they did wrong...He seems to be a kill-joy! The crazy thing is, He's just the opposite; and unlike the ending of the video, Jesus gives hope amongst our sinful state of being. The Apostle Paul says, "Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life." (Romans 5:9-10/ESV) There is no shame in going to the Lord; the saving work is already done, and He longs to brings us closer to Him, in fact, that's why knowing our sin and getting rid of it is so important...one, we are commanded to work out our salvation through prayer and supplication, but also because we come closer to Him in the process...it's called sanctification people!
I wish the church would come to a further understanding of who Christ is, and what His acts on the cross did for us: they brought us grace, freedom from wrongs and the freedom to live accordingly with a response of reverance and humility, and finally, they brought us into a relationship with the Creator of the world that had not been known before. He is our hope for tomorrow, but also today! Although every church has it's problems, I can say that I have been blessed to be a part of a congregation that loves the grace of God and teaches His peaceful love to those who need to hear...such as myself.
Welp, enough of my preaching. Have a great day! May the Lord pull you closer to Him today!

| By Nathan Gemayel | 5:12 PM

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