I have had many beneficial conversations this weekend with great friends of mine. I am always so thankful to have friends, but I am exceedingly thankful that I have friends who can dialogue with me about the things that really need to be talked about. In typical Seth fashion, I confronted a friend about their lack of vigor in the scriptures. What really truly worried me was that this person leads small groups, and Bible studies simply because it is assumed, since they grew up in the church and around christians, that he has the "know how" to facilitate a Bible study. I had always had my suspicions of this individual. You can look at someone's orthodoxy on the premiss of their orthopraxy so often that you really don't have to do as much digging as you probably thought. Some may call this "judging" and it is, using discernment to judge a fellow Christian is neither wrong, nor should it be discouraged. However, I would encourage you to take a read into what Jesus says in Matthew 7 about judging others. The point of this blog is not to critique any sort of specific principle from a few selected bible verses, or to voice my opinion on a topical matter but its to involve you in my thought process surrounding this individual, and many of the same caliber.
If you have read my previous blogs you know how I feel about the modern view of good and bad. I argue that this assumed backdrop is not based on Jesus, or scripture, but it is rather based off of an emotional response in conjuncture to whatever experiences the individuals have had. The whole idea of good and bad has permeated our understanding of scripture and thus engendered a movement of morality that is, often assumed, equivalent to the Gospel of Jesus. What I have seen is that people are becoming more concerned with looking like Jesus instead of knowing Jesus. One time I had a student approach me after a wednesday night service and confessed that he was having sex with his girlfriend, this situation for him was particularly sticky because she was not a believer. He asked "what should I do?" and I thought for a moment and said "You need to spend more time with Jesus, bro!" you looked at me and said "I know man, I want to! But, what do I do about having sex?!" ... He was surprised to find out that his real problem (not knowing Jesus deeper) was in fact his answer to all his other shortcomings! Now, I don't know that this student took my advice in a practical manner but I told him what I thought the truth was. Afterwards, a youth leader asked me what the student had wanted and I told him about our conversation. The leader became irritated that I had not told the student to stop having sex. Really, the student knew he needed to stop having sex ... but he needed to be reminded of something bigger.
I couldn't help but ponder what good abstinence is, or is not, if the person doesn't know Jesus? I have seen this sort of thinking everywhere I go. This is really a worship issue. The problem is that people have taken a "good" thing and made it an "ultimate" thing ... thus we see idols spring up all around us. But, as a continued this thought I began to wonder how this lifestyle of looking like Jesus and not knowing Jesus was any different that celebrity worship? The whole premiss of idolizing celebrities is that we wish we could be them but we cannot, we wish to look like them in place of actually knowing them, and we are convinced that their live is much better than ours ... they have it all figured out. The problem is that the person (the celebrity) we think we know from a distance is probably not the same person we would admire if we knew them. I think some of the same things can be said about Jesus, as there are many false ideas and backdrops concerning Jesus that people inherently assume. Its one thing to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher ... it is a world of difference to accept Him as the son of God.
The whole idea I am trying to get across to everyone is that idolizing Jesus without knowing Him is no different than idolizing Justin Bieber when you don't know him ... and none of you know J Bieber. A lot of people make following Jesus out to be something easy but, from my experience, the more I explore Jesus and look at this world through His eyes the harder life becomes. Jesus even warned us of these things time and time again. But, I think we may be biased in our reading of the gospels in light of certain attributes that are easier to swallow.
If the goal is holiness, how can you worship Jesus AS He ought while still harboring idols in your heart? I find in curious that Jesus never elevated anyone, he encouraged people, but he also rebuked them and was a bit of a tough nut to them (definitely not the nice guy Jesus I learned about growing up), but he never entertained even the thought of elevating others EVER. The problem in this for so many people is that they think that this praise is a sign of love, and and affection for someone they don't know, but really thats the antithesis of sacrificial praise.
I encourage you to read through Acts 19. The preaching of the Gospel was so affective in Ephesus that the economy was greatly affected and men feared that they would lose their jobs! Can this happen in our society today? I think it can ... but some of us are going to have to be put Jesus back at the right hand of God!
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