In order to answer these questions we must understand what happened during our Lord's temptation in the wilderness. When Jesus is offered the kingdoms of the world, what Satan is doing is tempting him to claim his rightful glory without the humiliation of the cross. The Lord runs from the anointing crowds because he is seeking a greater anointing that will be his after his resurrection. The demons proclaim Jesus' messianic identity because they want him anointed now and not later after he has shed his blood for our sins. If we miss this crucial point we will misunderstand the gospels.
Our Lord came to suffer. He said himself, "my kingdom is not of this world." He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus came for the cross and we who receive him as our gift and follow him must bear ours as well. Our kingdom is not of this world.
3 comments:
I remember reading about the temptations in Yancey's "The Jesus I Never Knew." He emphasized how the temptations were essentially glory from man without the cross. I thought it was a quality book, and would recommend it to all.
Unchristian, a book written by the president of the Barna group, David Kinnaman, was published in 2007 and contains a very large database of what the church in America looks like through the eyes of those standing outside of it. As I read through the data and analysis I am struck and stuck with an inward burning for a return to the cross of Christ. As you both mentioned, the cross was the unmistakable aim of our Savior, for His death, resurrection and glory. Kinnamans focus in the book is to enhance the church's view of herself through the eyes of those we try to reach out to, his aim is to repair the damage we've done to the image of Christ as King and Savior by the way our lives have communicated Him. The multiple tables and diagrams showing how much and how many unsaved people didn't care about Jesus was plenty of fuel for the fire to see Christ lifted up, but what has cut me to the heart came later.
The Barna group places all of the people they pole into two broad catagories and go from there; born again and not born again. While the definition they use of what it is to be born again is not perfect and while it is perfectly impossible to measure the heart of a person at all let alone by scantron, the definition is communicated well enough that if someone were to honestly identify themselves with such a definition we can assume one thing; that person believes they are saved. This is where my heart started to break. The collected data showed the following: of those who say they are born again 12% of those people from age 18 and up possess a Biblical worldview and live their lives by it. (as defined for the study: A person with a Biblical worldview believes that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and He still rules it today, salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned, Satan is real, a Christian has a responsibility to share his/her faith, the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches, unchanging moral truth exists, moral truth is defined by the Bible.) My heart broke for the church. For the millions of people who believe that salvation is a stationary prayer they said one time when they were younger. For those who walk in darkness and call it light. How do we best reach these people specifically? Jesus will sanctify His bride, can we be the tools in His hands? How?
I'm concerned about the people in my church. I hear a lot of "religious" talk and assumptions that are not biblically generated (for example, someone made the comment to me that Satan REALLY attacks preachers when they preach about hell...where he got this, I'm not sure). I'm teaching a Sunday School class for the 20 somethings and I just push the bible, and push analysis of passages to pull out truth and application. My big push is reading the bible passages for homework to get them to see Jesus throughout the week, and interestingly almost every application lately has been to dig in to the bible and find Jesus.
The task is so large that we can get overwhelmed thinking about helping every one of that 88% that are blind. Teaching, effective leadership, and community go a long way in communicating spiritual standing. At the center of it all must be Jesus. He must be the preeminent one in the church. It has to be about Him. We seriously need to stop preaching full messages of application. We gotta get away from the legalism that makes non-believers feel safe. We have to preach Jesus and then give applications.
I seriously fear for many around my age at my church. I don't see them being captivated by Jesus. I see them being lukewarm and moral and friendly, but I don't see their lives being soaked with Him. So I pray, and I teach, and I elaborate on the gospel, and I pray, and I'm patient. It's truly God who can transform them by renewing their minds.
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