Sunday 1 September 2013

Jesus Is Our Theology.

   When Fiona and I were involved on the Ichthus Network programme in 1990/1, we had the privilege of sitting under some very inspired teaching. One principle consistently taught was the importance of seeing everything in the Bible through the lens of Jesus. I have recently been reading articles and listening to online teaching from Ray Mayhew, who was one of those who taught us back then. Alongside his insights and other reading material, I have put together in my own words a short and simple outline of why I still feel as strongly about this interpretive approach today as I did when first introduced to this back in 1990. I hope it is helpful.

1. All theological systems are flawed.

   
Systematic theological systems like Calvinism and Arminianism have their place, but Christology for me is the primary lens through which these systems need to be seen. We are converted to Jesus, not the Bible or a theological system.
    So, for example, the Calvinist can overplay the scriptures that indicate 'once saved always saved', but will often underplay the clear warnings and dangers of abandoning our faith. The Armininianist can overplay the warnings without giving sufficient attention to the promises of security. Jesus seemed to apply both the promises and the warnings in equal measure, according to the pastoral appropriateness of the moment.
     So in Matthew 5 v 22, Jesus warns that unbrotherly love can put us ' in danger of hell fire'. Likewise a similar warning is given in Matthew 5 v 29-30 in relation to adultery. It can be too easy to spiritualize away these warnings, as some do, as Jewish literary hyperbole. To balance the books, Jesus also speaks in John 10 v 28 of 'none being snatched from my hand'. If it is the Lord's hand that has a grip on us, then who can come against us?
     My point is that the circumstance should determine which truth is applicable for each occasion irrespective of our theological system. So, for example, if a man in church leadership deliberately commits adultery and is not repentant, then perhaps the warnings of passages like Matthew 5 will be far more pastorally relevant than the security promise of John 10. Promises of eternal security may encourage him to remain in sin, where as the warnings, gently applied, might awaken his conscience and bring him back to repentance.
   Equally, a young Christian struggling to come to terms with their sexuality wouldn't initially need to hear the warnings of Matthew 5, but rather the comfort of John 10. Growing into a secure knowledge and experience of God's love and faithfulness could inspire a desire to change.
  The warnings and promises are of equal weight, and need to be applied through the lens of Christ's wisdom to whatever the individual pastoral situation merits. Whatever our preferred theological system, without Jesus as the interpretive lens, we can very easily create a religious system that has the very opposite of being good news to the world.
   In his book 'Let's Start With Jesus', Dennis Kinlaw quotes William Temple, former Archbishop of Canterbury, on the importance of having a right concept of God in how we do life.

   'If our concept of God is wrong, the more religious we get and the more dangerous we are to ourselves and others. Our concept of God must be a true representation of the One Who Is, the God with whom all of us ultimately will have to deal. In fact, nothing is more important for anyone or for any society.'

    Bill Johnson puts it this way: 'If your theology about God doesn't look like Jesus, then try again.' This is not a simple cliche, but profound truth made simple. On another occasion, Johnson is on record as saying that 'Jesus is perfect theology.' Jesus said himself to the Jews of his day:

'You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.'   John 5 v 39-40.
 
Jesus is the key to understanding 'the inside of God.' On the Emmaus Road, two disciples encounter the risen Lord Jesus and what is opaque in the Scriptures comes to life when interpreted for by the Lord:

' Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'
Luke 24 v 32-33.

   When Jesus is doing the interpretation our spiritual eyes are opened and we get heartburn from the Scriptures. Where Jesus is absent as our interpretive lens, a veil remains over our hearts. We will become progressively more religious in our thinking and outward behaviour, but lack the reality of inward transformation that personal revelation of Christ brings.
          The incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ is the prism through which we understand all the Scriptures. Jesus is the exegesis of God ( John 1 v's 14-18, 10 v 30, 14 v 5-7), the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1v 15, Hebrews 1 v 3), and the power and wisdom of God ( 1Corinthians 1 v 18-2 v 5). When you have seen Jesus, you have seen God. If you haven't met with Jesus, you haven't met with God. If our theology and practice doesn't point to Jesus, we are in danger of falling into the religious trap that William Temple spoke about.

2. Humility is our hallmark.

   Humility is the incarnational attribute of Christ that we are called to imitate (Philippians 2 v's 1-11) as the prerequisite to accessing God's grace. Interestingly humility isn't recorded as one of the ninefold evidences of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 v 23-23. However humility is the soil in which the ninefold fruit of the Spirit can grow. Without this foundational soil there will be no authentic and lasting spiritual fruit on the surface. God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
   The author Joyce Baldwin commented that Israel's history could be summarized in four words- Chosen, Privilege, Presumption, and Rebellion. Israel was chosen for a purpose, and given the privileges that accompanied that election. In time, Israel became at 'ease in Zion', taking privilege for granted, and not living out their responsibility to be 'a light to the nations'. Presumption of God's grace took root, and the slide into rebellion and exile was the inevitable consequence.
   In the same way, as chosen people, we can enjoy the privilege of living in our little piece of land here in Southampton. However without that foundation of humility we too could fall into the presumption and pride that sadly characterized Israel's last days before exile.
   This humility principle is particularly important in seasons where we are experiencing significant levels of grace and favour. In the Philippians passage quoted above, Paul is at pains to press home the importance of walking in humility in every context of blessing and favour.

'Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfil my joy by being like minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.'  Phil 2 v's 1-3.

    When we are experiencing significant seasons of grace and favour, the need to press deeper into the humility of Jesus is of even greater importance. It can be tempting in seasons of marked grace and favour to credit any success and fruitfulness to ourselves, rather than to the Lord. We can begin to slip into a prayerlessness and reliance on ourselves, rather than a daily dependence on the grace of God. Learning to 'stand in the gap' is one of our safeguards. Despite all the demands on his time, Jesus remained intentional in prayer, and that is to be our pattern for life as well.

 
3. What does it mean to 'stand in the gap'?

  'So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.'

  Ezekiel 22 v 30.

     One of the more helpful definitions I have come across is that of prayerfully bridging the gap between where we are now, and where we believe the Lord wants to take us. No matter how great our experience of the Lord, there is always more of Him to know and enjoy.
  Isaiah thought he was doing pretty well, until he had a fresh life changing encounter with the Lord, that most of us are familiar with in Isaiah 6. Likewise John, as intimate with the Lord as any of the early disciples, was struck to the floor in wonder and worship when receiving a fresh revelation of the Lord on Patmos. No matter how great our experience of Jesus, there is always more of Him to know and worship.
  It is important to put this Ezekiel scripture through the lens of Christ to understand what it might look like to stand in the gap today. Jesus has now bridged the gap between man and God. Through his incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension, he has now become the 'mediator between man and God', a mediation spoken of in verses like Isaiah 52 v 10:

' The Lord has laid bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God.'

   Jesus as the exegete of God, reveals God as Father, with nearly two hundred references to the Fatherhood of God in the gospels. The other great emphasis in Jesus' teaching and practice is that of the Kingdom of God. These twin themes of Fatherhood and Kingdom come together of course in what we call the Lord's Prayer.
   Taking Jesus as our model for standing in the gap between fallen man and God, we pray 'Father in Heaven....,Your Kingdom come.' These two themes are like knitting needles that knit together and bridge the gap between where we are now, and where we want to be in the Lord.
    Back in the late 1980's, I became increasingly aware of the credibility gap between what I read in the gospels in relation to Jesus' authority over demons, and the distinct lack of that reality in my own life.
   It was being exposed to a radical Kingdom of God theology and practice at Ichthus that helped begin to narrow that particular gap in my discipleship. Needless to say, 'standing in the gap' the Jesus way was part of that transition.
   The writer to the Hebrews gives us a unique insight into the prayer life of Jesus. It is the exact opposite of some of the cold, pious, formulaic repetition that is so often the characteristic of the religious spirit that William Temple warns about.

'So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who said to Him: " You are My Son, Today I have begotten You." As He also says in another place: " You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek", who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered."

Hebrews 5 v's 5-8.

   I find these windows into the prayer life of Jesus both inspiring and challenging. There were five things that moved Jesus to compassion, prayer, and then action. These were:
Death - (Luke 7 vs 12-24)
Hunger -(Mark 8 v's 1-3)
Sickness-(Matthew 10 v 14)
Lostness -(Mark 6 v's 33-34
Loneliness- (Mark 1 v's 40-42)

  These five windows of human suffering are all around us. For the loneliness and isolation that the leper felt in Jesus' day, read today in the face of the involuntary single parent, widow, and many young people out of work. I could give countless other examples to illustrate the other four windows of compassion.
  It is also interesting to note in the Ezekiel verse that the Lord was also looking for someone to stand in the gap who would make a wall. Why a wall? What was the significance of walls?
  Nehemiah is the book most associated with wall reconstruction. Walls seperate, and there has to be a clear seperation between the people of God and the world. That seperation is not exclusivity. The Jerusalem Walls rebuilt by Nehemiah still had gates in them for people to enter the city.
  In the same way, Jesus is the gate today for anyone to enter the Kingdom of God. There is still a clear wall of seperation between the narrow road that leads to life, and the broad road that leads to destruction. Jesus is the only gate through which anyone can enter to change lanes from the broad road leading to destruction, to the narrow one leading to life.
   One of the buzz words doing the rounds at present is 'inclusivity'. At it's heart is a belief and commitment to include everyone in the purposes of God. The Inclusivity manifesto reads something like this-

'No one must feel excluded on any grounds of sexual orientation, gender, race, or class from the Kingdom of God , and the language of 'them' and 'us' must be abolished.'

   There is a lot I would endorse in this manifesto. No-one should feel excluded from the Kingdom of God for any of those reasons above. However, whilst the manifesto of Jesus is an inclusive and universal invitation, there is a very clear condition that all must enter through the Narrow Gate. Jesus is the Narrow Gate in the wall that all can enter, but few choose to do so ( Matthew 7 v's 13-14).
   There is a distinction the Lord makes between sheep and goats, wheat and tares, those on the Way and those who are not. Without conviction of sin, regeneration by the Holy Spirit,and repentance and faith in Christ, you cannot , in Jesus' own words, see let alone enter the Kingdom of God.
  In following Christ's example of standing in the gap, not only do I want to identify with those things that moved Him to compassion, but I also want to ensure that the clarity of the gospel is not lost in a well intended but misplaced understanding of inclusivity. Perhaps the final words on this can be those of Jesus Himself in Matthew 23 v's 37-39:

'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! "See! Your house is left to you desolate; " for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

  The invitation to the people of Jerusalem is universal and inclusive of all.... but the blessing is dependent upon their willingness to respond to that invitation. The Lord will not include anyone who doesn't want to respond to Him. Tempting though it might be in some quarters to 'remove the wall', preach a social gospel, and wrongly believe that everyone deep down wants to love God, we must resist any such deception. Incarnational love, revealed in Jesus, gives everyone the dignity to freely receive or reject the Gospel of Christ. Jesus doesn't condemn anyone. We condemn ourselves by rejecting Him- John 3 v's 17-21.
  As those committed to seeing people through the lens of Jesus, we do not condemn anyone on the basis of their skin, race, gender, or sexual orientation. We seek to model the life of Christ in self giving love and humility. Those who are condemned, are those who have condemned themselves by rejecting the narrow gate that leads to life.

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