The Jesus Style

The Jesus Style by Gale D. Irwin The Foreword by Richard C. Halverson The world's first exposure to the Christ was in the human being, the person, the man, Jesus. The Jewish carpenter turned itinerant rabbi. His teaching was radical, cutting across the religious orthodoxy and the conventional view of the Messiah King and his kingdom. We fail to hear today what Jesus says since we're always in danger of reading into his radical teaching what we think we already know and believe in our cultural and theological context. Our traditions get in the way. In the Jesus Style, Gale Irwin helps us to see and feel and hear Jesus as though for the first time without any preconception, predisposition, or prejudice. He helps to free us from our traditions and the same dogmatic prison in which the religionists contemporary with Jesus were bound. And he said to them, Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, hypocrites, as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold fast the traditions of men. Some theological scholars have been insisting that the critical issue in the church is what we believe about Jesus Christ. So in a very basic sense, he has always been the critical issue in the church, and for that matter in history. Invariably and inevitably when anything else is made the issue, it tends to divide those for whom Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. One way to look at this is that when other issues are allowed to polarize those for whom Christ is Lord, that issue, whatever it is, elevated to a position of greater importance than Christ himself. One eminent scholar for whom I have profound admiration and respect put it this way, Whatever you make the issue, you make the idol. That Christ is the critical issue is indisputable. He made himself the issue when he confronted the disciples at Caesarea Philippi with the fundamental question, the answers to which is the foundation upon which he builds his church. Quoting Scripture, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16, verses 15 through 17, RSV The apostle John, who wrote his first epistle to those that believed on the name of the Son of God, was explicit as to the central issue when he defined the criterion for truth. Scripture By this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. 1 John 4, verses 2 and 3, RSV The first heresy in the church did not deny the deity of Jesus. It denied his humanity. Gnosticism, believing matter to be evil, rejected the idea that Christ had a physical body and affirmed that he only appeared to be human. In the first third of this century, the controversy about the deity of Jesus dominated the church. In their justifiable preoccupation with the deity of Christ, evangelicals somehow seemed to lose their sense of the humanity of Jesus. In doing so, for all practical purposes, they abandoned the human model which God sent into history to show us not only what God is like, but humanness as God intended it. The very essence of the divine strategy, God's consummate revelation of himself in human flesh, was, in effect, sacrifice to a dogma which, though absolutely correct, caused us to lose touch with the essential aspect of God's identifying himself with man. It is the settled conviction of this writer that this fact is today critical in the evangelical approach to an unbelieving world. Instead of presenting the fascinating, irresistible man Jesus, we communicate a doctrine. The tendency is to ask a person to believe this or that about Christ rather than to know him, receive him, trust him, love him. Our gospel has become a dogma rather than a fascinating person who was the center and circumference of apostolic faith. The apostles knew very little about Jesus, but they knew him. We tend today to know much about him, but fail to enjoy an intimate relationship with him. The critical issue, then, is Jesus, who he was, what he said and did in his earthly pilgrimage. Gail Irwin brings us face to face with the man, Jesus, the real person who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, lived a real life in real situations with real people, and communicated the profoundest truth in the simplest terms. Out of his own pastoral experience and early failures, it might be added, the author forces his readers to consider honestly or, perhaps it is even better to say, reconsider the simple teachings of Jesus with which they are already very familiar. In this book, we are presented with the Jesus of the New Testament in a way which penetrates our traditional views and demands that we abandon the rationalizations we have invented which allow us to profess to be Jesus' disciples, while at the same time giving him half-hearted, partial obedience. Personally, I met Jesus in a new way reading this book, for which I am deeply grateful. In reading, I thought of John's opening statement in his first epistle. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life, that which we have seen and heard, we proclaim also to you. 1 John 1, verses 1 and 3, RSV. Richard C. Halverson, Chaplain, United States Senate The Preface This book was born out of a crisis of understanding and purpose that occurred in my life during an early pastorate. At that time, I did not know how far-reaching the effects of that crisis would be. There came a point in which simple integrity demanded that I begin to match my pastoral activities to what I understood the Bible to teach, rather than permit tradition and cultural expectations to rule my actions. I discovered, however, that the bridge between the real and the ideal seems to be in disrepair. You cross at your own risk, and you dare not carry excess baggage from your past habits. Crossing that bridge became a source of disillusionment with much of the familiar, and it skirts dangerously close to a chasm of apathetic cynicism. I have often wished I could ask God one specific question and know that He would answer it fully for me. Why have you let your church get in such dismal shape, with factions, fighting, and heresies? Well, I don't have that answer, but I have come to an understanding of principle and purpose that has rescued me and, in my view, has the potential of freeing the church to become what Jesus designed it to be. Chapter A Style of His Own Subtitle Jesus, Yes It was only one of the many placards we saw wielded by the protesters of the 60s, but it arrested me. The sign simply said, Jesus, Yes. Christianity, No. I pondered why, through all these years, has the reality of Jesus remained innately attractive while our interpretations of Him have proved less captivating. Somewhere we have missed an understanding of Him that portrays Him properly. But what? Could there be anything about Him that we have not researched or developed? Is there a key? I share my search with you. The focal point of all time, all history, all study—my bias is evident here—is the person of Jesus Christ. Yet this book is not about the omniscience, omnipotence, or omnipresence of Jesus, not about predestination or the foreknowledge of God. These traits, as I read them in systematic theologies and their treatment of His nature, place Jesus beyond my reach, sometimes I think safely so. What more can be said of His visual awesomeness than the word pictures in the first chapter of Revelation? Instead of these overwhelming, majestic descriptions with endless possibilities of theological convolutions, I want to speak of His incarnation. I want to take His thundering power, compress it into the body that was His, place Your hand against His skin, and—if Your mind can handle it, I know that Your spirit can—let You know that the touch and the warmth You feel is God Himself. When that first cry was heard from the stable of Bethlehem and into the care of Mary and Joseph came a wrinkled, blood-covered baby, the universe reached its turning point. For the first time, the God and Creator who before had been only heard could now be seen and touched. All that He was now occupied human flesh, approachable, available, vulnerable. Yet mankind prefers the unseen, distant God. We have difficulty with a God who is living flesh. We would rather wrestle with principles, dogmas, and ideas than hear Him call us to Himself as a person. But God would not have it that way. Jesus, the dividing point of time, could be touched, and He put us in touch with God. It is appropriate that the records show Him going everywhere, touching people, even those who had been untouchable until that time. Ironically, the records also show that those He touched did not understand who He was. Even His closest followers were often uncertain. SUBHEAD—THE UPSIDE-DOWN KINGDOM John the Baptist, Jesus' own cousin, is an example of that uncertainty. Early in his ministry, he said of Jesus, This is the one. Later he asked, speaking out of his doubts, Are you the one? What happened in the meantime? Why did he get confused about who Jesus actually was? John gives us a clue to what might have been the source of his confusion. At the time he made the first statement, he revealed that he would not have known Jesus had it not been for the Spirit descending and remaining on him. In other words, there was nothing automatically messianic in his appearance—a difficult thing to believe when we look at the artistic portrayals of Jesus now. Nor did his actions match the traditional expectations of the Messiah. Though John preached the message of preparation given to him, he, along with the disciples, who were constantly asking Jesus when he was going to throw off Rome and establish the kingdom, may well have harbored a traditional understanding of the Messiah. Somehow, whatever their expectations, Jesus did not coincide with their or our popular understandings of the Messiah. The question is, how do we align our understanding with the truth? The disciples repeatedly struggled with what Jesus was trying to teach them about the kingdom of God. They jockeyed for position, maneuvered for favor, argued over who was the greatest. I frankly appreciate seeing their humanness. Naturally, I consider myself too sophisticated today to stoop to such a crass approach. Indeed, when I go into committee meetings, I scheme about how I can get the others to do what I want them to do while they think it's what they want to do and then ultimately to give me the credit for it. Or I join with others in clever political maneuverings behind the scenes at church conventions and remain conveniently blind to my own motivation. Jesus responded clearly and firmly to the competitive discussions of the disciples and to my own motives in this scripture. You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. Mark 10, verses 42 through 45. This man said he came to serve rather than be served. He rules, as one author put it, in an upside-down kingdom. As we study him, we may be in for as many surprises as were the disciples. When John the Baptist asked, Are you the one? Jesus responded by listing his caring, healing actions, actions somewhat less dramatic than the traditional expectations of the Messiah. John was still in jail, undelivered. Rome was still in control. Where was Jesus the King? Either something had gone wrong, or the misunderstanding had been complete. Jesus, knowing the tension between His reality and our understanding, stated, Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me. Luke 7, 23. This is the Jesus I want to talk about. The Jesus who called Himself a servant. For reasons I cannot understand, I have not, in my research, found the qualities of servanthood, which seem so self-evident and basic to who Jesus is, treated in any but a surface and brief way. I only know that the realization of them, and even minimal incorporation of them into life, has power that I cannot describe. I can only invite you to it. We will look at these characteristics in the following chapter. Chapter titled, The Jesus Approach. Let's pose a speculative question. What if you were God and wished to completely reveal yourself to a planet? Knowing the awesome disparity between yourself and the people of that planet, what would be your first act? There's no end of irony and incongruity in the way God did choose to reveal Himself. Let's look at some of the paradoxical events that happened when Jesus entered our world. Heading, Born in a Barn. What an unlikely place for a king to be born! After a difficult journey for a woman in the ninth month of pregnancy, a stable is the last place a caring husband would want her to be. The nativity scenes that decorate the landscapes during Christmas season are somewhat less than accurate. None of them smell quite right. We don't fully understand the unsanitary conditions of having to walk carefully around the droppings of animals and then lay a newborn baby fresh from the pains of delivery in a feeding trough streaked with the saliva of animals. We don't fully understand the embarrassment Joseph must have felt to watch his wife go through this pain in these surroundings. The Son of God deserved something better. My four children were all born under very sanitary conditions, so sanitary that I was unwelcome. It was somewhat devastating as a father to have the nurses quickly remove the newborn baby from the mother's room because I was coming in. If God would have consulted with me, since I've had some experience in public relations, I would have advised Him to snap His fingers and create a multi-story magnificently modern hospital gleaming bright on the outside, with a giant diamond on the top to catch the sun's rays and scatter them over the countryside. His son, of course, would be the exclusive user, and all the world would then visit and gasp and wonder at the birthplace of the Son of God. But He didn't consult with me, and instead had His son born in a barn. This was a birth that could impress no one, and certainly no one would be threatened by it. Most could even brag about their better circumstances. Well, maybe we can cheer for His city. Or can we? And how about the choice of location? A famous city would have increased people's ability to remember Him and definitely would have improved His image. But Bethlehem? There are not sufficient hotels and motels and convention centers to make this an appropriate place to visit and honor the memory of the King. No, Bethlehem was not large enough to warrant having the Son of God born there. But He was. No one could be intimidated by His birthplace. Ah, but royalty is royalty, and the sophistication of His parentage surely will show through. Or will it? And what about His parentage? We believe in the virgin birth now. This doctrine has been deliberated upon and agreed to by most of the Christian world. However, at the time of Jesus' birth, they did not know about the virgin birth. Jesus grew up amidst whispers of bastard and the stigma of having been conceived out of wedlock. What if the choice young girl of an outstanding church youth group suddenly appeared pregnant? Nothing about her life would indicate that such would ever happen, so everyone is shocked. With great hesitation and embarrassment, the leader of the group finally gets up enough courage to ask her who the father is. She responds, The Holy Spirit. Ha, the church would laugh her to scorn. Do you suppose the friends and neighbors of Jesus never asked Him why He didn't favor Joseph? Do you suppose His childhood friends never gathered and laughed at His claim that the Holy Spirit was His father? Do you suppose the Pharisees never brought it up to Him? In biblical times, a bastard and his descendants to the tenth generation were excluded from the assembly of the Lord. Bastards had no claim to paternal care or the usual privileges and discipline of legitimate children. Though we know that is not what Jesus was, the world viewed Him differently. If you were seeking to be recognized as God, you wouldn't want this sort of thing on your record. Any opponents would have buckets of mud to sling in your face. The whispering campaigns would be devastating. But multitudes of people who had borne the taunts of the world would now find one whose birth wouldn't intimidate them, one who could redeem them. How utterly vulnerable he made himself to the caustic world, born of a virgin. And if that wasn't enough, his ancestry left him with few bragging points. Subhead. His family's checkered past. Genealogies have never inspired me, and from what I hear, many people have tired of reading the Bible once they had to wade through the baguettes. But there is more to the record of Christ's ancestry than a list of names. Just as a study of our own heritage may produce a horse thief or two, Jesus, were he not God with us, would be embarrassed by some from whom he issued. The beloved purity of the Jewish line was compromised in Ruth the Moabite and Rahab the Canaanite. Further shame, Rahab was a prostitute. Jacob, as his name indicated, was a noted cheat. Judah was a womanizer. David, on whose throne Christ sits and whose name he takes, was an adulterer and murderer whose bloodstained hands precluded his building the temple. Out of David's union with Bathsheba, for whom he murdered Uriah, comes Solomon, who in spite of his wisdom had hundreds of wives and concubines and turned his heart away from God. We may be proud of royal or outstanding genetic strains in our ancestry, but this amazing Jesus forgoes such a luxury so that his ancestry can never intimidate us and the skeptic can never claim that he was merely the final product of a super race. Jesus also managed his messiahship without the privilege of an unusual name. Now, you may protest that the name of Jesus is not a common name and definitely not a weak one, but we need to understand its background before we jump to these conclusions. To begin with, his name was not actually Jesus. His name was Joshua or Yahshua. It was a good name, meaning Jehovah is salvation, but it was a very common name, not one appropriate to a king. The name Joshua comes to us through the Greek as Jesus. We've used it that way unquestioningly. It's easy to understand the change when we see how the name James translates into Spanish as either Iago or Jaime. Because the common name of Joshua did not stand out from all the rest, it is a clue to his nature, for he was also to be called Immanuel, which means God with us. He chose to identify himself with his people, not stand apart from them. What name would we recommend for him if we were to suggest one more appropriate for a king? Wouldn't we want a smooth-sounding, attractive, looks-good-in-lights, unique Hollywood stage name? But Joshua? There were probably three in his block already. Why even bother to announce a birth that is off to such a bad start? And the way it was handled, it would have to be considered a rather weak announcement. Again, you may protest. Wait a minute. They didn't have angels singing when I was born. How can you call that a weak announcement? You will see. Subhead, The Way He Arrived First, if God would have consulted with me, I would have recommended that he make the announcement with a little more flair. Perhaps he could stand on the moon with an expensive microphone, hang two billion-watt speakers out in space, and then broadcast, Hello, world, this is God. Or, since God chose to go with a choir, I would have recommended that he follow the chain of command and go to the Sanhedrin first. Or at least use his energies wisely and go to the marketplace and get the announcement to the greatest number of people in the shortest time. But no, he persists in picking a desolate spot. What if you had been one of the members of that angelic choir chosen to announce the birth? For two hundred years you have been practicing and anticipating the glorious presentation. Everything is in perfect tune and timing for the concert of the ages. For one hundred years they've been building a stage in the sky for that great moment. Then Gabriel says, He's born! You're on, fellas! The curtains are pulled back and you see the crowd. Six shepherds? What a letdown! Okay, someone asks, who was in charge of posters? Well, shepherds weren't exactly in the centers of communication. Their captive audience could only talk to other sheep. Also, shepherds were not the best messengers to be carrying such important news. In the time of Jesus, they had lost the respectful reputation that they might have had in the time of David. Now they were a group with a questionable reputation. They tended to be a little light-fingered with other people's property. Nor were they particularly welcome in town. People didn't put much stock in their word either. Can you hear the conversation in a home in Bethlehem? The shepherds have visited the manger and then leave town, knocking on doors as they go, all the while yelling, Joshua is born! Joshua is born! Oh boy, another Joshua in this neighborhood. That's all we need. Who said that anyway? Oh, just our friendly local burglar. What did you say? As we read about this primitive birth announcement, we're amazed at who gets elevated in the presence of the servant Jesus. Anyway, wait until we see his face, then we will be properly awed. Won't we? Subhead, the way he looked. Jesus was not handsome. This you may find difficult to accept. You may respond, now you've gone too far. I have his picture on my wall and he isn't ugly. He's striking a really fine figure of a man. Sorry, but Isaiah tells us how he looked. Scripture. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. Isaiah 53, 2. Jesus was so common in his looks that often he was able to lose himself in crowds. Judas had to identify him with a kiss, even after three years in the public eye. Who knows, the traitor may have been better looking than the betrayed. This is a good clue to Jesus' approach to persons. I know how I feel when I'm in the presence of inordinately handsome men. Jealous. But Jesus came in a form that was not intimidating to anyone. All could feel at ease around him. His looks in no way separated him from the common poor people to whom he was sent. But if his face didn't separate him, surely his home would, wouldn't it? Let's look at that aspect of his coming. Have you ever wondered what you would have done if the Messiah had been born into your family? Here you have the most precious jewel in all of history. Now what are you going to do with him? What kind of home would you buy? What kind of city would you choose? What kind of neighborhood would you select? What kind of friends would you permit him to have? Some things are so valuable that you don't know what to do with them. You would not carry the hope diamond around in your pocket or wear it on a chain around your neck in public places. Subhead. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? But Joseph and Mary now had the Son of God in their possession. What were they to do? They took him to Nazareth after fleeing for their lives to Egypt. But surely Nazareth was not the place to raise the Son of God. The moral and religious reputation of Nazareth was so bad that Nathaniel's response to meeting Jesus of Nazareth was, can anything good come out of Nazareth? John 1 47. So Jesus consistently found himself moving among and identifying with the least in life. But his father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Let's see what happens when he starts spending that money. Ownership of things is central to Western society. As I tour through the Beverly Hills section of Hollywood in California, I'm dutifully impressed with the displays of wealth. Massive homes, automobiles, security guards. The owner's importance is evident. But Jesus never owned more than what he carried on his back. No one could be very impressed or intimidated by that. He said of himself, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head, Matthew 8 20. How does he expect to impress this economic world without even a house to sleep in? He simply doesn't view riches the same way we do. In the Sermon on the Mount, his words were straightforward, quoting Scripture, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. But where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, Matthew 6 verses 19 through 21. Jesus was not fooled by money. It was not important to him. He who was able to pay taxes from coins found in the mouth of a fish and turn stones to bread could easily have been the financial baron of all times. The problem with wealth, however, is that it affects our relationships with people. If I know people are wealthy, I have a difficult time being real around them. I become much too nice. After all, you never know when you might want to borrow from them. Jesus' decision to remain uninvolved with the world's goods freed him from the hidden agenda of jealousy that would affect any conversation with someone more wealthy or less wealthy than he. Thus he was able to direct all of his energies and sensitivity toward the real needs of the persons to whom he was ministering, and he was able to act out of love alone. Paul in 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 wrote that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich. Jesus, by choosing to walk this earth unencumbered by riches, was choosing not to let anything come in the way of his giving himself to people. He had not come to redeem things. He had come to redeem people, and he gave himself fully to us. Heading, and he came with a very strange advance man. If I were organizing a series of crusades around my own ministry and sending someone ahead to prepare the way, I would send a handsome, smartly dressed, smooth-talking ambassador who would in no way embarrass me. Jesus obviously didn't do it my way. Instead he used a raving, rough-hewn man who dressed inappropriately for a minister and was committed to organic foods. To top it all, he closed his services by doing a most undignified thing, dunking in water those who were brave enough to respond. Scripture. And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching repentance and baptism for the forgiveness of sins. John wore clothing made of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. Mark 1 verses 4 and 6. John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Luke 3, 7. How tactless can you be? If I were Jesus, I would be afraid I would have to spend most of my time explaining the actions of my forerunner. However, Jesus' whole life was marked by the use of the most unlikely persons. He always saw people differently than I do. That view of people becomes obvious when we look at some of his other choices. Subhead. His motley crew. When we get a new president of the United States, everyone watches closely to see who he surrounds himself with, what kind of staff and cabinet he chooses. So the Son of God comes to earth and begins to reveal what kind of reign he will have by putting together his traveling band of people. Now I would have told him to go to the best-known seminary and pick at least three professors who would have a good grasp on theology and all of its ramifications. Then he should go to Hollywood and get people with charisma who can command the attention of the crowds and explain to them what he meant when he said something. Then go to Wall Street and pick a few millionaires. It's always good to have a few of them on the team. Then by all means go to Muscle Beach and pick six bodyguards. Otherwise those religious leaders might have him crucified. But Jesus didn't check with me. Instead, he went to the streets and wharves and picked out the strangest crew ever to be sent out on a mission to change the world. Had you been walking within 50 feet of them, you probably would have detected the odor of fish. He had a zealot and a tax collector on the team. This is a combination not unlike a black revolutionary and a Ku Klux Klan member. Some of them had heavily identifiable accents, inappropriate to the need for eloquence on the team. Jesus was found constantly among the sordid, from the violent to the crafty to the sensual. I would have fired Peter within a week or two of his hiring. His life indicates that he suffered from foot and mouth disease. His impulsiveness decreased his usefulness to 50% at the most. Yet Jesus let him remain and even gave him prominence. How could that be unless Jesus sees people far differently than I do and patiently calls the best from them? I find the analysis of his crew very encouraging. If he could work with them, then he can work with me. And you. He doesn't use the criteria that we naturally would. A wantad calling for the weary and heavy laden was hardly the way to pull together the most skilled of followers, and he continues to call the unlikely. Scripture quote. Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards. Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong so that no man may boast before him. First Corinthians 1, 26 through 27 and 29. His love for and few of persons is beyond the limit of my logic. But they are very much compatible with his nature. The only thing left that could have saved his reputation was a rapid and overwhelming rescue from death. But I'm afraid that his death was the final blow to any chance for impressiveness. Let's look at what happened. Subhead. The way he died. We would all agree that Jesus died a notorious death. Yet I found that I didn't understand the extent of his shame. The truth of scriptural description was lost on me. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. First Corinthians 1, 18. The cross was never foolishness to me. I saw it everywhere. It gracefully adorned lofty steeples. In polished silver or burnished wood, it decorated the interiors of churches and other religious buildings. It hung an expensive jewelry around elegant necks. It graced the lapels of suits and marked the fancy stationery of big churches. It was sung about and proclaimed. People carried huge and heavy crosses for penance or publicity. The cross permeated my world, but it was never foolishness. How could it be? Then it occurred to me that I didn't truly understand the cross, primarily because people don't die on crosses in these days. Had Jesus come to this age, we would have treated him far more humanely. We would have electrocuted him or hanged him or gassed him or placed him before the firing squad or at least injected him with a lethal dose of drugs. Imagine the results of such a modern execution. I would now be collaring people on the streets and witnessing in this manner. Neighbor, my best friend just died in the electric chair for you. If you'll believe this and take up your electric chair and follow him, you will be saved. Our great hymns would certainly be different. Can you hear us singing? At the electric chair, at the electric chair, where I first saw the light. Or, there's room in the gas chamber for you. Or, take up your firing squad and follow me. We would become the laughing stock of the world. We would be embarrassed that our hope had died so shamefully, even though we knew he had been resurrected. Such a death is really tough on our image of the cross. Let us paraphrase the scripture and see how it sounds. Jews demanded miraculous signs and Greeks looked for wisdom, but we preached Joshua electrocuted, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles. 1 Corinthians 1, 22, 23, with apologies. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Joshua Messiah and him electrocuted. 1 Corinthians 2, 2, with apologies. If I were to identify with someone in their death, I would want it to be a heroic death, worthy of medals of honor rather than the death of a common criminal. His cup was more than mere death. It was the shameful, degrading sentence that comes from carrying the sins, the crimes, the atrocities of all creation on his shoulders. Now let's look back to see what we've discovered. Subhead, the chance to choose. When I look at the clues we've discussed that indicate the nature of Jesus, born in a barn, questionable parents, spotty ancestry, common name, misdirected announcement, unattractive looks, reared in a bad neighborhood, owning nothing, surrounding himself with unattractive co-workers, and dying a shameful death, I find his whole approach unable to fit into the methods that automatically come to mind when I think about winning the world. His whole approach could easily be described as non-threatening or non-manipulative. He seemed to lead with weakness in each step of life. He had nothing in the world and everything in God and the Spirit. With this kind of approach to us, he could be sure that our response would be an honest one. None of the methods that would coerce us and get something less than genuine belief were used. This is indicative of true love. Being an others-oriented person, a servant to others, made him want to free them to be as real and honest as possible. He wanted them to be able to make genuine decisions. On Thanksgiving Day of 1956, I shivered more from fear and excitement than I did from the biting cold of Memphis, Tennessee, as I held a ring in my hand and asked Ada Faye Brown to become my wife. Fortunately, she agreed. I could have done it another way. I could have held a ring in one hand and a pistol in the other hand and told her that she was going to marry me for her own good. Had it happened that way, every meal she fixed for me I would have made the dog taste first to see if he remained alive. Love only wants a genuine response. We make so few genuine decisions in life. Most of the choices we make are affected by outside forces and demands, but when it comes to the most important decision in our life, our decision about God, Jesus seeks only a genuine one. So we are approached in a way that lovingly frees us to make that decision genuinely. We can accept or reject. God refuses to violate our personhood and our power to choose. That is love. Chapter The Style Setter Subtitle Number One If one were to objectively examine the Bible and try to list events and persons in some sort of priority, Jesus becomes, without question, the central figure. Jesus himself said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know him and have seen him. John 14, verses 6 and 7 The Holy Spirit helped Paul to see Jesus as recorded in his letter to the Colossians. Scripture quote, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things. Colossians 1, verses 15 through 20 Since Jesus is everything that God is, but expressed in bodily form, and since all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him, we can each say, If I am to know God, I will know him through Jesus. If I am to gain knowledge, it is deposited in Jesus. If I am to have wisdom, I will find it in Jesus. If God dwells in me, it is because Jesus dwells in me. If I wish to study God, I must study Jesus. If the Holy Spirit is active in my life, I will hear him speak of Jesus. His personality, his life, and his words are to be grasped and assimilated with all our energy. In everything he must have the supremacy. However, I must confess that other things have found a more sure place in my life. Far too much of my thought life is centered in the things that appear to provide security, acquisition of funds and titles, realization of ambitions, for instance. Perhaps these have gained prominence because of my faulty view of the reality of Jesus. Spiritual myopia tends to distort my vision. Anything that works or prospers, as I culturally understand prosperity, and has his name attached to it, does so, I often conclude, because I am doing it the Jesus way, and therefore he is blessing it. So many successful worldly systems of operation I uncritically accept as God-inspired simply because they cloak themselves with the name of Jesus or the form of a church. But to realize my failing is not necessarily to understand and follow the answer. How do I correct this faulty view? Must I truly live the nature of Jesus? For an answer, let us look at a command that he gives and emphasizes, literally demanding that the disciples conform to it. Subtitle One for All Jesus gave many commands to the disciples and all those who would follow him, but all of them are mere subheads to the primary command he left us. A new commandment I give you, love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. John 13 verses 34 and 35. Two things grab my attention immediately as I read this. First, Jesus has authorized only one identifying mark of his followers, love for one another. Not my knowledge of scripture, not my style of clothing, nor its percentage of body coverage, not the rituals I go through each week, not my membership in a specific organization, not my hair length or other adornment, not even my orthodoxy. Only my love for others properly brands me. Saying this brings immediate protest to my mind. It sounds as if Christ is negating the necessity of knowledge, of holy living, of proper looks, by saying only those who love are his. He doesn't even mention the proper rooting of spiritual experience and practice in this context. What about conviction, salvation, sanctification, baptism, holy living, tithing? Are these not labels? Won't they identify me just as quickly? In our minds they might, but Jesus certainly doesn't give them any credence here. Is this a cheap and easy gospel he's finally dishing out to us? Hardly. It does not take long for me to realize that I am a hopelessly selfish, unloving person, with notable but inconsistent exceptions, without the presence and power of Christ within me. The second item of attention was his command to love each other as I have loved you. I knew there was a catch somewhere. Does this mean we are all going to have to be crucified just like he was, else we will not love as he did? Frankly, I find that possibility unattractive and very impractical. If all the Christians get themselves crucified, who will spread the gospel? This could give rise to an interesting new church ritual. But wait. When Jesus gave this remarkable command to his disciples, he had not yet been crucified, and they still seemed to understand what he meant. Not even Peter asked the question, what do you mean by love? Something about Jesus' total actions toward them up to this time had not only convinced them of his love for them, but also laid down a practical, imitable pattern. In our culture, if we wish someone to know that we love them, we merely say, I love you. Although he may have done so, there is no evidence in Scripture that Jesus employed such means. I doubt that he lined the disciples up and said, Peter, I love you. James, I love you. John, I love you. Judas, I am. Jesus' servanthood to the disciples made his love clear. No one had ever loved them in this wholly unselfish way. So important is this command and example that once you see it clearly, you will discover it to be the common thread that weaves the New Testament together. Subtitle All for One Few themes are clearer in the New Testament than that of love. Jesus himself underscores its prominence. Scripture quote One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22, 35 through 40 In other words, this is what the Bible is all about. Incredible! With this much prominence for love of God and love of one's neighbor, it came as a shock to me to find out that such a statement was missing from the great doctrinal statements of denominations, missing from the great systematic theologies, missing from the creedal statements, and most unfortunate, missing from our daily lives. But still, does this servanthood nature of Jesus fulfill all the elements of Jesus' love? And what are the things that love will do? The apostle Paul makes a classic statement about love in 1 Corinthians 13. Here he tells us that glossolalia and eloquence, prophecy and knowledge, faith and philanthropy are all worthless without love. That hits us at our weakest points. The speaking circuit is most easily open to the eloquent who can move us and to those who can excite us with the possibility of speaking with the tongues of angels. But Paul denounces these dynamic speakers if they are loveless. Periodically, prophetic students hit the trail to reveal to us times, seasons, dates, or to give us the latest word direct from God. Our hunger causes us to welcome them with open arms. But Paul again relegates this to dust if it is without love. I teach in a college. There, knowledge is the premium. It's the only thing we know how to grade, and it's the only thing that will ultimately bring the reward of a degree. Persons of such knowledge and degree are held up for example in our institution and in others, yet Paul equates it with mindlessness if love is not the guiding force. Faith and faith teaching is big business in Christian circles. If a practitioner were to come along and state that he was going to move Pike's Peak from Colorado to Nebraska and then do it, every news medium in the country would follow him relentlessly, and he would be in highest demand to speak in the largest auditoriums. Demonstrated faith is a big producer. But Paul reduces it to paganism if it is not motivated by love. The world gladly accepts the efforts of a philanthropist, especially one who is so generous that he's even willing to have slave marks burnt into his body, thereby belonging to someone else. But strangely enough, even that can be motivated by something other than love and become meaningless. Some giving is done for influence or for tax benefit. Eloquence, faith, knowledge, giving are all good in our eyes and beneficial, but it is love that is the height of achievement. Even the good and beneficial become deliverers of death if they are not motivated by love. Paul goes on to give a powerful, overwhelming list of what love is and does. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not boast. Love is not proud. Love is not rude. Love is not self-seeking. Love is not easily angered. Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil. Love rejoices in the truth. Love always protects. Love always trusts. Love always hopes. Love always perseveres. Love never fails. Servanthood fulfills these actions by its very nature. Listen also to the demand for love in the letters of John. This is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3, verses 16 through 18. When I was struck with the fact that our relationship with God and our effectiveness in the world is predicated on our ability to love one another, I began to see that there was a wealth of instruction about how we are to treat one another in the New Testament. Here's a sampling. Kindly affectioned one to another. In honor, preferring one another. Of the same mind one to another. Not judging one another. Following peace and edifying one another. Receiving one another. Admonishing one another. Saluting one another with a holy kiss. Having the same care one for another. Serving one another. Forbearing one another. Being kind and tender-hearted one to another. Forgiving one another. Submitting one to another. Not lying one to another. Comforting one another. Edifying one another. Being impartial one to another. Wait for one another. Pray for one another. And many times it says, love one another. Here again servanthood fulfills these commands by nature, by very definition. Years ago, I heard a speaker at an Easter sunrise service state that the Bible has much to say about what to believe, but little to say about how to relate to people. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is time that we took this abundant store of instruction and developed a theology of relationships. With this, we might be better able to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. With this understanding of relationships, we may see more clearly the principles of Scripture in their proper perspective. With this, we may be less abusive of Scripture for selfish gain. Every year, in classes that introduce students to the principles of Christian education, I have asked them to write a brief paper about the teacher who most affected their life and had most motivated them to learn. Without exception, these have been teachers who loved them and exhibited that love. Expertise in the subject and refinement in teaching method was secondary to the power of love. However, no educational institution that I know of, including Institutes of Biblical Learning, chooses its faculty on the basis of their ability to love. This case, for the necessity of love and the necessity to love as Jesus loved, is certainly not exhaustive. Hopefully, it will be clear that the servant nature of Jesus answers all the questions we have. The Great High Priestly Prayer of Jesus, recorded in the 17th chapter of the Gospel of John, can only be understood in the context of His prior commandment to love one another. By His great commandment in chapter 13, He has made it clear that our relationship with God is evidenced by our relationship with each other. Now, in His prayer, He reveals that the evangelistic side of the relationship coin is also bound up in my ability to love my brother. Five times in this great prayer, Jesus prays for the same thing, a repetition that should catch our attention. For His followers, He prays that they, being many, may be one. His prayer is amazingly simple. He prays that we may be one, just as He and the Father are one. I must admit that though I am a believer in the Trinity, I do not understand it. It is difficult for me to understand how three separate and distinct persons can be one inseparable God without being a committee, a committee that perhaps voted two to one to send Jesus to the earth. Yet their unity was such that Jesus was able to say, Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. What kind of unity must we have in order to say, If you want to know what kind of Christian I am, just check another Christian out. I am like him. For this to occur, there must be change and improvement in the kind of love we are expressing to each other within and across denominational lines. Another expression that He connects with His prayer for unity has serious implications for evangelism. He prayed, May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. John 17, 23 Most of my evangelistic efforts have revolved around developing even more creative means to get the gospel past the defenses of the world. So I have moved into better sales systems for personal soul winning, into better staging of programs for auditoriums, into more eloquent speakers, into more dramatic use of the media. Yet the power source for effectively winning the world lies in how well we love one another and affect the unity that Jesus prays for. Why should the world listen to us until they see that fruit which most properly indicates our abiding in Christ? Until the fruit of unity is evident, Christianity is merely another philosophical system to be debated but not lived. Surely we can see that selfishness is the source of division and servanthood is the basis of unity. If true love were seen among us, the world might even begin to beat a path to our door and take the kingdom by force. In His command in John 13 and in His prayer in John 17, Jesus holds His followers up for judgment by the world. He says, All men will know that you are my disciples, and to let the world know that you sent me. Here again my mind protests. It seems unfair. Most of my life I have hidden behind the rationalization that you can't judge me. You only see the outside, but God sees my heart. That may be true, yet God has here authorized the world to check our fruit of salvation and growth. I have a tree in my yard that I was told when I purchased the house was a peach tree. True, it's shaped like a peach tree and has leaves similar to a peach tree, but in all these years it has never borne a peach. When I decide to approach that tree with an axe so that it will no more encumber the ground, it may plead with me, Don't cut me down. You can't judge me by the outside. In my heart I'm really a peach tree. Well, such pleas will be unheeded. It was created and planted for fruit, not for peach hearts. The question I must ask myself is whether I am part of the fulfillment of this prayer of Jesus. Am I a gate to his kingdom, or am I a lock on the door that will not let anyone in unless they know the right combination? My combination, of course. Here again I am faced with the necessity to love and serve others, first to be identified as a Christian, and second to be effective in winning the world. So what does the evidence say? If I am to love as Jesus commanded and be in unity with the body as he requested, I must know that he is the full revelation of the Father and is my example. If I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I must hear him speak of Jesus and follow the guidance of the Spirit in being like Jesus.