Lion or Lamb

I am growing more concerned that the World seems to inform our idea of who Jesus is more than the Holy Spirit

I have seen more and more Christians embrace incomplete pictures of Jesus. It is not that some of the ideas are incorrect however they are simply incomplete. When people focus on those incomplete ideas confusion tends to replace reason in matters of faith.

We all know people that have good intentions and partially understand things. They know just enough to be dangerous. These people are well meaning but they tend to at best overcomplicate things and at worst totally miss the point, becuase they are so focused on one aspect they miss the forest for the trees.

The same is true of our faith and because of that it may hurt our testimony...if we focus on one thing no matter how true or noble it has the ability to eclipse the other things that are true giving us an incomplete idea about who we are…and who God is.

Today we are going to talk about how a Holistic view of Christianity leads to increased Credibility, Power and Effectiveness of our testimony.

Matthew 16: 13-20

Matthew 16:13–20 NLT

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

After each man described what they felt they each walked away believing the others had lied.

It is important to understand that each of the men were speaking the truth about what they felt, however they had reduced the big picture of the elephant to those parts.

This led to confusion and mistrust between the men and my guess is in all the people they talked to about elephants from that time forward.

The same is true when we are trying to talk to people about Jesus. Just like the blind men in the story I just told we are living in a time where it seems like people are taking a small part of who Jesus is and making it the whole.

This reductionist view of Jesus is more dangerous to the message of Jesus than anything else…becuase this is precisely what heresies are born out of. Heresies are not usually things that are wrong but bits of truth that are made to be that whole.

N.T. Wright says it this way:

“The greatest heresies do not come about by strait forward denial; most of the church will see that for what it is. They happen when an element which may even be important, but isn’t central, looms so large that people can’t help talking about it, fixating on it, debating different views of it as though this where the only thing that mattered”. --N.T. Wight --

The Results of these incomplete views of Jesus can eclipse the greater message of the Gospel and create confusion and in some cases out and out misguided descriptions about who Jesus really is.

This can manifest itself by creating:

Ossified doctrines; where ideas are believed but not lived, faith disintegrates into religious ideologies

Wooden proclamations; where little resonates with people outside or inside the Church....

Or more specifically these reductionist tendencies can

reduce church to a a gathering

worship to singing songs

discipleship to the transfer of information

Spirituality to withdrawal from the world of mistrust of any one that is not like us.

In short A reductionist view of Christianity leads the reduced Credibility, Power and Effectiveness of our testimony.

Jesus is more than the parts we can wrap our heads around.

The descriptions of Jesus in this passage were not wrong just incomplete. Jesus is trying to make sure that the disciples do not embrace an incomplete idea of who He is.

Jesus was well aware of who and what people were saying about him. He was not trying to fish for a complement here but drive home a very important point that He (Jesus) was more than a characteristic, He was in fact the Son of God.

Jesus is Prophet, Priest, King, Lion and the Lamb. The whole of whoJesus is…is very important to embrace becuase when we embrace only an aspect we can miss the message of optimism of following Jesus.

I was pretty hard on Peter a couple of weeks ago but in this instance Peter got it right…not becuase he was so smart but becuase he had made himself available and open to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

In so doing Jesus responded to Him in a very unique and and positive way.

You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. 18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

Jesus was saying that Peter was going to be the rock that He builds his church on was about both the fact that Peter would be seen as the leader of the Jesus movement when Jesus ascends…and those who acknowledge Jesus in His totality of Messiah would also be given the ability to hear from the Spirit as it pertains to interpreting Scripture.

That is what the phrase Keys to the kingdom is really referring too in this passage. These words were technical terms for the work of rabbis in forbidding (binding) or permitting (loosing) practices as consistent with the will of God through the Holy Scriptures.

For this to happen to Peter he had to abandon all the things he thought he knew in order to be open to the saving truth of Jesus.

I wish I could say that Peter never messes it up after this…however we will see him miss the mark a lot in the future.

However Jesus and the Holy Spirits honesty and kindness will always lead him to repentance which will lead to wisdom that Peter will need as he becomes the new lighting rod for the whole message of Jesus.

Through out the rest of Peters life he will be marginalize by power, beaten, argued with and eventually he will die for correctly preaching and teaching who Jesus is in His totality as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb that was slain for the world.

Yes Jesus is the conquering hero, but His and Our victory is won becuase His sacrifice as a lamb for the entire world…

This is why I find it particularly unsettling when I see Christians use the term Sheep as a derogatory term meant to bully people who are making decisions to sacrifice for other instead of fight for their rights. This is a reduced understanding of what is is to follow Jesus.

Yes we are to follow Jesus with confidence in a battle already won, but we are to do so with meekness, kindness and Concern for the eternal and physical well being of all those we are come into contact with.

New Living Translation Chapter 2

4 Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Part of the reason the disciples were persecuted was they taught that gentiles were eligible for forgiveness as well as Jews. Meaning the Messiah was saviour for the entire world not just a select group of people.

We too are given the keys to the kingdom as faithful followers of Jesus the Lion, and Jesus the Lamb.

I saw a Meme that said it is better to live one day as a lion than to live 1000 as a lamb....as if the Lion were more powerful than a sheep.

We must resist the urge to reduce our understanding of Jesus during this time of adversity. God is not looking for spiritual Lions…

That is not where power comes from…God is looking for those that are Lion enough to be a Lamb.

This week I want to encourage you to continue in the Daily examen. Asking God to show you the ways in which you may have reduced Jesus to one idea…as God reveals this to you repent and move forward in confidence that you are loved by God and you are growing in spite of whatever else is going on in your life.

Communion is a time where we can begin to examen our own lives…Have we reduced our faith to any one issue? Are we engaging the world with the Whole message of Jesus on just on part of it that we understand?

Focus on Jesus standing before you asking Who do you say that I am?

Couple of moments of silence here....

On the night before Jesus died....