Is That You, Jesus?

And we’re now in this sort of subset of that question in that God has revealed Himself in the Bible and through His Son Jesus, and so for the past couple of weeks we’ve looked at:

Is the Bible God’s Word?

Who Is Jesus?

And this week we’re taking sort of an antithetical view of Who Is Jesus. I say that because in our culture today there is a lot being made of who Jesus was that simply is not the Jesus presented in the Bible. You may remember from last week we read Colossians 1:15-20

Colossians 1:15–20 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And 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, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

That is a very powerful description of who the person of Jesus is. In the Gospel of John we read John 1:1-5

John 1:1–5 ESV

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:14 ESV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

These were verses we used last week on who Jesus is. These are biblical representations of who Jesus is. However, if you read blogs, if you watch television, if you use social media, you have no doubt seen depictions of who Jesus isn’t. These depictions of Jesus can sound very biblical and yet they do not point to the Jesus that is presented in the Bible.

1 Thessalonians 5:21–22 ESV

but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

1 John 4:1 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

and Hebrews 5:14

Hebrews 5:14 ESV

But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

As Christians it is important for us to test what we see/read against what we know from the Bible.

We’re going to be examining a few false depictions of Jesus that are very popular in our post Christian world today.

Everyman Jesus

The first common one we see is one we’re going to call “Everyman Jesus”. Carlos A. Rodriguez, founder and CEO of The Happy NPO writes,

Jesus napped regularly, got frustrated with religious systems, experienced anger, occasionally ignored his family’s advice, and happily ran away when people wanted to control him. His humanity was part of his godliness. And so is yours.

Carlos A. Rodriguez, Twitter post, July 8 2020, https://twitter.com/CarlosHappyNPO/status/1280877268617830400.

Crain, Natasha. Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture (p. 173). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Or perhaps you’ve seen the t-shirt that reads, “Be more like Jesus, take naps.”

Now at first blush this sounds like a Jesus to whom we can relate. We get frustrated, experience anger, occasionally ignore family advice, etc. And who doesn’t like a nap now and again? The issue here is an over emphasis on Jesus’ humanity and diminishing his divinity. It’s subtle, and yet this is NOT the biblical Jesus. Not only does it diminish Jesus’ divinity, it also subtly gives the idea that we can become just like Jesus.

Jesus was at once fully God and fully human - these were the same errors that were being discussed at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451. Natasha Crain reminds us that the statement these church leaders put together affirms that Jesus has “two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably; the distinction of natures being by no means taken away by the union but rather the property of each nature being preserved, and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons.”

Rodriguez’ idea sounds good, but this is false.

Another one that has become popular today is Socialist Jesus.

Socialist Jesus

If you use social media it’s likely you’ve come across this meme:

B-b-but if you feed everyone, Jesus...

…that would be <gasp> Socialism

This one is good for a laugh, and there are lots of ways that people co-opt Jesus to support their particular political points. In this particular case it is suggesting that Jesus would have been a socialist.

Socialism is far too complex of a topic to cover in our time here today. I have no doubt that people are well-meaning in this idea of thinking socialism simply means having society come together to provide for the needs of the less fortunate. However socialism by its definition refers to centrally planned economies that place power and resources in the hands of the government leaders in order to forcibly redistribute wealth to society.

There is no record of Jesus ever saying that the government should take such a role in redistributing the economy in such a way. When the Pharisees asked Him if people should pay the taxes the government put on them, He said, Matthew 22:21

Matthew 22:21 (ESV)

“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

People assume that Jesus had something against money, but he didn’t. In fact clearly he was supported by benefactors as were the disciples, and Paul. His concern regarding money had to do with the love of money, he was concerned it could become an idol. He said in Luke 16:13

Luke 16:13 ESV

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

As for the meme, it is clear that Jesus fed the people out of his private provision and miraculous act of multiplication, not through socialism. Jesus provided, not the government.

The last one we’ll cover this morning is Universal-Christ Jesus:

Universal-Christ Jesus

This is where Christ is synonymous with God’s love for the world.

Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest and popular author writes:

What if Christ is a name for the transcendent within of every “thing” in the universe? What if Christ is a name for the immense spaciousness of all true Love? What if Christ refers to an infinite horizon that pulls us both from within and pulls us forward, too? What if Christ is another name for every thing—in its fullness? ~ Richard Rohr

Crain, Natasha. Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture (p. 181). Harvest House Publishers. Kindle Edition.

This is from his book The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe. It is a best seller on the New York Times list and revered by people such as U2’s Bono, Melinda Gates, and Oprah. This is not the biblical Christ. In some ways it feels as if Rohr has been influenced by Star Wars and is confusing Christ with the Force.

We discussed last week how Christ is a very specific title, regarding the Messiah and Savior. I invite you to go back listen to that message again. In defending his view, Rohr cites Colossians 3:11

Colossians 3:11 (ESV)

Christ is all, and in all.

But he’s missing most of the verse. Here’s the entirety of Col 3:11

Colossians 3:11 ESV

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

And since he’s using Colossians we’ve already looked at chapter 1 where clearly Christ is the person of Jesus, but chapter 2 continues in that theme, Col 2:9-12

Colossians 2:9–12 NRSV

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.

Aside from ignoring context Rohr clearly misses the point. The truth is the Greek word for Messiah is Christos, which is where we get the word Christ. When the New Testament refers to Jesus as Christ it is specifically referring to him as Messiah, there is nothing universal about it.

Is That You, Jesus?

There are a lot of other false views of Jesus out there, these are but a few, but I hope you can see how it is important for all of us to be grounded in and hold to the biblical Jesus. It was not the Jesus that we create in our minds that came to save us, it was the Jesus God sent. God is not the God we created in our image; no, we were created in God’s image.

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