The Jesus Nobody Wants

Christian history seems to fluctuate back and forth between grace and works. One generation preaches grace, another generation preaches the need for works. Not that works isn't preached in generations of grace, nor vice versa, but there seems to be a different emphasis at different times. Our generation (or time) seems to be placing a lot of emphasis on grace. Some of the most famous books have been "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey (whose writings tend to emphasize grace in general); also: "The Grace Awakening" by Chuck Swindoll. Popular authors like Max Lucado also emphasize grace.

But there is always a need for for the "James'" and the "Judes'" in each generation. The voices that give vocal expression to God's horror over the church's behavior; the voices that tell us, "Grace isn't cheap" - and there's no such thing as faith without works. There is a need for such voices once again in this generation. The church of America is close to being apostate. The crimes we are committing in the name of "outreach" are appalling. The Word of God is not preached. Instead, many churches have reverted to "talks" or "discussions". Some churches have abandoned preaching altogether in favor of "dialogue" and "conversation". In an attempt to avoid persecution, we have left out the difficult aspects of the Bible - and we're doing it all in the name of outreach. We're afraid of two things: being offensive and looking foolish. Those are the two things we are scared to death of - being offensive, and thus incurring the world's anger, and being foolish, and thus losing the world's respect. This desire to avoid these two things has caused us to avoid preaching the "stumbling block" Jesus - the Jesus nobody wants.

Of course nothing has changed. This has always been a problem in the church - even the early church. The early church, too, wanted to avoid persecution. They didn't want to make anyone angry and they didn't want to be ridiculed for being foolish. And so, in order to avoid this, they stopped preaching the cross. Today, we don't understand that. Christians and non-Christians alike admire the concept of the cross. We wear necklaces with the cross on it. We use the cross as a symbol for healing in our hospitals. The whole idea is quite noble. The whole idea that someone died as a sacrifice to be an example of love is very admirable. You'd be hard pressed to find someone today who wouldn't speak well of the concept of the cross (though some of those voices still exist). But that's not the way people in the first century thought. People of the first century hated the cross. The cross was the ultimate symbol of shame. Jews believed that anyone who ended up on a cross had to be cursed by God since the OT said, "Cursed is he who hangs on a tree." If you ended up on a cross, there was no doubt in their mind that you were there for a good reason - even if the evidence said otherwise. (That's why the Pharisees tried with all their might to put Jesus on the cross; to them that automatically meant he wasn't from God; it invalidated all of Jesus' claims in their eyes.) Jews hated the cross. Therefore to say that Jesus was the Messiah was a blasphemous claim. That was like saying the best being in the world (God) died - and that he died the worst possible death possible (the cross). It was the ultimate blasphemy. To say that Jesus was the Messiah was extremely offensive. It would be like George Bush standing up and saying in a speech: "Homosexuality is wrong; it's a sin." If he said that he would incur more wrath than you or I would ever be able to imagine. It would be offensive in the extreme.

And the Gentiles viewed the cross with equal hostility. However, to say that an insignificant man from an insignificant town in an insignificant country died an insignificant death on a cross and if you believe in him you'll live was not offensive to the Gentile. It was just plain ridiculous. It was foolishness. It was utter foolishness to say that God had come in the form of a lowly peasant, died on a cross, and that death brought freedom to humanity. That concept wasn't just implausible, it was stupid - foolish.

As a result, the early church often conveniently left that aspect of the Christian message out of their preaching. Oh they preached wonderful things. They probably preached the resurrection. They probably preached like crazy about Jesus' teachings on loving one another and unity and love. They probably teached about prophecy. Probably teached about the second coming. Probably teached about the nature of God, the Trinity, the empowerment of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, etc., etc. They preached the truth! But often times, in order to avoid persecution, in order to avoid offending Jews and in order avoid looking foolish to the Gentiles, they conveniently stopped preaching about the cross. It was too offensive; to ridiculous.

At least one man, however, refused to do this - the apostle Paul. Listen to his amazing statement to the Corinthians: "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block (offense) to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (1:22-23). And then a few verses later in chapter 2:2 - "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified." Paul said: I don't just preach Christ, I don't just want the Jesus everybody else wants - I want the Jesus nobody wants - the crucified Jesus. Many people in the first century were probably interested in the loving Jesus, the gracious Jesus, the miraculous Jesus, the humble Jesus, the powerful Jesus, the wise Jesus, the second coming Jesus, the Jesus who brought victory, glory, and honor! But hardly anyone was interested in the Jesus who hung on a cross - not even Christians!

BELOVED - the same thing is occurring in our day and in our time. The church has stopped preaching the Jesus nobody wants. That's not to say they're not preaching wonderful truths about Christ! Oh, we are! We preach all sorts of wonderful things on Sunday morning - most of it is ALL TRUE, too. But, we have turned our backs on the Jesus that brings us persecution and dishonor from the world; the Jesus that makes the world angry, the Jesus that makes us look utterly foolish. And beloved, we are paying the price for it. The seeker sensitive movement and the emerging church movement IN GENERAL has hurt the church more than it has helped it. We are weak, ineffective, and hypocritical and NO ONE wants to listen to us and we are missing the downpour of God's grace that could be ours. Oh we get sprinkles of it here and there. But we are missing the downpour - because we're ashamed of our Lord.

So all of this begs the question: Who is "The Jesus That Nobody Wants" in our day? In Paul's day it was the crucified Jesus. So what Jesus does our culture reject? What Jesus have we stopped preaching? I'll save that for the next blog.

Beloved, there are many today, even some in the church, who are holding up stones in their hands, wanting to stone our Lord, wanting to "do away" with the stumbling block Jesus. They are ashamed about his teachings on sovereignty, they are ashamed about his teachings exclusivity and clarity, they are ashamed about his decision to only choose men as his 12 apostles, they are ashamed of his acceptance of the OT as inspired, especially since the OT condemns homosexuality, they are ashamed of his message of salvation through suffering, not prosperity, they are ashamed of the Jesus that brings them persecution, hatred, and disrespect in the eyes of the world - but the Lord knows who are his. We need to not be ashamed of the Jesus nobody wants. If we turn from this central sin, I believe God will open the doors of blessing and we will see his hand move in powerful ways. But until that happens, the threat of the American church's candle being snuffed will always linger. Oh, God have mercy on us sinners according to your unfailing love and your great compassion! Your name is at stake!