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2008-03-04 issue:

Living like Jesus

Most Christians, no matter what they say about Jesus, don’t practice what he preached.

by Ron Sider

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Someone has imagined a conversation Jesus had with the archangel Gabriel when Jesus returned to heaven after the ascension.

“You mean,” Gabriel said, “your whole plan to save the world depends on that ragtag bunch of 120 former fishermen, prostitutes and tax collectors?”

“That’s right,” Jesus replied.

“But what if they fail?” Gabriel persisted with alarm. “What’s your backup plan?”

“There is no backup plan,” Jesus said.

There still is no backup plan. God has decided to use human beings, not angels, to spread the gospel and change the world.

Gabriel must have been dumbfounded as that first crew set to work. They had little money, less education and no political clout. But they loved Jesus with all their hearts and knew he was the Way, the Truth and the Life for all people everywhere. So they defied raging oceans and roaring lions to preach and live Jesus’ good news. The message spread like wildfire.

Within three short centuries, that tiny circle of disciples had conquered the most pagan empire that ever existed.

Far more people have come to Christ in the past century than in any previous one. Christianity is the first truly global religion. As Gabriel pondered, though, an old anxiety resurfaced. Were the people who claimed the Name any different from those who did not?

How could the worst massacre of Jews in human history have happened in the middle of the continent that had been “Christian” the longest? How could Catholic Christian Croatians and Orthodox Christian Serbs massacre each other and Muslims in one of the deadliest outbreaks of ethnic savagery in Europe since Hitler?

And what of the United States, rich, powerful and where 86 percent of people claim to be Christian? Does their Christianity make any difference? The United States has the highest divorce rate in human history, 62 percent of “born again” Christians do not believe in absolute truth and the murder rate is almost twice that of the next industrialized country. Christians are highly visible in politics, but Jesus’ passion for the poor rarely surfaces on the agenda.

Was Jesus’ strategy for changing the world really working? Vast numbers of so-called Christians lived just like their secular neighbors.

As Gabriel peered ahead, he asked, “Will there be enough genuine Christians like the original 120?” That is the question. Will the people who claim to be Christian really live like Jesus? And what does it mean to live like Jesus?

Before looking at a few marks of genuine Christianity, let me make one thing clear. I don’t mean that any Christian is perfect. We all struggle. By genuine Christian, I mean Christians who truly long to follow Jesus and keep striving for that goal even when they fail.

Genuine Christians embrace both God’s searing holiness and God’s astounding love. Our sins are too awful for our holy God to wink at them. Yet God’s love is too strong for God to forget us. So God embraces our sin, absorbs the evil we have done into his divine heart and accepts the punishment we deserve—all because God wants to walk with us again in openness and reconciliation.

That’s the only amazing solution to the problem of evil the world has ever seen. No other religion dares to teach that the Creator of the universe died for our sins. The cross is the only truly satisfactory solution to the brokenness, violence and agony of our world.

God is Righteous Sovereign as well as Loving Father. Jesus taught us clearly that the awesome Creator of the galaxies is a tender, loving Father who delights in us calling him Papa. But the same Jesus repeatedly warned that sinners will depart eternally from this holy Judge.

The modern church wants to accept only half of God. It seeks to renegotiate God’s revelation. It substitutes a new covenant and a new God who offers forgiveness without holiness.

Genuine Christians live like Jesus. They know who Jesus really is and surrender every fiber of their being to him. Some Christians worship Jesus as God and Savior but forget that he was the liberator for the poor, friend of marginalized women and a daring peacemaker.

Other Christians claim to follow Jesus as the world’s greatest ethical teacher but forget that he is true God as well as true man, the only way to salvation. And most Christians, no matter what they say about Jesus, don’t practice what he preached.

Daily, genuine Christians look into the face of Jesus and then, like a mirror, they reflect his glory and become more like Jesus (2 Corinthians 3:18). Genuine Christians live like Jesus.

Genuine Christians keep their marriage covenants and place their children before career. My wife, Arbutus, is a marriage counselor, and I don’t want to be simplistic about this extremely complex topic. There are circumstances when divorce is legitimate, and God’s wonderful forgiveness is available when we fail. But let me tell you about my Uncle Jesse and the woman he loved.

After five years of marriage, Jesse’s wife, Lydia, became mentally ill and after several years of pain and struggle was taken to a psychiatric hospital in Hamilton, Ont. For almost 30 years, Jesse drove the two hours to Hamilton every two or three weeks to visit the woman he had promised to love for better or worse till death would them part. Then Lydia came home for three years, where she died without warning.

Uncle Jesse made a vow before God for better or worse, and it got much worse. But he kept that covenant, by God’s grace, one day at a time.

Genuine Christians share God’s special concern for the poor. There are hundreds of Bible verses about God’s concern for the poor. Proverbs 19:17 says that helping the poor is like making a loan to Almighty God. Jesus said that when we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, we actually do it to him. And then he adds that if we don’t, we depart eternally from the Living God. Whether we are doctors, lawyers, carpenters, plumbers, politicians or teachers, genuine Christians share God’s concern for the poor.

Genuine Christians love the whole person the way Jesus did. Some Christians seem only concerned with evangelism. They just want to preach the gospel and save people’s souls. Other Christians are only concerned with feeding people and passing better laws. But Jesus was not one-sided the way many Christians are. Jesus preached and healed. He ministered to the whole person. So do genuine Christians. Genuine Christians love the whole person the way Jesus did.

Genuine Christians confess that Jesus is also Lord of economics and politics. The biblical Jesus is Lord of the boardroom as well as the bedroom. Jesus cares about how you vote as well as how you pray.

Genuine Christianity is not some little personal, privatized faith that applies only on Sunday morning and maybe in the personal world of the family. The New Testament dares to say that Jesus is now King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Genuine Christians embrace servanthood. Too often Christians have failed to combine servanthood with truth. Too often we have been more ferocious in attacking sin than gentle in loving sinners. At the center of Christianity stands a Servant. Jesus insisted that he “did not come to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45). Jesus not only modeled servanthood, he commanded his disciples to follow in his steps (John 13:14-15; 20:21).

What would happen if even a quarter of the people who claim Christ’s name were genuine Christians? Only God knows. You can dream with me by imagining what the archangel Gabriel might see in the 21st century. You and I can dream and pray—and work.

Ron Sider is professor of theology and culture at Palmer Seminary, Wynnewood, Pa. This article is reprinted with permission from The Messenger.

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