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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781680992250 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Skyhorse Publishing |
| Publication date: | 08/01/2002 |
| Sold by: | SIMON & SCHUSTER |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 206 |
| File size: | 762 KB |
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CHAPTER 1
"WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" — ON BEING A CHRISTIAN IN NORTH AMERICA
* * *
"Most of Christ's teachings disagree with our way of living. But preachers, ... seeing that men will not fit their ways to Christ's pattern, have fitted His teaching to human customs, to get agreement somehow or other."
Thomas More, Utopia (1516)
In 1896 novelist Charles M. Sheldon published a book that captured the enduring attention of Christian readers for generations to come. In His Steps tells the story of a small-town, Protestant congregation somewhere in the Midwest. Early in the book a mysterious stranger, a tramp dressed in rags, disturbs the neatly ordered life of the parishioners of First Church by interrupting their singing one Sunday morning with a request for help. When the well-heeled members reject his plea, the tramp exclaims to the congregation, "It seems to me there's an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn't exist if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out." And then, without warning, he lurches over the communion table and dies on the spot, leaving the stunned congregation to sort through its response.
As it turns out, the disruptive event sparks a revival at First Church. Led by pastor Henry Maxwell, several members of the congregation pledge to structure their lives for an entire year around the simple question: what would Jesus do?
That question, and their determination to respond to it with integrity, ultimately transforms the entire congregation. In seeking to follow Jesus concretely — in deed as well as in word — the congregation finds itself pulled out of the comfort of its traditional piety into the messy and painful realities of urban life in Chicago. Within a year, spiritual revival becomes inextricably linked to social reform, and the book ends with Maxwell and his parishioners deeply involved in the daily lives and local neighborhoods of those they have come to serve.
Nearly a hundred years later, a youth group at Calvary Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan, read Sheldon's novel and was inspired to shape their lives around the same question: what would Jesus do? To remind themselves of this commitment they began to wear homemade bracelets with the letters "WWJD" woven into them. The bracelets quickly aroused the curiosity of their classmates and friends, and before long the WWJD movement had spread throughout the entire nation. Today, an estimated 14 million bracelets have been sold and the WWJD campaign has gone mainstream, appearing on hundreds of products. The official WWJD website calls the phenomenon "a counter-cultural revolution that has reverberated around the world."
What would Jesus do? The question certainly sounds simple and uncontroversial enough. After all, it seems obvious that those who claim the name of Christ would want to pattern their lives around his teaching and example. Obvious, that is, until you leave the safety of a Sunday morning worship service and start to ask what this might actually mean in the routines of daily life during the rest of the week.
The moment you start to get specific about what all is implied in doing what Jesus would do, the question suddenly becomes much more complicated. After all, we are likely to say, Jesus lived in a very different cultural context — the issues he faced in first-century Palestine are not the same as those we encounter in the twenty-first century. Would Jesus run for public office or lobby for political causes? Would Jesus defend his mother if she were attacked? Would Jesus avoid movies rated "R" for violence? The Gospels simply do not address these questions, at least not directly.
The basic sentiment is clear enough: Christians all want to follow Jesus. But the more concretely we try to answer the question, what would Jesus do?, the more uncomfortable we are with the possible implications of the answers. Fearful, perhaps, that taking the WWJD question seriously might challenge comfortable assumptions and habits, we prefer not to linger too long on the question. And so it seems that many contemporary Christians, even those who prominently display the WWJD motto, are more inclined to avoid the question, to evade hard thinking about the concrete teachings and example of Jesus and, instead, to reformulate the essence of Christian faith in terms that are more amendable to our current cultural practices.
Consider, for example, five varieties of Christian faith commonly practiced today. Each offers the world some very important truths about the essence of Christianity. None is a false or heretical form of Christian faith. And almost never do these expressions of faith consciously try to avoid following Christ in daily life. But in their own distinct way, each version of Christianity has found a means of blunting the difficult challenge posed by the WWJD question.
To the extent that each implies that WWJD is not really central to the good news of the gospel, it offers an incomplete perspective on biblical faith.
Not WWJD, But the Cross Is What Really Matters
Perhaps the most common way we can avoid the challenge to live as Jesus did is to shift our focus from his life and teachings to his death and resurrection. Of course Jesus did lots of good things while he was alive, but the real purpose of his life was not what he said or did, but that he died on the cross so that we could enjoy the gift of salvation. In sending Jesus to the world, God's intention was to provide sinful humanity with a means of satisfying the debt of our guilt before God. Thus, Jesus came to earth as a completely sinless and innocent person.
On our behalf he shed his blood and died a painful death, and because he did this, God can grant each of us the gift of grace and eternal life. Therefore, the question is not really "What would Jesus do?" but "What did Jesus do?" Jesus has already accomplished his mission; all we need to do now is to confess our sins and accept the sacrifice he made on our behalf. Of course Christians should strive to be good people, but the real drama of salvation has already happened on the cross. This should be our focus: giving thanks to God for His grace, and then inviting other people to enjoy the free gift of salvation.
Not WWJD, But Doctrine Is What Really Matters
For some contemporary Christians, Christian faith essentially boils down to the life of the mind, that is, to matters of belief. Through the ages, gifted church leaders and theologians have studied the Bible carefully, have debated the nature of salvation from every possible angle, and have formulated a series of specific statements that seem to distill accurately and precisely the essence of Christian theology. To become a Christian usually means that you have given these questions careful thought, and then have answered — often in the form of a public statement or affirmations to questions — "yes," you do indeed believe these statements to be true. To be sure, those who emphasize doctrinal beliefs would always insist on the importance of a relationship with God, and they would encourage Christians to live upright lives. But Christian faith takes on a tangible, concrete expression, it becomes visible and real, when the believer affirms a list of specific doctrines and then pledges to defend them with thoughtful arguments and careful proofs from Scripture.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God."
Matthew 5:9
Not WWJD, But Feelings Are What Really Matter
There are other modern Christians who are apt to say — or, more likely, to imply through their preaching and actions — that the essence of Christian faith can be found in the inward, personal, subjective experience that the believer has, once she has accepted Christ into her life as personal Savior. In this stream of Christianity, belief is not linked so much to a formal set of doctrines as it is to the emotional state of happiness, joy, and inner peace that accompanies God's presence in our lives.
Knowing that our moods can fluctuate, that there are times when we do not always sense the warm inner feeling of spiritual security, these Christians stress the importance of regular revival experiences, often accompanied by dramatic, emotional expressions of repentance or ecstatic joy.
Christians who emphasize the importance of feelings are likely to be critical of the academic abstractions that sometimes accompany an emphasis on doctrine; they are leery about a faith that is tied too closely to rules of ethical behavior. What matters most is the inner experience of the living presence of the Holy Spirit and a sense in your heart of God's intimacy and love.
Not WWJD, But Membership Is What Really Matters
Still other contemporary Christians suggest that the most important aspect of faith is a ritual of membership in which believers join the church and have their names inscribed into a heavenly "book of life." For those denominations that practice infant baptism, the act of membership occurs very early in life, while the individual is still a baby. Through baptism, God's grace and salvation are conferred on the child and he, in some sense, thereby becomes a Christian, regardless of his intentions or beliefs or feelings.
Sometimes the link between membership and salvation is less explicit. For some people raised in churches with strong family traditions or ethnic identity, faith becomes a kind of genealogical inheritance, a birthright you receive from a previous generation, with the assumption that you, in turn, are to pass it along to your children. Doctrine and feelings and behavior matter, of course, but the bedrock of Christian identity is the ritual of baptism and your membership in a particular church.
Not WWJD, But Being Good Is What Really Matters
Finally, there are many people who call themselves Christians largely because they conform to widely accepted and respectable standards of moral behavior. They may not invest a lot of energy in the finer points of doctrine; they are not likely to speak of an emotion-filled or personal relationship with Christ; they may not be all that vigilant in church attendance. But they are responsible and upstanding members of the community.
Such Christians do not cheat on their tax returns; they don't steal from their employees; they keep their lawns mowed and their leaves raked; they contribute to the United Way campaign; they serve on local school boards; they fly their flags on the Fourth of July; they obey the law; they are polite to their families and friends. These believers are pragmatic and matter-of-fact about faith. Jesus taught that Christians would be recognized by their fruits. In a world full of duplicity and greed, living as a decent, law-abiding citizen is evidence enough of one's personal religious convictions.
But What Would Jesus Do?
Clearly these short summaries are too brief to be fair to any single position. Many Christians would likely want to agree with some combination of these categories, and there are definitely positive aspects to each of these tendencies that enhance the Christian witness and could be defended on the basis of Scripture.
What is less clear, however, about any of these five categories is whether they offer a helpful understanding as to how we might model our lives more completely around the life and teaching of Jesus.
Surely the crucifixion was central to Jesus' mission on earth, but if this was the only reason he came, why did he spend so much time and energy teaching the disciples how they were to live? Or why did he warn that it would not be those who say "Lord, Lord" who will enter the Kingdom, but rather the one "who does the will of my Father" (Matthew 7:21)?
Surely Jesus cared about belief. "The one who believes," he told his listeners, "will be saved" (Mark 16:16). But he did not demand that his followers agree on a highly detailed list of doctrinal tenets before they could be considered his disciples.
Surely Jesus was a man of deep emotions who had close personal relations with a wide range of people. But he never suggested that following him would guarantee good, warm feelings or freedom from all doubts, uncertainties, and periods of confusion.
Surely Jesus cared about group identity — so much so, in fact, that he warned the disciples that allegiance to God could mean a painful separation from the natural bonds of affection they had with their biological families. But the decision to follow Jesus was never routine or automatic. Peter, James, and John chose to follow Jesus. No one was born a disciple.
And surely Jesus taught his followers to be good people — to be generous, compassionate, and responsible. But he also explicitly warned against those who thought discipleship could be reduced to following a code of common etiquette. Even the Pharisees and the righteous heathen, he said, love their neighbors and hate their enemies. There is nothing uniquely Christian about condemning adultery or demanding the justice of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Good deeds certainly mattered to Jesus, but he seems to have been less interested in gathering around him good people than in inviting people to be transformed in every aspect of their lives.
So what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus? How should we respond to the question, "What would Jesus do?" To a large extent, the answers to these questions can only be sorted out in local settings with other Christian believers who are committed to discerning God's will for their lives in very specific and concrete ways. Christian faith is too dynamic, too adventurous, to be reduced to simple formulas or a fixed set of principles.
At the same time, however, the gospels do offer some very important insights into Christ's ministry that are worth pondering, especially for those who want to take the WWJD challenge seriously. The themes from Jesus' teachings and example that I want to highlight are not comprehensive. But they may provide a number of important clues for contemporary Christians to consider, especially those of us who are looking for a way to bring a new sense of vitality, joy, and relevance into our Christian lives.
Before turning to these themes, I want to identify briefly three basic principles that I will be assuming in the reflections concluding this chapter and in the rest of the book. If, as I hope will be the case, these convictions seem reasonable to those of you who are Christians, I invite you to enter with vigor into the discussion that follows. If, on the other hand, these convictions sound preposterous or you find them cluttered with doctrinal errors, then perhaps this book is not for you.
For those readers who do not profess Christianity, I hope that the exploration that follows on the WWJD question will nudge you to think further about your own convictions and that these reflections might point you to a new life in Christ.
Some Beginning Premises
1. This book assumes that the Bible offers a true account of God's work in history and God's desire for human beings — that it is a trustworthy basis for faith and life. To be sure, Christians have not always agreed about the proper interpretation of scripture, but they do share a conviction that the Bible is the appropriate starting point for understanding God's will for humanity. In my reflections I will frequently refer to specific passages in scripture, trying to illuminate their relevance for our lives today. But even more crucial to my perspective are the broad, overarching themes in the biblical story, from Genesis to Revelation, that lie at the heart of a Christian understanding of reality.
2. At the center of the biblical account — the hinge on which the whole narrative turns — is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ reoriented human history so fundamentally that the Western tradition recalibrated its calendar in recognition of the cosmic significance of his birth. In Jesus Christ we find the fullest expression of God's character. Thus, if we want to understand who God is or what God is trying to do in the world, our focus should be on Christ's life and teachings. Christ not only offers forgiveness for our sins, but also extends an invitation to follow him in daily life. Indeed, one cannot truly know Christ apart from a commitment to live in accordance with Christ's teaching and example.
3. God's love for the world, expressed most fully in Christ, is genuinely good news, defying all human comprehension. God's love is unmerited, given without condition and without any demand that it be reciprocated. It is vulnerable, expressed in the form of a human being who renounced his own status, assumed the role of a servant, and willingly suffered humiliation, pain, and death. It is irrational, granted as freely to enemies as it is to friends. It is empowering, enabling all those who experience it to also, in turn, share it fully with others. And it is persistent, extended patiently and stubbornly even to those who choose to reject it. This is the good news of the gospel. God's love invites us to become "new creatures in Christ" — people whose hearts are transformed, whose minds are renewed, whose very identity is reshaped by the forgiveness and compassion that has been extended to us. Our calling, as Christians, is to embody this same love in a world that has not yet been redeemed.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Choosing Against War"
by .
Copyright © 2002 Good Books, Intercourse, PA.
Excerpted by permission of Skyhorse Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Introduction,
1. "What Would Jesus Do?" — On Being a Christian in North America,
2. Realism or Idealism?,
3. The Good News of the Gospel of Peace,
4. A Case for Pacifist Humility,
5. "In God We Trust" — The Dilemmas of Christian Citizenship,
6. The Transformed Politics of Christian Citizenship,
Conclusion,
For Further Reading,
About the Author,