The many sacrifices of Jesus

Last week I talked about Jesus the man. I'm going to continue that theme today, and develop it a little more.

I want to talk about the many sacrifices of Jesus.

Yes there is the obvious one. The cross. That's amazing enough in itself, but there is more.

You see I think sometimes we get so pre-occupied with the divinity of Jesus that we forget that He was also a human being. Yes its important to remember that Jesus was the Son of God. Its important to believe He died and rose again and to understand how much He went through and gave up for us.

But He gave up more than just His divinity.

He gave up more than His own life on the cross.

He gave up some of the human things that we can take for granted. We seem to think it was easy as He was the Son of God. But if he experienced the same temptations and experiences we have, then surely He would have had to make sacrifices - apart from the very obvious sacrifice of His life.

For example, marriage. If Jesus was tempted in every way He was tempted to adultery, to sleep with women outside marriage. He may have been tempted to get married, forget His ministry and continue in the family business and raise His own family, rather than choose the life and death He chose and which God had for Him.

That brings us onto the second thing, His job, His living. He was described as a carpenter but in Biblical times they did more than work with wood. He was what is called a tecton - a mason - so would have been involved in building, architecture and working with stone. The family business. He was the eldest too, so had the pressure of setting the example for the rest. He would have been expected to follow the family business, which would have given Him a secure income. Not wealthy, but secure.

To give that up and sacrifice a steady income to trust in God to provide is another tough choice.


The other thing that may have crossed His mind is the knowledge He would be thought crazy by some members of His own family, and be rejected in His home town. His friends from growing up would have maybe rejected Him and thought Him crazy. He may have been seen to have abandoned His family.

He knew who He was, He knew His mission. He knew what lay ahead. He knew the life He was giving up. He knew what some people would think of Him.

These were temptations to avoid His calling. These were things people valued greatly - wife, family, job, security, respect and friendship of peers. Jesus would have had to give all this up for His mission.

So what did He do?

He was obedient to God.

Obedient to His heavenly Father, rather that to maybe what He would have wanted on His own.

There is a clear example in Gethsemane where we see the conflict of what Jesus the man wants, and where He tries to avoid the pain that is to come. Jesus asks if there is any other way that we can be saved, any other possible path other than the one He takes.

This only makes what Jesus did even more powerful doesn't it? That He was faced with all these temptations, desires and feelings.

Yet because He loved us and knew He was the only way we could be saved was through Him, and because He wanted to be obedient to God and because He was without sin, He resisted and was obedient. He totally submitted to the will of God, even to His own death. Jesus loved us and wanted us to be saved. He loved His Father God and wanted to be obedient to Him.

That was more important to Him than His own desires as a man.

Its not just the divinity and sacrifice on the cross of Jesus that is why we should worship Him. Its that He gave up things many of us take for granted and the life we are now free to have so that we could know Him. That sacrifice is just as important.

Faced with the same choices now, what do we do? Do we choose sacrifice, do we choose God? Or do we choose our own happiness first?

Jesus chose obedience. Jesus chose God. Jesus chose the cross.

What would we have done?

Falling in love with Jesus

I fell in love with Jesus again this week.

I don't think I was out of love with Him, but I think I'd lost the enthusiasm, the fire inside was smouldering. I loved Jesus, but the passion had gone a little.

Then I did a Bible study on Jesus. Talking about Jesus the man, remembering and thinking about how much He had to endure and give up in order to save me. I watched 'The Passion' on BBC and saw what He did for me. I felt it in my heart.

Suddenly I realised how much He loved and still loves me. How He's been through much worse than I will ever go through. And He did it because He chose to. He did it because He loved me. He did it willingly and in total obedience and submission to God. So that I could be free. He allowed it to happen to Him. The worst kind of suffering any man could ever experience.

He gave up everything for me. When I woke this morning, Easter day, and knew the grave was empty and that He'd given it all up for me and emerged triumphant, I just felt overwhelming thanks and love for Him. More than I ever have before. I felt humbled and wanted to just bow down and worship. I sang my heart out at church and at home on my own.

I fell in love with Jesus again. I knew the full gravity and power of what He'd done for me and been through for me even though I've let Him down so often and even though I don't deserve it. I knew a bit more of how much love He has for me. I trusted Him like never before. I wanted to serve Him out of love, not obligation.

Jesus is amazing. There is no one like Him. He gave everything for me and now He's alive. The grave is empty. Forever.

What an amazing person. What a Saviour. I love Him.

Jesus - the Man and the Saviour

The above is a trailer for 'The Passion', which was shown on BBC this week and concludes Easter Sunday. A new dramatic re-telling of the story of Easter.

There are some historical inaccuracies, but the thing which struck me the most was that this told the story of Jesus the man.

Other dramatisations are very good, but Jesus is displayed more in his divinity and less of a man. Someone with presence, someone who stood out.

Now this is true. Jesus was divine. Jesus did stand out. But he was also a man. Jesus descended from Heaven and submitted himself to human experience. Jesus didn't just suddenly 'know' the scriptures. He had to learn them like anyone else could have done.

Yes, He had an anointing from God, a unique anointing. He was the Son of God. But he was 100% man as well as 100% God. Jesus grew up a Jew, in Jewish culture. He re-defined culture. He showed us the kind of culture God intends us to live in.

Jesus came not just for the cross. He came to show us how to live God's way out in a practical way. How to live as a man the way God wants us to. He got hungry. He felt physical and emotional. Pain. He was tempted. He had friends. He had family. He shared in all our experiences and temptations. He felt frustrated and angry. He had a sense of humour. He felt love.

He showed us it is possible for men and women to live differently. That it’s possible to deal with all the temptations of this life and issues that we face.

Jesus was divine. But he was also a man. He wasn't distant and above all the experiences of this life - but the difference was that He didn't give in to sin and temptation. Jesus was tempted in every way we are. Every single way. I'm sure that the temptation didn't just come in the desert, or when the cross was near. During his ministry He was probably tempted in circumstances that aren't mentioned in the Bible - in private, in His mind and heart. But they probably happened.

To know what His destiny was and willingly submit to it even though it involved sacrificing Himself. Jesus remember when He came to the cross didn't know for sure what would happen. He'd given up being outside of time. He trusted His life totally to God. He was obedient to what God told Him to do. But in his emotional, physical, mental and spiritual agony on Good Friday it must have been hard to be faithful. The temptation to say no, the temptation to avoid it. Jesus said Himself in Gethsemane that if it was possible He wanted to avoid the cross. The human side of Him didn't want it - but He knew that it was God's will. He loved us too much not to go through with it. He knew it was the only way salvation was possible.

One he resolved to go through with it. Once he submitted Himself to it, He gave Himself to it totally. He gave in to God. He went with it. He allowed it to happen to Him. He didn't fight it.

Right to the end He was obedient. Right to the end He was without sin. Right to the end He forgave. Right to the end, He loved.

Yet He was physically still a man. He still felt all the emotion, pain, temptation and mental torture that it is possible to feel for a man. But He felt one thing we never experience.

Separation from God.

To save us, He had to take our sin, and He had to suffer the punishment God has for sinners. He had to be abandoned by God. In order to save us God had to abandon His own Son.

Imagine that.

None of us, not even non-believers, ever have to experience that. God is always with us. God's presence is here on earth with us, if only we choose to recognise it and hear it.

Jesus had to cope not only with the worst kind of physical, emotional and mental suffering ever known, but also being abandoned by God.

And yet, He still was obedient. He still was without sin. He still did not abandon His mission.

What love. What mercy. What obedience.

Jesus was a man. He shared all our human emotions, temptations and experiences. He had friends, He had family, and He knew what it was to live every day as a human being and lived as one of us with us. He showed us how it’s possible to live on this earth and serve and follow God.

He was a man.

He also suffered more than any of us can ever suffer. And remained without sin. Remained obedient right till the end. And remained a man.

He truly was the Son of God. He is truly amazing. He deserves all our praise and worship.

The Jesus in 'The Passion' was Jesus the man, but a man who was clearly different. Who was clearly divine. Who was obedient to His calling, to His father to the point of death. Who showed His divinity through His lifestyle. His actions. His words. His obedience.

But who also showed that despite our sin, it is possible for us to live how God intended, and then through His sacrifice made that way possible.

I'm proud and honoured to know Him, to follow Him and to be His friend.

Giving God our best - everywhere and with everyone

Hypocrisy.

Its something that other people do isn't it. Or something that the Pharisees do in the Bible, but not us.We often subconciously say to ourselves that we've just about got it nailed or start to think we're right most of the time, and we'd never really be hypocrites. We get complacent, and its a subconscious thing that happens without our realising it.

Well today I realised that's certainly true for me.

It’s ironic, having been talking in my last post of Jesus as a way of life, a lifestyle choice, that today I was humbled in the most powerful and deep-rooted way ever, and by a non-Christian at that.

Without going into detail, basically there is a key part of my life which I'd put down as a minor priority, when actually it’s a big priority. My work. For so long my life has been outside work, my faith has been outside work, something I do everywhere else. Work was what I did to live and didn't matter as much.

Today that changed. I realised that was all wrong. I realised that I'd seriously mucked up.

In fact, doing my job well is a fundamental part of being a Christian.

If I'm a Christian that means I give 100% commitment and energy to doing every part of my life well, giving it my best - including my work. God gave me this job, God is with me watching me at work. When I'm at work people know I'm a Christian and how I work and treat people is going to impact people's view of Jesus as well as their view of me.

Doing that aspect of my life well is key to being a Christian - for all of us.

It hadn't been for me.

That has to change. That is going to change for me. Starting right now.

I knew this before, but today realised in my heart that if we're not taking one important area of our life seriously, if we're not giving it our full attention, effort, concentration and commitment then we aren't honouring God with it.

If we don't take how we treat others seriously. If we don't take church seriously. If we don't take our private times with God or our Bible study seriously. If we don't take how we treat our bodies seriously. If we don't take our attitudes seriously. If we don't take our jobs seriously. If we think any of those doesn't involve God and it doesn't matter how well we do them.

Any of that means that we aren't involving God in it.

It means we're probably not orientating ourselves around God, but around what we want. It means we're consuming God. Taking what we can get and leaving the tough stuff about life behind.

That's not being a Christian. That's being a hypocrite.

That's what I've been doing. That has to stop.

I'm writing this here so its on record. People who know me, please keep me accountable in this.

But everyone who reads this, think about your life carefully.

What important areas of your life are you not giving your full attention and commitment to? Who really is your God, what do you really orientate your life around?

Be honest.

If God's the most important thing to us, then things like work, healthy living, treating people properly, church and forgiving and serving others are all things we should be giving total commitment to and working hard at. With all our energy, time and resources.

Not just taking what we can get and leaving the rest behind. That's consumerism and the culture of yourself as the most important thing in this world and that's not the way to live.

Its certainly not the way I want to live.

I know I will still make mistakes, but the one mistake I hope I never make again is ignoring the fact that Jesus and being a Christian needs to impact me wherever I am, whatever I'm doing and whoever I'm with. I need to try my best to be the best I can in whatever I do or say, in all the different parts of my life.

Becuase Jesus is involved and wants our best in all of them.

For us to become like Him, its simply something we have to do.

'Doing God' today - Not religous and not a label

I recently read an article from a special feature on God in the New Statesman. It was written by a man called Ziaduddin Sardar, talking about 'The right way to do God'.

He writes:

"The fabric of modern society is comprised of questions of moral conscience and none of us can escape the obligation to make choices for which we must bear responsibility. The sooner we can be open and honest about how and why we struggle with the questions, the better it would be for...our political and public debate"

He concludes "I know we all need a more challenging idea of what 'doing God' actually means."

He's so right.

Now, for me the term 'doing God' in the context describes a cultural shift. The way people perceive God and people who believe in Him has to change. The old way of 'doing God' culturally is going.

Faith as something of you merely believe is not the future. Its never been the way.

Faith, religion, God is now becoming a way of life. A lifestyle choice, not just a decision about what you believe.

That's how it used to be. Whether you were a Christian or not depended on what you believed not on how you lived. They were almost separate, unless you were a priest or a monk. In society, God had - and still is - compartmentalised. Even now, in many Christian churches, there isn't so much about Christianity as a way of life, a lifestyle choice, a cultural decision made by individuals - but something you believe in.

Many churches today are obsessed with getting people to believe the right thing. Not only that, but to 'get in' you have to agree with everything this doctrine says.

But Christianity is more than doctrine. Doctrine is important, but its only one part of being a Christian, and what interpretation you believe and whatever wing of theology you end up on, then it has something to do with your own upbringing, background and life experience. The way you first experienced God, the way you experienced life. It all impacts your theological perspective.

But its only the beginning.

Christianity - which is how I prefer to 'do God' as Mr Sardar puts it - is a way of life. Its a lifestyle choice. It a cultural choice for individuals.

Everything we do every day is part of being a Christian. Every choice we make, everything we do, all our priorities and needs, our whole way of life should revolve around God. Around Jesus. Around following His example in every area of our life. Work, rest, play, good times, bad times, joy, suffering, church, home, day, night.

The term 'Christian' is not a label we can put on something which is written by a Christian or about Jesus or Christianity in some shape or form.

Christian should not a label we put on ourselves. Its not a 'type' of anything. Christianity is the culture of how we live. Its our identity. Its our lifestyle. Books by Christians about some aspect of Christianity shouldn't be called 'Christian' books - they are books about Christianity by Christians. Worship music or and type of music made by Christians shouldn't be called 'Christian music'. Its worship music, its rock music - its music of a certain type with lyrics about Jesus or God. Or a band made up of Christians.

Christianity is how you live your life. Your daily choices, how you treat people, how you engage with society and the people in it. How you engage with God.

When you see it for that, then it opens up whole new possibilities. So many new interpretations which are still in line with the heart of the gospel and the nature of God. It means that you will always be looking for new ways of living like Jesus in the time and place you are. You will be open to new things. The things you create will be label free, but could still be about Jesus. How you do church is more flexible.

Church is a community of Christians meeting together, worshipping together, going through life together, discipling and training each other and supporting each other, serving together and together getting involved in the community its part of.

When you see Christianity as a lifestyle and a group of Christians see it like that too then church naturally opens up and becomes more in touch with its community. It becomes bigger than the meetings and home groups, its becomes alive. It becomes organic. It grows.

The way to 'do God' now is to make it your lifestyle choice. The thing that all your choices and decisions in every area of your life revolve around. More than just what you believe and definitely not a label or a religion.

Then we see more and more of who Jesus really is and what He's like and that He is just as relevant now and will be tomorrow as he was yesterday.

Then maybe eventually the world we live in will start to see that Christianity and 'doing God' Jesus' way is not religion. Is not a label. Its a way to live. What's more, maybe that its the best way to live.

What a prospect.

Be Progressive

People often defend the idea of absolute, fundamental truth.

I agree that at a very basic level, there are basic truths - about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and also scientific truths.

They are all linked as well. Science is part of God's creation. He made it, He defined it, and so any proven 100% (as opposed to 99%) scientific fact can be called true. True about God's creation.

Science is limited however. There is only so much you can measure with science.

However, if you look at science as a dimension of God's creation, or even part of God, then you have a slightly different view. God the creator expressing Himself through creation, and science as a means of making it all happen.

Almost like God created science in order to help us understand His creation and measure it. They are two sides of the same coin. They compliment each other. Science can't 100% prove God's existence, but God can sure explain the existence of science.

There are things about God, and about science, that we don't know yet.

Believe it or not.

In terms of science, well we are learning more every day; there are plenty of people looking for those new ideas.

As for God, well that's a different story. Progressives are always called heretics by their generation.

The problem, which can be found in science as well as in Christianity, is that every generation seems to think they are the enlightened ones, that they have the definitive answers to everything, both spiritually and scientifically.

Each time this happens progressive thinkers come along and come up with new interpretations, new ideas. In science, until they prove it, they are called crazy.

If you're a Christian, you're called a heretic.

The Christian faith as we know it now is very different from that 400 years ago. Most Christians living now would be burnt at the stake as heretics if they went back there and spoke the same things.

Yet now, many of these self-same people call any preacher or church that comes up with progressive ideas which challenge us to look at things or at God in a different way, in a new way, in a way which is radically different from anything before, a heretic.

Here's an interesting fact for you. Jesus Himself was effectively called a heretic. He was accused of blasphemy. He was executed for it in fact.

Is that not a lesson for us?

Every so often a time comes in history where we need to push forward, where we need to look at things in a new way, where God is showing us new dimensions of Himself and giving us new challenges.

The church needs to move forward and adapt and change so that it can communicate a relevant message in a relevant way. The basic truths never change, but how we live them out has to change.

I think often we're more the problem with making Jesus relevant.

We limit the message, we put boxes around it, and we say there is only one right interpretation or meaning to a passage.

Well some people do anyway.

There are so many new things God wants to say through old scriptures. Teachings which don't go against old truths, but elaborate on them, but open them out and open our eyes to new ways of seeing them and new ways of applying them.

Christianity more than ever before is something not just that we believe in, but a way of life. A culture in itself. A way of living, a lifestyle choice.

It always was meant to be so, but now, in the lifestyle culture we live in, that teaching, that interpretation is more relevant now than ever. Being a Christian isn't just about believing and going to church.

It’s a lifestyle choice.

It’s an attitude.

It’s a state of mind.

Based on basic truths found in the Bible.

We need to be humble. We need to be open to anything God says, even if it hurts our pride or ego. Fear too is a boundary to hearing new ideas and teachings from the Bible.

As long as they don't contradict the nature and character of God, as long as they don't contradict the very basic truths in the Bible - at a very basic level - then they are worth considering.

Basic truths for me are summed up beautifully in the Nicene Creed....

"I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen."

In my opinion if any teaching comes along which doesn't in any way deny this, and doesn't go against the perfectly just, loving, merciful, gracious and forgiving nature of God then it is worth considering and thinking about.

There is so much more to learn about God, and about how to be a Christian. There's so much more He has to say to us.

Let’s not get so caught up in religion and tradition that aren't aware of how God wants us to live. Now. Today.

Because the way He wants us to live today will be different from what has gone before, purely because the culture, society and world that we live in today is different from even 50 years ago, yet alone 400 years ago.

Let’s not get stuck in tradition. Let’s be progressive. Let’s grow.

Personally I'm excited to see what new things God wants to say and do and I want to be open to see and hear them.

Aren't you?