Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
—Philippians 2:5–8
Brian McLaren shows how Jesus as the image of God changes our understandings of who God is:
The implications of the Philippians 2 passage are staggering. Simply put, God as known in the Christ is not the stereotypical Supreme Being of traditional “omnitheology.” That Supreme Being of Christian theology was characterized first and foremost by controlling, dominating, dictatorial power … not limited by any law except the will of the Supreme Being Himself: omnipotence.
In sharp contrast, the God imaged by Jesus exerts no dominating supremacy. In Christ, we see an image of a God who is not armed with lightning bolts but with basin and towel, who spewed not threats but good news for all, who rode not a warhorse but a donkey, weeping in compassion for people who do not know the way of peace. In Christ, God is supreme, but not in the old discredited paradigm of supremacy; God is the supreme healer, the supreme friend, the supreme lover, the supreme life-giver who self-empties in gracious love for all. The king of kings and lord of lords is the servant of all and the friend of sinners. The so-called weakness and foolishness of God are greater than the so-called power and wisdom of human regimes.
In the aftermath of Jesus and his cross, we should never again define God’s sovereignty or supremacy by analogy to the kings of this world who dominate, oppress, subordinate, exploit, scapegoat and marginalize. Instead, we have migrated to an entirely new universe, or, as Paul says, “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) in which old ideas of supremacy are subverted.
If this is true, to follow Jesus is to change one’s understanding of God. To accept Jesus and to accept the God Jesus loved is to become an atheist in relation to the Supreme Being of violent and dominating power. We are not demoting God to a lower, weaker level; we are rising to a higher and deeper understanding of God as pure light, with no shadow of violence, conquest, exclusion, hostility, or hate at all.
We might say that two thousand years ago, Jesus inserted into the human imagination a radical new vision of God—nondominating, nonviolent, supreme in service, and self- giving…. Maybe only now … are we becoming ready to let Jesus’s radical new vision replace the old vision instead of being accommodated within it. Could some sectors of Christian faith finally be ready to worship and follow the God that Jesus was trying to show them [and us]?
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| DEC 11, 2024 The Idol of Tradition: Perpetuate Love, Not Practices |
 Click Here for AudioThe central temptation of all idols is the same: control. The false god always promises that by serving it we will gain control and avoid the fears that assail us in an unpredictable world. This is certainly the case with the idol of tradition. By strict adherence to an inherited set of values and practices, we are led to believe that the same positive outcomes experienced in the past will continue uninterrupted into the future. This desire for control through devotion to tradition is often seen within the organizations we construct and perpetuate. Consider this pattern. A man or woman powerfully filled with Christ’s Spirit accomplishes amazing ministry for God. Others are attracted to the leader and over time a community forms. But once the Spirit-filled leader is gone, those remaining assume his or her ministry can and should be perpetuated. The wind may have shifted, but they want it to keep blowing in the same direction. So, an institution is established based on the departed leader’s tradition, values, methods, and vision. If this tradition is rigorously maintained, it is believed, then the same Spirit-empowered ministry that was evident in the leader’s life will continue through the institution. Many ministries and denominations originated in just this way. But what we often fail to see is that the Spirit’s power was not unleashed in the leader’s life because he or she had the right values or employed the right strategy. This “fire of God,” as Dallas Willard calls it, was in their soul because of their intense love of Jesus Christ. Rather than focusing on perpetuating a leader’s ministry methodology or tradition, we ought to focus on reproducing his or her devotion to God, but that is a far more challenging task. We have become experts at replicating systems and programs, but how do you replicate something as mysterious as a soul consumed with the fiery love of Christ?As Willard writes, “One cannot write a recipe for this, for it is a highly personal matter, permitting of much individual variation and freedom. It also is dependent upon grace—that is, upon God acting in our lives to accomplish what we cannot accomplish on our own.” In other words, rather than trusting in tradition to give us a sense of control, we need to surrender control entirely and trust in the grace of God. DAILY SCRIPTURE JOHN 3:1-8 PHILIPPIANS 3:12-16 WEEKLY PRAYER A Gaelic prayer God guide me with your wisdom, God chastise me with your justice, God help me with your mercy, God protect me with your strength, God shield me with your shade, God fill me with your grace, For the sake of your anointed Son. Amen. |
