We’ve been looking at the unaltered, unadulterated, and unchanging Jesus. We have enough challenges in following Jesus without being ignorant about who it is we worship. This post continues the discussion about the Jesus presented in the scriptures to draw some clearer distinctions between the timeless Jesus of history and the pretend one we hear about much too often.
This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him (John 3:16-18, The Message).
Alright, I’ll admit it, I can’t stand Tough Love Jesus. He is about as useless as a copy of one of those Y2K preparation guides turned out to be. While I will agree with the hard-liners that Jesus doesn’t love us with a mamby-pamby kind of love (he wasn’t a wimp, you know the picture that gets painted in those cheesy gospel films, do they still make those films?), I won’t agree with the hard-liners when it comes to what is underneath their conditional love teaching.
Here’s the skinny: If Jesus is as tightfisted with his love as many of those who claim to be his spokepeople propose he is, I’d say Jesus is no different than any other religious scam artist. But thankfully, Jesus loves us with a love to die for, delivered by nail scared hands. Name another “god” who voluntarily laid down his perfect life as a ransom for our sinful ones? Tough Love Jesus loves us with a love that is conditional. He is the champion of those don’t have the stomach for a Jesus who made himself vulnerable, they prefer a Jesus who cares more about rules than he does souls.
This artificial Jesus is chompin’ at the bit to cut you from his team the moment you get out of line. His top priority is to whip you into shape. This Jesus loves you as long as you behave. When you are bad, well, you are out of luck. It’s “good riddance and don’t come back” when you mess up one too many times. Second chances? Not hardly, so dont’ ask for a third. Tough Love Jesus questions your salvation as if it were constantly in the balance and ever under review as he continues to move the bar and raise the stakes—making assurance of salvation a delusion. This extremely popular Jesus would have you fretting and questioning whether you have done enough to get into Heaven, while the real Jesus has secured your splendid future without end and there isn’t anything you need add or can subtract from his sufficient sacrificewhich makes it all possible.
For me, I can relate to Tough Love Jesus, I have been associated folks who’d fight you ’till the death for challenging this Jesus to a dual. Tough Love Jesus wouldn’t consider going after a lost sheep, he’d let the dumb sheep find his own way home so he’d learn a valuable lesson. And if he never made it home, Tough Love Jesus wouldn’t lose any sleep.
1Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3Then Jesus told them this parable: 4′Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent (Luke 15:1-7, NIV).
We are Pelagians at heart and in turn tend to highlight the tough side of God’s love. It’s safe, it’s human, and it’s calculable. But God’s love is none of the above.
Karl Barth is regarded by many scholars and preachers as possibly the greatest theologian of the twentieth century. Philip Yancey writes, “When the renowned theologian Karl Barth visited the University of Chicago, students and scholars crowded around him. At a press conference, one asked, ‘Dr. Barth, what is the most profound truth you have learned in your studies?’ Without hesitation he replied, ‘Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.’ I agree with Karl Barth. Why, then, do I so often do act as if I am trying to earn that love? Why do I have such trouble accepting it? ~Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace? (page 67).
God’s love demonstrated in Christ isn’t tough, it’s ferocious and it’s free for the believing. Jesus is the lover of your soul. He loves you with a love that doesn’t take a vacation or a leave of absence. And you can’t be any more loved than you are right this second.
2 Comments
February 19, 2009 at 11:20 am
I am so grateful to have the unconditional love of Jesus! Great post!
February 19, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Great post.