Will the Real Jesus, Please Stand Up?

In the year 2000, rapper Eminem performed at the MTV Video Music Awards, the name of the song was “I’m the Real Slim Shady”.  He stood before 100s of white young men; adorned just like him with blond hair; wearing blue jeans and white t-shirts; while bobbing their heads to the music.  Amid these competing images of himself (or his persona Slim Shady); Eminem emerges with a microphone in hand, repeating the question, “Will the real slim shady please stand up, please stand up?” Later in the chorus, he reveals, “Cause I’m slim shady, yes I’m the Real Slim Shady”. Remembering this song and video caused me to wonder, will the real Jesus please stand up?

Over 2000 years ago, Jesus emerged as this radical, relevant and rebellious figure. Below are His first public words; defiant and directed toward a religious and cultural hierarchy, who desired to maintain a status quo of which they were the beneficiaries:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come”. Luke 4:18-19

This Jesus stood before an audience in search of a Messiah (One who would finally deliver or set free a specific people) and declares hope for excluded people. His message is clear; God’s mission/purpose is not limited to the hearer’s particular people group.  After stating his mission, Jesus with a sense of rebellion (toward this oligarchic audience), radically declares: “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Luke 4:21.

In essence, Jesus exclaims today your lives and the lives of those

who have yet to know about the Messiah is irrevocably altered.

For the remainder of Jesus’ earthly life, his actions are both indicative of his message and give evidence that he is the Messiah.  By virtue of the miracles Jesus performed and his willingness to obey God above religious doctrine; even unto death, his every expression and resurrection reveals that He is the real Messiah. Yet, doubt lingers and many continue to ask will the real Jesus please stand up?

Today, the once radical, relevant and rebellious Jesus is cast as one that fits into the culture; that follows the status quo. Woefully, Jesus is characterized as meek and accommodating; one that acquiesces to popular political, social, and religious pressures.  Consequently, some are wondering what happened to the daring Jesus who willfully declares the truth of and lives in obedience to God?

For many Jesus seems like those extras in Eminem’s performance;

they looked like him but they were powerless, mere accessories.

As a Christian and as a pastor, I admit sometimes I wonder have we (the church), have I caused Jesus to become a mere accessory?  Are we Christians following a radical, relevant and rebellious Messiah? Or are we Christians capitulating to a Jesus whom we have remade in our own (powerless) image?

As Eminem spoke into the microphone and declared I’m the real slim shady

and led those who looked like him toward the stage;

he removed any doubt of who was the real slim shady.

Are You Following the Real Jesus?

Lord, I confess I need the real Jesus to please stand up! Gracious God speak into my heart and into my spirit. I need the real Jesus to restore in me His spirit of radical; relevant, rebellion. Jesus, my Messiah, empower me toward a more consistent and unflinching belief in your miracles; in your promises and in your commands. Fashion in me an unto death resolve – to willingly obey God above religious doctrine; above societal, cultural and political norms.  God, I know, I am made in your image; remove any doubt in me that the real Jesus is radical, relevant and rebellious; thus reminding me that I, too, am to live and be radical, relevant and rebellious. In Jesus name, may this prayer be fulfilled this very day!  Amen.

If this is your prayer, say Amen! Today your life and those around you is being irrevocably altered. Let's go live unto death.

Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton

Lead Pastor

Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, 

committed to becoming and making disciples".

"God's Favor Isn't Fair!, Really?"

God's Favor Isn’t/Ain’t Fair is a phrase sometimes uttered when someone receives an unexpected gift or has a positive response to their prayer.  Viewing God in such a manner is troubling because it suggests that God truly has a list of favorites.  If God's favor ain't fair, Christians might do well to reevaluate the God to whom they confess their allegiance.

Perhaps, God isn’t the problem; maybe the Christian’s definition or understanding of God is the problem. Or could I be incorrect for suggesting there is a problem?

When Christians bask in the notion of God choosing them over/at the expense of others, does their response demonstrate a well-nourished understanding of God? Or might their concept of God be more exemplary of the divisive and bereft nature of people (the creation)?  

Asserting that one is favored is informed by the need to be first, special, better than, etc. Leading to an unhealthy drive to head the food chain even to the extent of classifying God as one that mocks and labels "the other" as not favored. History records the flaws and destructive consequence of such thought: i.e. slavery, Holocaust, Jim Crow. Philosopher Samuel von Pufendorf warns us: “More inhumanity has been done by man himself than any other causes”.

Too often our inhumanity is cloaked in God or religious accouterment.

When we suggest that God’s favor isn’t fair, we in essence claim that God is unfair. In doing so, we deprive people of hope! We are telling the "not yet favored" that God's gifts aren't for them. Is that the message, we want the world to hear about a God we say, loves ALL? 

Think about it in these terms, the gifts of God are denied to others because "Favor ain't fair"! Really? So:

• the 870 million people in the world suffering from chronic malnourishment,          are not favored?  
• the more than 16 million children in the U.S. that live in households with an income below the poverty line, are not favored?
• the near 3 million people receiving jobless benefits, are not favored?
• the 634,000 people that experience homelessness on any given night in the U.S., are not favored?
• the 32 million adults in the U.S. and the 774 million people in the world who     can’t read, are not favored?

Be careful what you believe because actions follow beliefs!

Announcing, "favor isn't fair" is akin to the first grader bragging she/he was the only one to receive a special gift card from their teacher. The teacher’s gift wasn't motivated by the teacher loving/liking the student more than their classmates. The Christian; like the first grader, proclaiming God's favor of themselves over others, places the character of God in question:  Does God love you more than me? Is God selective with whom He blesses? Does God give certain people/ groups preferential treatment?   How does God choose who receives His gifts? Do I matter to God? Does/Did God really "so loved the world"? We might consider the following:

Does God have character issues or have Christians

misappropriated the meaning of God’s gifts?

Perhaps, we are too quick in defining God through our own prisms and too slow in allowing ourselves to be shaped and defined by God! Maybe, we lack a correct/accurate understanding of the nature of God. If we discover that God is indeed the lover of ALL our souls, we would know that God’s favor extends to everyone. Favor isn’t measured in material possession, social status or economic status but is measured in God’s love for His creation. God’s favor for ALL of us is so great that Romans 8 reminds us that NOTHING we have or lack ”will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Some of the aforementioned people have a greater appreciation for what God’s favor is because despite their circumstances; they continue to see the favor of God’s love at work in their lives. Suffering and disappointment may abound but they recognize favor is not defined by one’s power over, accumulation of, or the privilege one receives. When God is rightly perceived; we see and experience God’s true favor; in terms of love, forgiveness and grace.

Proclaiming Favor isn't Fair is divisive and destructive; immediately barriers are cast between the "Favored" and "unFavored". By announcing favor isn't fair, we are saying God has declared winners and losers; and worst of all, the Favored (winners) want us to believe that God proudly crowns them so! 

Have You Ever Been Lost?

Have you ever asked for directions? 

Here is a story of a celebrated truck driver who had become known simply as the master, a name well earned because he had mastered the roads throughout the universe, there was not a road unfamiliar to the master whether it was a major highway, a country road, a suburban street, or a city thoroughfare the master could provide directions with precision to the desired destination. 

The Master was better than any AAA triptik and more concise than a GPS giving notification of new recalculations.  But strangely, just like mapping out a trip with the assistance of triptik or following every turn of your GPS, people were still getting lost with directions from the Master.  

There were emergency (911) calls across the world from major cities to suburban areas and to the most remote rural lands. Accidents were occurring everywhere. People were confused and distressed wondering how such a thing could happen? The collisions on the highways caused consternation in the suburbs; conflict in the rural lands and created commotion everywhere. Wherever the Master's eyes gazed disastrous results were seen. 

At each accident scene, questions were asked, and it became clear the driver had been lost. Other questions followed, From whom did you get your directions? Every driver that was questioned replied, from the Master! Knowing that the truck driver world-renowned as the Master provided safe and detailed directions, the investigator’s follow up question was: Were you following the Master's directions at the time of the accident? Everyone questioned replied No! 

“Before every person lies a road that seems to be right,

but the end of that road is death and destruction”.

Proverbs 14:12 (The Voice Bible)

The above is a contemporary story, here is an encouragement from the 500’s to follow the Master’s direction written by St. Benedict known as “The Rule of St. Benedict” for monastic living:

“Listen my son (daughter), and turn the ear of thine heart to the precepts of thy Master.

Receive readily, and faithfully carry out the advice of a loving Father, so that by the

 work of obedience you may return to Him, whom you have left by the sloth of disobedience.

For thee, therefore, whosoever thou be, my words are intended, who, giving up thy own will,

dost take the all-powerful and excellent arms of obedience to fight under the Lord Christ, the true King”.

Benedict of Nursia, Rule of St. Benedict, 1.

Have you ever asked the Master for directions

and ignored them only to experience disastrous results?

Believing "Jesus is Lord" - Changes Everything!

Below is an excerpt from Brennan Manning's

The Importance of Being Foolish: How to Think Like Jesus. 

“Scripture is not about the transmission of inert ideas. It is a call to love, and love that does not lead to action is not love. Every day of our lives the Word (scripture) is an imperative to rediscover the truth that, in the words of Hans Kung, “the whole secret and center of human existence remains the person of Jesus Christ.”

In my own mind, the greatest need in the church today is to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is the burden of the entire doctrine of Saint John’s Gospel, “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). But this knowledge is more than a casual acknowledgement that Jesus lived and died and rose again. It is this kind of knowledge that leaves us changed. It is an encounter with someone who alters the very course of our lives.  “It is not uncommon”, as Ralph Martin notes, “for many Christians to have a seriously incomplete idea of what the Scriptures say about Jesus Christ. Many have a vague idea of Jesus as a ‘good guy’ who helped the poor and told people to love one another. They operate with a fuzzy, almost symbolic notion of Jesus as the symbol for a liberal’s idea of goodness.”

Those who say, “Jesus would never hurt anyone”, often mean to rule out the possibility that he would ever ask someone to repent or go through the pain of recognizing his brokenness. To believe that all Jesus calls us to is to be nice to each other is to substitute the Christ of Christian humanism for the Christ of Saint Paul.

In Hebrews, we read, “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Hebrews 12:1). In the same letter, we are told, “Worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire’” (Hebrews 12:28-29). This is no Christ the humanitarian, Christ the master of interpersonal relationships, or Christ the buddy. 

It is Christ the Lord and Savior who calls us to repent,

change our lives, and strike out in a new direction.

Writes F.X. Durrwell: “This knowledge of Jesus Christ as saving Lord is the only knowledge that has any worth for us.””

_______________________________________

"Jesus is Lord" is indeed a Game Changer, I have witnessed the lives of friends, family members, church attenders/members and strangers altered who embraced the Lordship of Jesus. Their lives changed in such way; that they shared, they lived life with new direction and meaning. 

Not only have I witnessed this altering in the lives of others but my own life is continually being altered. I am being both challenged and changed by embracing "Jesus is Lord". It's easy to say I am a Christian but to believe and live "Jesus is Lord" Alters/Changes Everything! 

"Jesus is Lord" is not a life of ease or comfort 

but a life of submission to being changed. 

--

Inspired By Love,

Marcus J. Singleton
Lead Pastor
Living Faith Community

Hoover, AL

Our Vision: "A diverse community of faith; inspired by the love of Jesus, 

 committed to becoming and making disciples".