Cause and Effect
Christianity spread through the testimony of people whose experience of Jesus had changed their lives. Christians believed that Jesus had conferred upon them the gift of God’s Holy Spirit. The effect of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the lives of Christian people was perhaps the most powerful aspect of their testimony. No doubt people were interested to hear Christians proclaim that their past sins had been forgiven and that were assured a place in heaven. But Christians had a greater impact on the world by the way they lived their lives than by the announcement that they had been “saved.” It is, of course, good news that our past sins have been forgiven; but it’s even greater news if we’ve been freed from bondage to those sinful, self-destructive and other-destructive impulses that still rule the lives of so many. We’re happy to meet anyone who has received grace, mercy, compassion, and acceptance from God. We’re even happier to meet those who extend grace, mercy, compassion, and acceptance to us and to others.
In the ancient world, stories of gods coming to earth in human form were almost commonplace. Stories of dying and rising deities were not unheard-of. Magicians, soothsayers, and miracle-workers amazed and attracted people in every corner of the known world. Philosophers and sages taught their dictums and healers purveyed their nostrums to every city, town, and village where an audience could be gathered. Against this backdrop, the distinctive message of Christianity seemed to be the effect on people of Christ’s presence in their lives. Christians were different from other people; different in a very good way. They didn’t just proclaim Christ, they embodied him. Being Christian meant being Christ-like. “Love God and love your neighbor” wasn’t just a slogan or a sound bite. It was their way of living each day. Because Jesus hadn’t been just like everybody else around him, his true disciples (those who embodied his Spirit) weren’t just like everybody else around them, either. They stood out in a crowd for the ways they embodied the words and the manner of Jesus’ daily living. Jesus was the cause of it, but it was the effect of Jesus on the lives of his disciples that really got people’s attention.
Christians haven’t always remembered that. Sometimes we’ve thought it was enough to tell the world about Jesus, without letting our lives embody him. Sometimes we’ve so overlaid his message and mission with own interpretations and emphases that we’ve actually lost touch with Jesus in the tangle of our own doctrines and religious preferences. In trying to clarify him, we’ve obscured him. In trying to refine his message, we’ve distorted it. Whenever Christians have done that, we’ve become just like everybody else around us: grinding our own axes; riding our favorite hobby-horses; “spinning” the message; promoting a brand of philosophy or psychology or politics or economics that suits us, especially if it helps us to justify our own reluctance to be like Christ. Everybody around us asks, “What’s best for me?” Jesus implores us to ask, “How best to love God and my neighbor?” In chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus tries to prepare his disciples for the fact that enticements and intimidation from Christ’s opponents in the world would tempt them to abandon his words and his way. He assured them that the Holy Spirit would strengthen them and give them courage to embody his message and continue his mission in the world, in spite of the temptation to do otherwise. Opposition to the words and the way of Jesus still happens today, and it sometimes comes from within the ranks of those who call themselves “Christian,” as well as from those outside. When our personal politics, prosperity, popularity, or position require it, we’re tempted to proclaim a different message and to pursue a different way of life than that of Jesus. The effect of doing that is always to weaken his message and undermine his way of life. Far better to receive him, believe him, follow him, and embody him, allowing Jesus to cause the effect he intends in us and in the world.
Gary A. Batey, Pastor