Replacing Jesus?

Preliminary manuscript for a sermon at North Hill Adventist Fellowship, November 19, 2011.

Criticism invited, especially criticism received before 8:00 a.m. Nov. 19.

I received a phone call this week asking if I would be participating in something called “The One Project in Seattle.” I googled “One Project Seattle.” Here's what I found:

Event Description

The ONE Project is committed to the idea that a Jesus-driven, Jesus-bathed, Jesus-backed, Jesus-led, Jesus-filled, Jesus-powered, all-about-Jesus Adventist Church is the uncompromising directive from our past, the joy of our present, and the hope for our future. . . .

The ONE Project seeks . . . to stimulate preaching, worship, and adoration of Jesus within the Adventist church.

The two days set aside are simply to refresh yourself with leaders of all ages passionate about following Jesus, excited about honest open conversation, and celebrating the supremacy of Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Jesus. The organizers of The ONE Project seem to really like Jesus. You might even say they are happily obsessed with Jesus.

I couldn't help contrasting the happiness evoked by the supremacy of Jesus with the emotions evoked by other powerful people who have been in the news over the last year or so.

First it was President Ben Ali in Tunisia. He had been in power since 1987. At the end of 2010, the nation erupted with protests against him. He was forced from power. Then his friends were forced from power. Enough! He thought he was beloved. In reality, he was hated. And when he was gone, there was dancing in the streets.

Then there was President Mubarak in Egypt. He imagined he was indispensable to the well-being of his nation. He insisted he loved his country and his country loved him, but tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated otherwise and celebrated his fall.

Muammar el-Qaddafi ruled Lybia for 42 years. When protests began, he denounced them. He would never leave power. He would squash them like rats. In the end he was pulled from a culvert and battered and killed and most of the population was jubilant.

Most recently, it was Silvio Berlusconi. He had served as prime minister three times beginning in 1994. He was in love with himself and thought Italy could not prosper without him. Then suddenly economic realities forced him to resign in disgrace. Many people in Italy and elsewhere rejoiced.

In contrast to these men who imagined themselves beloved only to find themselves despised, Jesus moved from obscurity to fame and global affection. What makes the difference? Why is Jesus the focus of The ONE Project? Why is Jesus the subject of hymns he did not commission, the focus of poems written by poets he did not pay, the model for artists he did not control?

What is the difference between Jesus and Ben Ali, Qaddafi, Mubarak, and Berlusconi—men who imagined themselves beloved and indispensable and found themselves suddenly disgraced, rejected, despised?

Ben Ali, Mubarak, el-Qaddafi and Berlusconi were similar in their love for themselves and their love of power. Their first objective was preserving their privileges, their prerogatives, their power.

Jesus' first objective was the well-being of others. In dramatic contrast to Ben Ali, Mubarak, Qaddafi, Berlusconi, and the Democrats and the Republicans, and Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, Jesus freely gave power away.

We celebrate Jesus because he poured life into the world instead of sucking into himself. He calls us to do the same.

In one of the most dramatic conversations in the New Testament, Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do people say that I am?”

The disciples answered, “Some say you are John the Baptist risen from the dead. Others say you are Elijah. Still others say you are Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.”

“What about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

“Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to by man, but by my Father in heaven.”

Or, to put it into everyday English: Right on. You got it exactly right (Matthew 16).

Who is Jesus? The Messiah of God, the one destined to rule the nations with an iron rod, the one who will steamroll evil and every force that opposes the triumph and righteous transformation of God's people. The Savior of the world. The King of Peace.

Jesus is the One the world has been waiting for. Now, there will be no more waiting. Put Jesus in charge and there will be no need to ever again hold elections. No need ever again to ask who should be in charge. One boss for all people for all time. We're done.

That's how we see it. But that's not the way Jesus voiced it. Notice his segue out of his affirmation of Peter's declaration:

“You are right Peter. Your insight comes straight from God. And I will build my church on this truth.” I would expect these words to mean that Jesus will remain in charge forever, the single figure at the pinnacle of an eternal pyramid. After eons of waiting for the perfect boss, he has arrived, to remain in charge forever. That's how Qaddafi and Mubarak and Berlusconi saw themselves. They were God's gift to humanity. They could not imagine that anyone could ever come close to them in wisdom and force of character. Their nations, their economies, their legal systems, their cultures could not survive without them.

But this is not where Jesus goes. Instead, pointing to his permanent spot at the pinnacle power, Jesus immediately segues into announcing his own replacement. Jesus announces he is going to build his church on the truth of his own rightful claim to power and authority. And to this church he is going to give the keys of the kingdom. Jesus' successors will have so much authority that whatever they bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Jesus gives away his power!

How does this apply to us?

First, it is a wonderful affirmation. Jesus trusts you.

Last week, I focused on the words of Jesus in John 8, “Neither do I condemn you.” Jesus is not into condemnation. He does not attempt to batter people into repentance. He does not berate people for their failures and their sins. Instead he calls them forward into a renewed pursuit of holiness and wholeness.

Today, I pointing an even more mysterious wonder. Not only does Jesus not condemn us. He trusts us. He gives us power and authority.

In Matthew 9, Jesus calls a tax collector to serve in his inner circle. Not only did Jesus forgive someone who had a very questionable livelihood. Jesus trusted him to exercise leadership. (In that historical setting, tax collector was synonymous with corruption. Tax collectors were widely regarded by Jewish people as traitorous both religiously and politically).

The Apostle Paul was part of Christian-eradication campaign when Jesus called him. When Jesus (in vision) sent Ananias, a Christian leader, to go meet the transformed persecutor, Ananias said, “Lord, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.” Jesus responded to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel. Acts 9:13

Jesus did not merely refuse to condemn Paul. Jesus trusted him.

Jesus trusts you. He gives you spiritual authority. He trusts you to pour blessing into the lives of people around you.

In Matthew and Mark, there is the fantastic story of a woman who sneaks into a banquet and pours fantastically expensive perfume on Jesus. Others present criticize her for this shocking waste. Jesus not only refuses to condemn her. He celebrates her. “She has done a beautiful thing..” He says. “Wherever the gospel has been preached, this will be told in memory of her. Mark 14:6 and Matthew 26.

Jesus trusts her. Even when she blows a huge amount of money on a sentimental, extravagant act. Jesus honors her. “She has done a beautiful thing.”

And God trusts you.

Then there is the story of the demoniac in Mark. He is a raging, uncontrollable beast, living among the tombs outside of town. Jesus releases him from the demonic possession, then commissions him – IMMEDIATELY – as a preacher. “Go, tell the people who know you what God has done for you.”

It worked. The same people who that afternoon urged Jesus to leave their district, a few months later welcomed Jesus and sat spell bound listening to him for days.

Jesus trusted a man just minutes out of demon possession.

Jesus trusts you.

As a capstone on the Bible witness to Jesus confidence in you, consider this:

The words I say to you are just my own words. Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:10-14.

Jesus says the charm and force of his words is rooted in their origin in the Father. By implication, Jesus is challenging his disciples to allow the Father to speak with equal charm and power through them.

Jesus speaks so highly of his disciples that if anyone other than Jesus said these things we would be tempted to think it was blasphemy.

“You will do greater things than I have been doing.”

“I will do whatever you ask in my name.” Really? WHATEVER?

We tame these words down by citing other passages. We tame them down because we have asked for stuff that did not work out the way we asked. How to think about the difference between our requests and what we observe to happen is an important question. But before we chase that question, let's make sure we have heard what Jesus said. “Because I am going to my Father, if you have faith in me you will do what I have been doing. And even greater things will you do.”

Jesus did not present himself as indispensable. He presented you and me as indispensable.

He was leaving – of his own free will. He was creating space for us to work. He was creating a stage that begged for our performance. Jesus trusted us.

Just before he went back to heaven, he told a small group: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem . . . and to the ends of the world. Acts 1:8.

Our job as Christians is not to pretend to know the date of the end of the world, rather we are to share what we really do know: our testimony about the goodness of God. We are to bear witness to the character of the One who will have the last say in the course of history.

And Jesus trusts us to do it. Jesus is not wringing his hands. Jesus is not kicking the walls and punching his fists through hollow-core doors in frustration. I can't believe these stupid people. What was I thinking when I allowed them in on this?

Jesus trusts us. We can do it. We are doing it. Let's keep doing it.

And let's trust each other. We may not be flawless, but we are good enough. We have enough potential that it worth developing. We have enough goodness, that we have no excuse for not putting it to work.

Let's trust our kids. Surely they are not less likely to succeed than we were. Let's trust younger people in the church – people who are younger chronologically and people who are younger in experience, new converts, non-clergy.

Since Jesus trusts us, we will demonstrate our fullest partnership with him in the ways we trust one another.