Scott Freeman

A few weeks ago, I asked a series of questions that are on my mind. The second question in that series is thus:
Will we ever break away from our proclivity to proof-text our rationales for war, propagating poverty and elevating our spheres of concern over above the needs of those who fall outside of those spheres?

To me, the answer is as simple as the anwer that my friend Jeff originally provided: No. The truth is that we can pretty much use Scripture to justify anything that we want it to.

It’s been used to justify slavery, hatred and racism.

It’s been used to justify war, acts of aggression and extreme nationalism.

It’s been used to marginalize and reject people on the fringes of society who do not look like us or act like us.

The bottom line is that Scripture has been perverted, twisted and debased repeatedly, stretching back to the oral tradition of the Torah. So, the likelihood of that ending anytime soon is nil.

I should know, I’m guilty of it as well. I’ve used Scripture as a weapon in my life. I’ve used it to draw lines of distinction between those of us who “get it” and those who don’t. I’ve used it to draw walls between the “church” and those lost in a “denominational” world.

I’ve used it to carve out political ideologies, evangelistic techniques and worldviews based upon my own personal preferences and desires rather than investing myself in understanding the spirit of the message.

So, although, I strongly resist futile thinking when it comes to advancing the Kingdom of God, I must admit that the propensity for creating empires from a misunderstanding of Scripture will persist.

Unfortunately, this creates great pain and division.  I must imagine that when the Hebrew writer told us that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, he must have known that when you use a sword improperly, people die, lives are shattered and the perpetrators of that destruction will then seek to justify the behavior.  What has happened is 2000+ years of justifying the practice of wielding the Sword in an improper manner.

Propagating our own interests, our own advancement, our own rights became suffused with the blessing of the text.  Hence, wars, helping only those who “deserve it,” getting ahead, protecting the interests of the nation-state have become paramount and, well, blessed.

But, ultimately, where we, as Christians, must invest ourselves is in a greater attempt to understand Scripture through the person of Jesus.  He is the Word and brings how we should live into the ultimate focus. How we are to live our lives becomes much more clear when understood through the person of Christ.

If we shed the myopic habit of justifying scripture to fit our needs, we will see a Savior who was the fulfillment of all that God called us to be. He is the one we are called to follow.  He is the one that provides the understanding of the word and will of God.

What does Jesus say about war? Maybe not as much as we would like, but He did resist armed revolution in exchange for a humble surrender to the cross.  And, regardless of whether or not there have been just wars in history we must still grapple with what His example was.
What does Jesus say about poverty? He talked about giving, about caring for the least of these. He said that to do anything less than lay our lives on the altar of compassionate care for others (ie, the poor, the forgotten, the undeserving) would be tantamount to rejecting Him.

What did He say about protecting our own self-interests? He talked a lot about dying to self, picking up crosses and following after Him.  And we know where that led.

Ultimately, the word will always be distorted and manipulated to fit whatever people want it to mean.  However, the servants of the Word must commit their lives to being an embodiment of the Christ that brings a more complete understanding of the Will of God into proper view.

It’s a lot harder to misinterpret the “Word become flesh” when it is lived out than it is to misinterpet the “word consigned to text” when it is relegated to a static document.

That is revolutionary, life-changing and world shaking.

I’m trying to get there.  I’ve got a long way to go.

Am I making sense at all?

Wherein, I attempt to answer my own questions.

A couple of months ago I did a 10 part series on how I got to where I am spiritually. Today, I begin a series where I wrestle with where I am at currently.

I will do it in the context of the questions I asked yesterday.  The posts in this series will not be static.  My views and positions are in a state of flux as I suss out what it means to be Christ-like.  But, they are my views and positions.  As always, I covet your thoughts.

At what point do we, in the church, get truly serious about weighing all scripture through the person of Jesus Christ?

In John 14:6 Jesus makes his bold pronouncement that he is “the way, and the truth, and the life.”

I imagine that every preacher has a sermon that he can dust off at a moment’s notice on this passage.

“Jesus is the way–there is no other path to salvation.”

“Jesus is the truth–there is an objective standard to understanding what is true and right”

But what about the life?  What does that mean for us?  I propose that it means much more than just a full and complete existence here on earth.  It is more than a joyful approach to day to day living.

When I have preached this passage I have focused more on the abundant life idea and less on the ethical implications of the way Jesus has called us to live.

But Jesus is not merely telling us here about some great blessing or earthly benefit to embracing Him as the Way and the Truth.  He is saying, unequivocally, that to arrive at a fuller knowledge of God we must live our lives the same way Jesus did.

I think, too often, we look at “the life” in this passage as the gift that we can expect from accepting the first two rather than an admonition to live as an embodiment of “the way” and “the truth.” We think more about what Jesus wants to give us rather than what He calls us to give.
To have the true zoe life we must filter our thoughts and actions through the Jesus filter.

We can construct a legitimate argument for war if we rely solely upon OT passages but does it pass the filter of Jesus and the life that he lived?

We can teach our children the need for self-esteem and the right we have to “stand up for ourselves” but does it pass the Jesus filter of meekness and turning the other cheek?

We can justify having enemies because of various ways that we have been wronged but does it pass the Jesus filter of loving them?

We can bog ourselves down in the minutia of scripture magnifying various proof-texts into tests of fellowship and righteousness but does that pass the Jesus filter of loving our neighbor as ourselves?

To truly have “the life,” that abundant life that Jesus promises us, we have to accept the totality of what that life means. That means the ethical implications of the life Jesus lived.

It means that we take up the basin and the towel and live servant lives.

It means that we seek not to exalt ourselves but consider others better than we are.

It means that we practice mercy, even when we don’t feel very merciful.

It means that we never stop advocating for peace over and above “security.”

It means that we be reconcilers seeking first to repair damaged relationships.

It means that we develop greater hearts for the poor.

It means that we value women and their roles in the kingdom.

It means that we seek to minister at the margins of society.

It means that our “borders” are not limited to states or nations but includes all of those for whom Jesus died.

We must be intent on living our lives as Jesus did.  It is increasingly problematic to take rashly developed exegesis of OT passages to justify nation-building and embracing “chosen” status.

The mere fact that God did something does not give us equal license to do the same. He is, after all, God.  And we are not.

But we are called to be Christ-like.  And that means living “the life.”

He is the final arbiter of how we are to live.