Skip to main content

Are you a demigod?

I was sitting in church this morning and the pastor spoke about “modeling” Christianity and the need to find someone to “model” after. It is true that I would like to be a good model of God's grace, although much of today's teaching on the subject takes it in a different direction. The modeling I heard about this morning sounded good and probably tickled a few ears, however one of the problems with this philosophy that I see is that this “model” is usually created by a person pushing their version of a Christian agenda. You see, the whole premise of a model is wrong, unless of course Jesus is your model. You know Jesus he is the one who dealt in unconditional love. The one who used mercy, grace and kindness to upend the religious zealots of his day and their wayward philosophies passed off for godliness. The one who deals with people on an individual basis and not some preconceived idea of cookie cutter Christianity where everyone looks the same, talks the same and interacts the same way. The one who understands that each individual person is made in the image of God. An individual who needs to be dealt with on an individual basis. We have lost sight of people individually in our zeal to get them inside the mold we have designed for them.

The second problem is that the place of this “model” is pushed to happen only at church. Yet Jesus dealt with people outside of the synagogue throughout his ministry. The 12 disciples, Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the woman taken in adultery, his mother at the wedding, the feeding of the 5,000, I could go on but I think the point is adequately illustrated. Finding individual people in all their difficulties and problems and bringing unconditional love accompanied by mercy, grace and truth will have a greater impact upon our society than having a soul winning and/or a discipleship program.

The third problem is that the outsider is asked to be the pursuer of this model by picking a person to model after. Maybe that is why no one at this church I attended this morning even said hi to me. I guess they were looking for me to be outgoing an extroverted and pursue them. Having someone look up to you becomes a place for pride and leads to idolization and hero worship, why not point them to Jesus?

Lastly the biggest problem is that I already have an example to follow. The one who formed me in my mother’s womb. The one who created me and every other human being in his own image. The one who knows everything there is to know about me. Why on God’s green earth would I look to model after a man when I have God incarnate to look to?
You see the end of a modeling philosophy creates clicks, it creates a religious cast system along with making demigods (making someone other than Jesus the goal), it takes honor and glory away from God, it creates a judgmental criteria for comparison and it creates a bad homiletic to misinterpret the Scriptures with.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fundamentalist or Biblicist?

In looking back retrospectively over the last 30 years of my Christian life I can see a definitive difference of philosophy between those who are first and foremost a modern day fundamentalist compared to those who are first and foremost a Biblicist. As myself and other Pastors have noticed a trend of the fundamentalists departing further and further from the Bible in favor of man-made platforms as did the Pharisees in the day of Christ. Concerned more about their 'threatened' authority, with their 'outward' appearance, with the 'results' and not with the plain Biblical commands in Scripture such as John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. "Is it fundamental" is a question that resonates from the modern day fundamental Preacher as they push their congregations further and further from the Bible and look to move to the right and be separate from people and institutions that God never commanded ...
6 comments
Read more

Introducing Community

The Apostle Paul said that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. I think Paul understood his humanity, his depravity, he knew his dark side. He knew what evils he had done in the past and what wickedness he was capable of now and in the future. This should cause us to realize that every sin that has ever been committed, you and I are capable of committing or to put it another way had you or I been in the Garden of Eden we would have sinned too. To think otherwise is simply our narcissistic egos or pride talking. Paul’s philosophy is unlike the persona that many Christians put on today. They portray their own spirituality, void of humanity and debauchery, by neatly putting on their hypocritical Christian mask and acting as though there is no darkness inside their heart or mind. The result of all of this showmanship being acted out has prevented the church today from having a community, from having transparency, from showing weakness and living...
Post a Comment
Read more

Culture and Change

Romans 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Many of my independent, fundamental Baptist brethren have made issues and doctrines out of our culture or the change in our culture. They will make these areas a focal point in their preaching or writing. They will preach against them as though there has been a doctrinal dissertation written in the Word of God. However as the Bible clearly teaches in Romans 14:14 that there is nothing unclean of itself - this means that someone may consider something unclean or wrong while another believer may consider the same thing to be clean or right. But the thing or issue is not unclean by itself, this would also include our culture or the change in that culture. It only becomes unclean by a person esteeming it to be unclean. The emphasis is on the person making something or an issue unclean, not the object itself. The G...
8 comments
Read more