Imagined Jesus #3 - Optional Jesus
Message Description
Dr. Kurt Bjorklund continues through the gospel of John to Jesus’s crucifixion and looks at the difference between the optional and real Jesus that we can encounter in our lives.
Message Transcript
If you've been part of Orchard Hill over the last couple of weeks, you know that we have been working our way through the end of John and originally the idea was a series that we would work our way through that would take us into Easter and beyond. We were going to look at this idea of an Imagined Jesus, all of the different Jesus's that are imagined in our culture, and are countered, really here at the end of the book of John. And part of what makes teaching good, I believe, is that it not just works through a text, but it's also aware of a cultural moment, what's going on in our broader culture? How does it apply to where we are today? And as a result of that, what we're going to do is we're going to actually speed up this series a little bit. So instead of doing all that we had planned, I'm going to talk through John 19 today. Next weekend, we'll work through John 21, which jumps past the resurrection narrative and then on Easter, we'll come back and deal with John 20. And then in the weeks that follow, we're going to look at an Old Testament prophet and really address the issue where is God in the midst of a pandemic, where is God in the midst of what we're going through today.
Now, you may say, okay, so what does John 19 have to do with our cultural moment? We hear that the curve hasn't flattened, that things are getting worse, not better, and we don't know what will happen with the economy when jobs will return. All of those things are pressing here today. And here's what I hope will become obvious just as we work through part of John 19 today. And that is, when we see Jesus trial, when we see his crucifixion, when we see his death, when we see his burial, all of which is told in John 19, that we will get a picture of a Jesus that is actually radically different than the Jesus we see in our culture today.
We started this series a couple of weeks ago talking about Dashboard Jesus, how some people want a Jesus who comes with them almost like a good luck charm or a good vibe Jesus. And then we talked about a Political Jesus, the Jesus that in many ways is a Jesus that people want to use for their own ends, and rather than a Jesus who says my kingdom is not of this world.
And today, we're going to talk about an Optional Jesus and an Optional Jesus is, I think one of the predominant Jesus of our culture today. And even in this cultural moment, what you're not seeing is you're not seeing people in our media yet saying we should turn to God, we should ask God for an intervention in our land. We see people saying, well, Jesus is just an option. Some people, if it works for you, pray, and if it helps you to seek solace and God somewhere then do that, but there isn't any sense of national urgency to say maybe we need to turn to God. And I say that because all through the Bible, the prophets and the different people that prophesied for God would so often bring national tragedy and say, what we need to do is we need to turn to God. You think of Jonah in the Ninevites, and you think of some of the other instances where people would say it's time to turn to God and and the Optional Jesus isn't just in this cultural moment, but it's been our cultural moment for decades.
I remember several years ago I met with a young couple that wanted the church to perform their wedding and so, they had asked me to officiate. And I remember meeting with this couple and the lady had a little more faith, it was still kind of in progress. And the guy expressed his faith this way. He said, you know, I believe in Jesus, but I also believe in Mohammed and in Buddha. I believe in all of the religions of the world because they all point to the same thing. And what you do here is important because you give people one path to God, and there are lots of paths to God. And what he was saying was really a very common current belief, which is this idea that there is a God, but that all of the religions have it partially right and partially wrong. They're partially right because they all point to this idea of being better and they're all partially wrong, because any of their exclusive claims are wrong because the predominant view of the Optional Jesus is, Jesus is tolerant, and loving, and a good God would never ask people to believe one thing to the exclusion of another. And so, you can just have this God who's an option, one option of a pathway to get to God.
And here's what John 19 does. John 19 slams against this idea completely and forces us to either double down on the idea or abandon it and really what forces us to do this is Jesus death, Jesus crucifixion, Jesus burial, Jesus resurrection. And so, what we're going to do today is just look at three contrasts between what I'm calling this Optional Jesus AND THE REAL JESUS.
And here's the first contrast and that is the Optional Jesus ultimately is not powerful. But the real Jesus is all powerful. Here's how John 19 starts. It starts with this, it says, “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.” So here we have Jesus, God, submitting himself to being beaten, flogged, which was a particularly brutal way to punish or deter people in that culture. Then it says, “The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.” Now this probably had long spikes and were driven into his head so that this was painful as well. But part of the point of this is not just the pain, but it's the mocking, it's saying, oh, you're a king, what kind of King are you? You don't have any power here. You're not able to do anything here. And I don't know if you've ever been mocked, maybe as a kid you were, maybe a as an adult, maybe last week, but I know when I'm mocked by people, that I get this internal reaction that says I want to fight.
I was sitting with my family the other day because we're all sitting with our families a lot. And there was a moment where I felt like there was a little bit of mocking going on toward me. And I just had this reaction like, oh yeah, yeah, you want a mock and here's what Jesus does. Jesus receives the mocking.
And in fact, it says in verse 3 and they went up again and again saying Hail, Hail, King of the Jews, and they slapped him in the face. And then Pilate comes in. He says, I can't find any reason to charge this man. And the crowd starts to shout, crucify him, crucify him. And Pilate then was in this interchange with Jesus, verse 8 and following, and it says, “Where do you come from?” And Jesus said nothing, and Pilate says, “Do you refuse to speak to me?” And then he said this, verse 10, he says, “Don't you realize I have the power either to free you or crucify you?” I'm powerful over you. Some versions say authority. And then Jesus says this, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore, the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
And here's what Jesus is doing. He's saying, I have power that you don't even realize that I have. And if you read through John 19, you see a couple times it says that this happens so that the scripture was fulfilled. And what we have here is we have Jesus demonstrating his power, in that he's saying you have no power over me, the only power that you have is power that's given, and then all of these prophecies are fulfilled.
God used people and the exact circumstances to fulfill things that had been prophesied years ago. And here's why this matters to you and to me today, the Optional Jesus that our culture likes to believe in, that Jesus is just one of many options, that Jesus is not the real God, misses this as an essential part of who Jesus is, and that Jesus is fully God, and is all powerful.
And the reason that you and I need to hear that today is because it reminds us that there is no disease, there is no disaster, there is no calamity that is beyond the control of our God. And that's an important word, even if you think you don't believe in God, and maybe that statement bugs you because you say, well, where is God? Why doesn't God do something if God is capable of it? And the answer in part is, I don't know. Other than to say that what God has done over and over throughout history biblically and in modern history is used things like this to say, do you realize that not everything that you're holding onto is eternal? And will you turn toward me now?
To say that God is sovereign over everything, it's important to also say that the Bible holds us responsible for choices and we see this in this interplay. Jesus says, you would have no power over me, if it were not given to you from above. And at the same time, Pilate and others are held responsible for what they do. Here we see that this combination of responsibility and sovereignty got God doing what he wants, achieving his purposes. And, those two things need to be held together. Because if we just believe in sovereignty, and we don't understand responsibility, then we'll think that our choices don't matter. We'll think that we can do anything because God has ordained it. And if we just take responsibility seriously and not sovereignty, then we will be fearful and always looking at what's happening and saying there isn't going to be a God who can come out on top. But the real Jesus is that Jesus who's powerful, even when it looks the bleakest, even when it seems as if he's not. So that's the first contrast.
Here's the second contrast that I believe we see in these verses. And that is the Optional Jesus isn't really necessary, which by definition, an option is not necessary. But the real Jesus is essential. So, when we come down just a little further into these verses, in verse 18, it says there they crucified him with two others, one on either side of Jesus, and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened into the cross, and it read, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. And what happened when the Jews saw this is they didn't love it, because they said, why don't you say that he thinks he's the king of the Jews, or he claimed to be the king of the Jews. And Jesus's crucifixion here, Pilate says, I've written what I've written, and it was written in different languages, which I believe was God's way of saying Jesus is for all people for all time, and then they divided his clothes which was part of this fulfilled prophecy. And he has this incident with his mother, which again, does this. And he was thirsty which fulfilled Isaiah 53 but then in verse 30, when Jesus had received the drink, it says, Jesus said, “It is finished.” And with that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Now, here's why I say that the Optional Jesus is really not necessary, but THE REAL JESUS is essential. Because the Optional Jesus, was people defined it in our culture as a God who is basically one who you can choose to say, if that helps you to have a version of God Jesus in some way, if he's your moral example, if he helps you to live your life better, then go for it. But don't tell everybody that this Jesus is essential.
But here's why Christianity is so different from the religions of the world, because Jesus's death, what we're reading about right here, claims to be the pivotal thing in the understanding of Jesus and of Christianity, the death and resurrection of Jesus because Jesus died. What that means is that the essence of the Christian religion is not do better, try harder, do more, you need to do it, it is in these words of Jesus, “It is finished.” And the reason this is essential, not just optional, is it's not on a curve. It's not you are saying well, I'm more moral, or I'm better, or I'm kinder than other people, therefore, I'll be okay. Whatever God is like, it is saying, unequivocally, you and I are not good enough on our own, but Jesus has done on our behalf what we cannot do, meaning it is finished says that we need Jesus and we need him desperately.
Now, in our current situation, this might be more understandable than maybe at some other times. So, if I were to say to you today that a cure has now been found for COVID-19 and it’s contained obviously, I don't have liquid in these glasses, but it's contained in one of these glasses. And as soon as you drink it, you will be cured from COVID-19. But if you choose the wrong glass, there's a cure in all of these, it will neutralize the actual cure for COVID-19. And it will actually make it so that you cannot be cured. Now, the reason that I put these out like this is you would do research, you would try to figure out which cure is right, and even though the others claim to be a cure, but if they all neutralized one another, then you would say, I have to find the right cure.
Now, here's what the Optional Jesus thinking does is it says, just drink a little bit of all of these. But here's the problem. The religions of the world claim exclusivity. They say that there's only one way to God. And here's the easiest thing to just say why Jesus is not optional and that is Jesus is the one who says I did for you what you can't do, all the other cups, all the other religions, basically say you need to improve yourself, you need to do better, you need to follow the Eightfold Path, you need to do the things that we tell you to do, or you will miss out on the cure. And Christianity says it is finished, Jesus has done for you what you can’t do, here is the one cup that you need, the one way that you can have eternal life.
Now the reason that I say we might understand this better in our current cultural moment is the Optional Jesus is usually thought to be something that's irrelevant. You know, we all live, we all die, there's some great thing in the sky. But right now, we are aware of the importance of a cure. Not only that, we're aware that this idea of Jesus saying it is finished really matters deeply. Because if there is a cure, and you are simply to say, look, you drink whatever you want, that isn't tolerant, that's unloving. And there's a huge difference between tolerance and love.
And what I mean by this is in our culture, we've in some ways begun to say that tolerance is the ultimate virtue and tolerance means that whatever you think, or whatever somebody else thinks, you need to celebrate it and believe it too. But what tolerance means ultimately, is that you and I would say, I accept you as a person, even though we have different beliefs and sometimes the most loving thing we can do is challenge somebody's belief. So when it comes to these cups, if somebody says I believe this is the cure, and you know for a fact that it is not the cure, and not only is it not the cure, but it will be neutralizing to the actual cure, then the most loving thing you can do is not to say they're all good, but to say, drinking the right cure is essential right now. And here's when we see Jesus as optional. What we do is we simply say, you know, Jesus might be good for me, might be good for some people, but not essential for everybody. But the way that the Bible talks about sin and salvation and future is saying everyone has a disease. Everyone has this problem, and there is a cure, and it's what Jesus did on the cross. And that is the only cure.
A few years ago, Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame, said something that has been used readily by many people. But he said this about Christians, he's a known atheist, proud of his kind of views. He says this, “I've always said that I don't respect people who don't proselytize. I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell, and that people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward. And atheists who think people shouldn't proselytize and who say just leave me alone and keep your religion to yourself, how much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize? How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible? And not tell them that?”
You see what, what John 19 does, in many ways is it is it helps us to say Jesus is essential for everything. And what our current cultural moment does is it brings urgency in it. And it brings a picture of a disease and a cure about a spiritual matter that a lot of times we can miss. You see, it's a horrible thing to be stricken with a disease that takes your life. It's a horrible thing to live in an age of a pandemic, where there's a possibility of widespread death.
But what about the Bible says, is as bad as that is, it's even a worse thing to have the ultimate disease and have eternal death. And so today, wherever you are, maybe this is just your time to say, I didn't think of myself as having a disease. But if that's what sin is, maybe today, instead of the Optional Jesus, you want to say I WANT THE REAL JESUS. I want the Jesus who's essential in my life. Maybe today, as you listen to this, you say, well, I've believed IN THE REAL JESUS. I've had my salvation, but I've become pretty lackadaisical in terms of telling people there's a cure. I hope that if you knew a cure to COVID-19, that you wouldn't just say, well, everyone's got their own choice, I don't want to presume to tell people what it's about, but that you would see the urgency of living with mission, even in this time, and this day, maybe especially in this time and day.
And the chapter comes to the end and verse 38 after Jesus is crucified and dead, really dead, what happens is his two followers of Jesus come and they take his body away. Verse 38, later Joseph of Arimathea ask Pilate for the body of Jesus, and then Joseph, a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders, with Pilate’s permission, he came in, took the body away, and he was accompanied by Nicodemus.
Now here's what we know. Nicodemus, John 3, came to Jesus at night, because he didn't probably want other people to see him inquiring. Joseph were told was a follower of Jesus, but secretly. Here's what happens when you and I encounter THE REAL JESUS. And that is we can't just simply say this is an option and it's something that I do privately. Instead, we are brought to a point where we say, if I really believe this, then this will be definitive in my life.
Listen for a moment, especially if you're in your teens, your 20s, maybe you're doing family church today and you're like, whatever, I guess I have to sit here with my mom and dad. And for you Jesus has been optional for you. Jesus has been the put Jesus on the side. You know, I do Jesus when I go to church with my mom and dad, but when I'm at school with my friends, when I'm at parties, Jesus has no bearing THE REAL JESUS. Listen for a moment, THE REAL JESUS is one who will force you at some point to say either I follow this Jesus, or I do not. This is why Jesus at one point said if you deny me before people, I will deny you before my Heavenly Father.
I was out running a while ago. This happened some time ago. And I was running on the side of the road and there was a car coming at me. It continued to veer into where I was, and there was a railing to my side. And the way that the car came at me, I was forced to decide very quickly whether I went right or left. I could go out into the road to avoid the car and hope that they didn't swerve back, or I could jump basically over this guardrail into kind of a ravine on the other side. Well, I quickly took a step and jumped over this ravine, the car came, the person kind of saw what they were doing and swerved away at the last moment. And they were probably from what I could tell looking at their phone as they were driving. And I had a moment, it was cold enough out that I had gloves on, which was probably a good thing because I didn't give them the universal sign of disapproval, that everything in my being wanted to, but I had that moment where I thought I had to respond. I had to go one way or the other.
Here's what the real Jesus does. THE REAL JESUS, when you encounter THE REAL JESUS forces you to say either he is the answer to sin and to the plight of people or he's not. Here's the one thing that Jesus can't be, is just one good option, a moral example to point the direction for you. He is either the Savior and the substitute for all humanity or he's not. And what John 19 does is it brings together all of what's been happening in the Bible up to this point that Jesus is the sacrifice and the substitute for all humanity. There is no middle ground on this. And this is Christianity's view. But it's not just Christianity's view. This is also the view of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, all of these would say the same thing. That is, you can't get the cure by having a little drink from all of the cups. There's only one here. And I believe that Christianity, that Jesus, is that cure.
So, what we've seen so far is that the Optional Jesus isn't powerful. But the real Jesus is all powerful. The Optional Jesus isn't necessary, but the real Jesus is essential. But I'd also just say the Optional Jesus ultimately isn't compelling. But the real Jesus is beautiful. And here's why I say this. What you see here is you see Jesus going to the cross, so that you and I and people for all time, could say my standing is not in what I have done, but it's in what Jesus has done.
Martin Luther once put it like this, he said, the good you do won't save you and the evil you do won't condemn you. I love that line. The good you do won't save you, the evil you do won't condemn you. Because it's not about you, it's not about me, it's about what Jesus has done. And it's about acknowledging that and here's why this is beautiful. Because without this, what you will do, whatever your version of God, whatever your idea is, is you will say I have to serve this notion.
Now, some of us especially if we take the Optional Jesus view, we'll make our Optional Jesus one in which we say, well, my Optional Jesus doesn't require anything of me. But you still have some sense of moral sensibility that you're saying, this sense of moral sensibility is what I give myself to. But what Jesus does is he says, whatever moral sensibilities you have, you will ultimately not meet, therefore you need what I give. And it's beautiful because it's a gift.
There's an account of a priest in Italy. His name was father, Giuseppe Berra Deli. He was 72. And he had gotten sick with COVID-19. And he was having a hard time breathing. And there were no ventilators available because of the overrun in the hospital. Some of his congregation members got together and they were able to get a ventilator, and they got it to the hospital. And when they presented it to him, he refused to take the ventilator. Instead, he made sure that it went to a younger person at a bed just down from him. And then a couple days later, he died.
And the story came in the news and I saw it and I thought that is one life for another. And people hailed the story saying that this is the kind of sacrifice that that people are making right now. Do you know what probably motivated that priest was the story of Jesus and saying, my life can be given for another. You see, that's the beauty. That's the beauty of THE REAL JESUS. That story of a priest is just an account of one man for another. The account of Jesus is his life for all of humanity. And there's beauty there that is absolutely compelling in the midst of this.
And so, here's the question today, just as we think about Jesus as an option, and that is, is this the Jesus that you have come to believe? IS THIS THE REAL JESUS? Or do you veer toward this Optional Jesus who gives you some nice feelings, maybe this idea of tolerance, universal love, but can't really change or account for anything? So, here's just some words of application. First, don't be duped by the Optional Jesus. You see, the Optional Jesus in many ways sounds great. It's all about love, tolerance, everything's equal, I'm not going to tell anybody they're ever wrong. But don't be duped by the Optional Jesus, that Jesus doesn't have power, and that Jesus isn't powerful enough to save you. Because believing a little bit of Jesus and a little bit of everything else by any account of the world, religions, nullifies the belief of the other.
Here's the second thing and that is love is ultimately the goal when it comes to interacting with people. So, don't confuse tolerance with love because tolerance is good as a virtue. But what it means is embracing people with different views, not being somebody who's forced to celebrate or embrace all that somebody else believes. In so, choose love. Now, love will include tolerance meaning I'll embrace people where they are even if they're different. But our modern idea of tolerance means you celebrate everything. The biblical value of love means that sometimes you love people enough to challenge them. And just as with a cure for COVID-19, you would say, I would tell somebody if I knew there was a cure. So being loving might mean I tolerate you if you disagree, you have a different approach. But I love you enough to tell you what I believe is true.
And then finally, I would just say, come to the real Jesus for his salvation, for his power, for his beauty, because it is THE REAL JESUS that will make you have a real relationship with the real God. Not this Optional Jesus, where you just kind of have an idea that you say, I think this will help me navigate my world and explain some of the biggest questions.
Now, we're in an unprecedented time. Certainly, as a nation we don't know what the weeks ahead will hold. But what you can know, is the one who holds the weeks ahead. And that is the God of the universe and he is knowable through Jesus Christ. He's not just an option. He is the God who controls everything, holds it all in his hand. And yet has said, I will make a way for you to be a person who can have your future ultimately assured. And that's the comfort that you and I can have as we walk through these days ahead, wherever we are.
And if you're part of our online community today, and you're kind of saying, okay, that sounds good, but how do I get there? Let me just be crystal clear. What the Bible says is that you and I have sinned Romans 3:23. We all sin and because of that sin, Romans 6:23 we deserve eternal death, but God's gift as eternal life, that Jesus came to this earth, went to the cross on your behalf, on my behalf, and if we believe in Him, there will be no condemnation for us who are in Christ Jesus. That's what Romans 8:1 says.
Romans 10 says that if we believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, then we will be saved. The way that you move from the Optional Jesus TO THE REAL JESUS, is by saying, I believe that I'm sinful, that Jesus paid the price, not just in general, but for me specifically, and by confessing and proclaiming it in my life, then I can say there's no condemnation for me. But Martin Luther said, the good you do won't save you, the evil you do won't condemn you, because it is about what Jesus has done. That's the real Jesus. That's beautiful. That's powerful. And that's hopeful in this time.
Father, we thank you just for a chance to be together via this medium and I pray that you would just continue to draw people to yourself in this time. Lord, we pray that you'd bring a cure for this disease that's working its way through our nation. But in the midst of this God, I pray that you would just turn hearts toward you and that you would use this in some way for your good. I don't know how, but I pray that you would. And we pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
