Rediscovering Christology

Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear Alan Hirsch speak. I had read his book, "The Forgotten Ways" a while ago (I would strongly recommend this book). Hirsch is one of the leading thinkers on the Missional Church. There are so many things he said that were challenging, but I want to talk about the one that is the most important (I may touch on some other stuff later).

He pointed out that the western church is in decline and could be heading to where the European church is today (which is nearly non-existent). He said it is up to western Christianity to rediscover itself again. His first point of rediscovery is the "Discovery of Christology." We have to put the person of Jesus in the the Church again.

He said, "Christology lies at the heart of the renewal of the church." The question we have to ask ourselves is: "Who is our Jesus?" We have domesticated Jesus to fit our understanding of the church, rather than letting Jesus define the church. He said, "We are Christian to the degree we take Jesus seriously and how many of us take Jesus seriously?"

I know that you would be quick to say "I do. I love Jesus and he is the Lord of my life life." This may be partially true, but I would ask you to define the Jesus you love and that answer would be telling of whether he is really the Lord of your life. There is a reason why there was a book written called, "Unchristian," which is what twenty somethings say about the church. The title of Dan Kimbal's book explains it well, "They Like Jesus, but not the Church." Hirsch would say that is why we have to rediscover Christology.

I know that you are thinking, "I love Jesus, I do follow him." My challenge to you is to take a hard look at "Who is your Jesus?" Is he the domesticated Jesus or the Jesus of the gospels?

The truth is, the Jesus of the gospels would not be welcome in most of our churches today, he would be to radical. He would expect to much of people. He would make us uncomfortable. We would end up running him out of town or like in the first century, figure out a way to get rid of him for good.

As church leaders we need to figure out how to bring more of the story of Jesus into the church. We have gotten good at attracting people to our churches, but not so good at introducing them to Jesus. They have become consumers rather than disciples. WE entertain people into Christians but not Christ followers. Figuring out how to integrate Jesus into our life an the life of the church is important to reclaiming the truth.

Who is your Jesus? Join me in rediscovering the Jesus of the gospels, start reading Matthew, Mark, Luke and John today.