V-PEACEFUL SIMPLICITY OF JESUS PLUS NOTHING

FOR AUDIO VERSION CLICK HERE.

This week I have been working my way through five essentials that will assist us in de-Christianizing Jesus in order to get to our final destination of lifting Jesus up to where He belongs.

· The 1st essential was the Preeminence of Jesus. · The 2nd essential is the Presence of the Kingdom. · The 3rd essential is the Power of the Few. · The 4th essential is the Practice of Persuasion Over Propaganda. · The 5th essential is the Peaceful Simplicity of Jesus Plus Nothing.

Paul said, "I'm afraid as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness that your minds might be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." This is at the heart of the de-Christianization of Jesus. We seem to be terminal in our tendency to heap up lots of add-ons to our faith. But it's the add-ons that bury Jesus and our personal relationship with Him.

This has been a tendency since the beginning of time. Remember the incident of the golden calf? After being treated to a series of miracles from God Himself, they became very impatient with Moses taking so long to meet with Jehovah. So, they took their own gold and melted it down to sculpt a visible image of their god. That must have been an interesting pledge drive!

We aren't much different today. We want to add-on as many tangibles as we can. It seems to make us more comfortable. Give me a list of activities to check off or create an atmosphere with music and crosses and altars and smoke, so that I can almost touch God. Jesus was relentless in bringing everyone back to a personal relationship with Him. In each of His I AM statements it was clear that He was making it all about Him and how we respond to Him-Jesus plus nothing.

This is why Jesus went to great lengths teaching His disciples that we are like branches connected to the vine. And without the life-flowing nourishment from this vine there is no fruitfulness. Or as He said, "Without Me you can do nothing."

Nowhere is this principle of JESUS PLUS NOTHING violated more than in the way Christians believe they own Jesus. This could either be a 6th essential or a sub-essential under this one. I call it the Perforation of Christianity's Ownership of Jesus. Jesus isn't limited to the Western Christian culture. Jesus is not exclusive about who He will relate to. He will work with any culture-religious or non-religious. And, the Jesus movement continues to be breaking out in the most amazing places.

If you have been hanging out with us, you know what I am talking about as we work with the Buddhists, Moslems, Hindus, Jews, Animists and even the non-religious. Sometimes I feel a bit alone as I share these stories of how people from a variety of cultural backgrounds are learning to follow Jesus and Jesus is transforming their lives. Yet these people aren't Christians.

My heart was thrilled, when I read the website of Dr. Ralph Winter. Dr. Winter is the Founder of the US Center for World Missions. He is one of the great men within Christianity who has a heart for the many cultures of the world. I've always appreciated his leadership and his openness to learn.

Check out what he reports: The Largest New Factor in Mission Strategy in the 21st Century is the following: "Churchless Christianity," is the title of a book compiled by a Bible-believing Missouri-Synod Lutheran missionary and theology professor. Thus, when I speak of Churchless Christianity I am referring to that book. The book contains the results of a scientific survey of the largest city in Southern India, Madras it was called, and today Chennai. It gives the evidence that masses of Hindus have a high regard for Jesus Christ, and about 25% of that city of millions of people have given up their idols and are daily Bible-reading followers of Christ. The surprise is that the majority of these followers of Christ study the Bible and worship at the home level, continue to associate within the Hindu social sphere, and do not routinely associate with the somewhat "western" Christian churches. That is why the book is entitled Churchless Christianity.

In my perspective it would be more accurate to speak of "Christianity-less churches." Why? Because we are talking about fervent, Bible-believers who at least meet in "house churches," in that they do not normally meet in existing "Christian churches." This fact is itself very reminiscent of the New Testament worshipping households, such as that of Cornelius, Lydia, Crispus. Moreover, this is not a tiny, isolated phenomenon. We are talking about millions of believers who neither call themselves Christians and nor are called Christians by their Hindu neighbors.

This subject which I have labeled the "Churchless Christianity Factor" is, however, little recognized. I myself have long been unaware of it. It is so little understood that we may need to describe it more fully before commenting on it from a viewpoint of mission strategy-that is, what we can or cannot do about it.

Dr. Winter has now come to see that this is the Jesus strategy, since writing this newsletter. And, this is precisely what I've been seeing in our experience.

The mission strategy from Jesus' viewpoint is I AM. That's all that mattered to Jesus in relating to the cultures He encountered. He wasn't concerned about changing their cultures. No one from a non-Christian culture should have to convert from their own cultures in order to become a Christian. He wasn't concerned about any set of beliefs to be endorsed. He was only concerned about how each person related to Him-the I AM. After a faith encounter with Him, Jesus never stopped them to make sure they signed up for Judaism 101 or a Christian discipleship class. He never endorsed an add-on. It was the peaceful simplicity of Jesus plus nothing.