MYTH #7-JESUS CAME TO TAKE ALL BELIEVERS OUT OF HERE

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This is a prominent myth embraced by Christians and you may already believe I am heretical in my thinking, but hear me out on this. It will take two podcasts to do it.

The damage with this myth is threefold: FIRST-We have so embraced this myth that we have become extremely focused on the sweet by and by rather than living in the nasty now and now. We have so embraced this myth that we tend to live in the tyranny of the urgent and plan our lives accordingly. Jesus was all about Kingdom living being right here right now.

SECOND-We have so embraced this myth that we have wrapped our lives around the 2nd coming of Jesus as if we know when He will return. This seems to be a bit of a problem, since Jesus says that He doesn't even know.

THIRD-We have so embraced this myth that we are missing out on the most powerful proof of the love of Jesus and the presence of Jesus that bear witness to the world.

There are 5 basic movements throughout the bible where God is going in the direction from heaven to earth and not from earth to heaven. The first movement is illustrated in the Garden of Eden. The essence of God is relational and demonstrates the need for fellowship within the creation. God wants to walk in relationship with man. Check out what happened in the Garden of Eden. The first time we encounter lost people is in the Garden. Apparently, God walked with Adam and Eve daily in the garden, but on this particular day Adam and Eve didn't show up. They were distracted and walked away from God and His will. So, instead of walking with God, they were hiding from God. It's at this point that God asks a most relevant question, even for us today, "Where are you?" Now He knew where they were, but He wanted them to understand that they were not where they were intended to be-walking with Him.

So, this is MOVEMENT #1-GOD FIRST WANTED TO WALK WITH MAN, BUT MAN WAS BUSY DOING SOMETHING ELSE. God has put a lot of effort in getting you to walk with Him. So, WHERE ARE YOU? Are you doing your part to walk with Him daily or are you distracted, walking away or hiding?

MOVEMENT #2-GOD WANTS TO DWELL AMONG HIS PEOPLE. God wants to dwell among His people on planet earth. In a very real sense, this is what will distinguish God and His people from all others. In Exodus 25:8 God says, "Then have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell among them."

God commands Moses to oversee the building of a sanctuary in which He will dwell. Israel is promised God's very presence. At the very establishment of the nation of Israel, God's presence becomes a fundamental characteristic of the nation's identity. They will be marked by God's presence. To be God's people was to have God's presence. In Exodus 33, following the incident with the golden calf, God promises to have His presence go with Moses and with the people. Moses says, "Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?" Never before has God dwelt with man in this way.

Man had free fellowship with God in the Garden, but God did not dwell there. God met with Moses on Mt. Sinai in a powerful way, but God did not dwell there. Now God commands Moses to make a tent, a tabernacle, so He could live with them. God wanted to take up residence right in their midst!

Again, this is why God asked Adam and Eve, "Where are you?" And, as His people continued to grow and gather together outside the Garden God was always doing anything He could do to bring His people closer to Himself. But even more than this, He wanted to dwell among His people right here on earth.

And when God shows up among His people, some amazing things happen and people are touched with His loving and healing touch.

This theme of purpose is extended to the very end of the Bible. In the last book of the Bible in Revelation 21:3, it says, "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.'" This isn't to happen in heaven, but right here on earth.

NOTE God's intention and longing is to come down here, not take a group to go up to heaven. Jesus doesn't teach that He came down to earth to take us up to heaven. God desperately wants to make His presence known right on earth among His people. Rob Bell says that God is saying, "I want to get down there!"

Let me ask you something. Have you ever felt the presence of God as you gather with His people? God is willing to do anything He has to do to get close to you and He wants to do this on planet earth. He is not interested in taking you up to heaven, but to dwell with you right here.

Part II tomorrow.

MYTH #6-YOU MUST BELIEVE JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD IN ORDER TO FOLLOW HIM

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For years I've held this myth up as a standard for those who believe. This myth is so embedded within Christianity. This has become the benchmark for whether or not a person is a true believer.

The primary damage of this myth is that it has become a doctrinal standard or proof of doctrinal purity. If you don't believe Jesus is the Son of God, you are disqualified to even play the spiritual game.

By the way, one other point of damage is that when you embrace this myth that you cannot follow Jesus unless you believe He is the Son of God, you can so easily shut the door of the Kingdom to those who are interested.

Now, in debunking this myth I want to direct your attention again to the early disciples. When they first answered the call to follow Jesus, did they believe that Jesus was the Son of God? No!

They believed Jesus was the latest and greatest Rabbi on the religious scene. They believed Jesus was an amazing teacher and example. They believed He was able to perform miracles and heal people. They were highly responsive to Him, because He picked them out of a crowd and showed them some affirmation and attention. They weren't even very strong believers in Him at first either. They believed Jesus enough to attach their hopes to Him.

When you finally accept the fact that the early disciples weren't believers and didn't yet believe that Jesus was the Son of God, you step across a great threshold of truth. You see, there are lots of people that you know that are just where the disciples were in the beginning. They are curious, fascinated, impressed and interested in this Jesus. When I tell an interested agnostic that he is exactly like the early disciples of Jesus, he or she is taken back.

In Matthew 16, Jesus has a fascinating encounter and interchange with the disciples: When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

The disciples have been following this attractive, irresistible and relevant Jesus for quite some time and now the question comes from Jesus: "Who do you say I am?" Peter's answer was right on when he said, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." This is the first time this has been expressed with a sense of conviction by the disciples. The thought was there, but this seems to nail it down. We believe Jesus is God's Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Now note Jesus' reply to Peter's answer. He first says, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah." Jesus strokes Peter for expressing the right answer to the question. But before Peter gets too puffed up for coming up with this great answer, Jesus quickly says, "This was not revealed to you by flesh and blood." He is saying, "Peter, you didn't think this up on your own and no one taught you this truth." You see, we continue to rely on teaching our people a set of doctrines or beliefs, thinking this teaching will somehow be sufficient to establish and maintain a vital relationship with God.

Jesus goes on to explain, "But by my Father in heaven" revealed this to you. "Peter, my Father gave you this great insight that I am indeed the Son of God." This is still the plan of operation today. The Father transformed the hearts and minds of the disciples, because they have been following Jesus for a long time.

In II Timothy 2, Paul counsels Timothy: Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. Note that you don't get a heart for change or a transformation of heart and mind by any human methodology. Genuine transformation will only come as a gift from God-"in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth and that they will come to their senses." God will grant this transformation to all who are interested enough to have ears to hear and eyes to see. It's a gift from God.

There seem to be three stages of following Jesus. FIRST-Jesus is followed because He is so flawless and attractive-unimpeachable. He is the one person who has truly walked the walk and the talk perfectly. No one argues with this. And the disciples believed in Him enough to follow Him. There is nothing wrong with this type of following Jesus at all.

SECOND-Then as you follow this attractive Jesus, you will begin to embrace His lifestyle, teachings and principles and find them to be very practical and meaningful for your life. Following this Jesus just makes sense.

THIRD-Finally, as you continue to follow this Jesus and find His teachings meaningful, you will at some point discover your Creator-God. You will experience transformation of your heart and your mind and see Jesus as the Son of God.

So, wherever you are in this continuum of the stages in following Jesus, ultimately you are seeking and hoping to receive this gift of transformation from God Himself. When you understand this, you then can embrace the fact of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Agnostics, Muslims and even Christians who are followers of Jesus.

This is why I have dedicated my life to doing two things. FIRST-I am doing one of the toughest things I've ever set out to do in my life; I'm trying to follow Jesus and embrace His teachings as my lifestyle. SECOND-I want to do whatever I can do to introduce Jesus and His teachings to as many individuals as I possibly can. This approach to life is summed up in an old phrase: TO KNOW JESUS AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN. I encourage you to think about doing the same.

MYTH #5-JESUS IS NARROW AND EXCLUSIVE

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Whenever I share the message of Jesus plus nothing, most frequently I get an initial response-a quote from the mouth of Jesus: "I am the way, the truth and the life." This usually comes from a person who is friendly to me and is appealing to me from what is considered to be a foundational statement from Jesus, Himself. And by the way, I couldn't agree more.

The damage that comes from seeing Jesus as narrow and exclusive fuels the sense of "we are the only ones who are right and going to heaven" and the rest of the world is wrong and going to hell. In addition to this, viewing Jesus as narrow and exclusive in this prideful way and believing that our way of thinking and believing is the only way, truth and life as well, does something that Jesus abhors. Embracing this myth shuts the door of the Kingdom on everyone else who is not one of us and we have become the judge on the matter.

Granted this statement of Jesus seems to be quite narrow and exclusive, but it's only narrow and exclusive if Jesus lives within the limitations of a Christian box. Since I separate Jesus from Christianity, deny that Jesus is the founder of the Christian Church and reject the mission of Jesus as being to convert the world to Christianity, people believe I must be removing Jesus from being the way, the truth and the life.

This couldn't be further from the truth! It's not that Jesus is so narrow and exclusive; Jesus is more preeminent than we have ever dreamed and He is all-inclusive. He'll work with anyone!

In Jesus' first seminar in Matthew 5-7 He made a radical statement with respect His relationship with the Jewish Law and traditions. He said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Literally, Jesus didn't come to abolish the Laws and traditions of the Jewish culture; He came to fill it full-to bring fullness to it. It's like the Jewish culture with its Law and traditions was like a glass-a form with some sort of structure to it. Then, Jesus came to fill up that form or glass to its fullest-to fill it full. Jesus came to bring ultimate meaning and fullness to the Jewish religious system. In other words, Jesus is the way, the truth and the life for the Jewish dreams and yearnings.

In the same way, I am coming to believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life for all cultural and religious systems and traditions. Jesus is the meaning and fullness everyone is looking for. Jesus fills up the various forms or glasses of every culture.

This may seem a little far-fetched for you to embrace at first, but give it some thought. We are finding the footprints of Jesus in every culture. Many years ago Don Richardson wrote a groundbreaking book Eternity In Their Hearts. His research demonstrated that the fingerprints of the Creator-God was found to be in many cultures. God is already there, because God placed "eternity in their hearts".

In the movie, "Fingerprints of God in Japan", the Creator-God of the Japanese people is clearly revealed. In the past the Japanese people were told that they had to reject their Japanese roots and culture in order to be converted to Western Christianity. However, it is now clear that the Creator-God of the Japanese people was known to be in the form of a tri-unity or Godhead. Their Creator-God had a Japanese name, not the Jewish name of Jehovah. When the Japanese watch this film, they weep with great joy. They don't have to reject their culture; God created them and is already present there.

This same understanding has happened among the Hawaiians, Polynesians, Buddhists, Hindus and Chinese. What's interesting is that in many of these cultures there are similar stories in their history-the flood, sacrifices for sins and many have a garden scene. In several of these cultures their ancient scriptures speak of a sacrifice for their sins that must be made by God, Himself. Where did these come from? These are the fingerprints of God in the many cultures of the world.

Jesus is the ultimate fullness of the many cultures of the world. Hey, that's not narrow and exclusive; that's universal and all-inclusive. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life for anyone who has ears to hear and eyes to see. Our mission is not to plant mission stations in these cultures and teach them our favorite Western Christian hymns. Our tendency has been to introduce Jesus to a culture, stay there among them and orchestrate our Western Christian way of doing things. This methodology serves to bring the Jesus movement to a screeching halt in that culture.

Instead, our mission is to introduce Jesus to the cultures of the world and encourage them to respond with their unique, cultural customs. Most recently this was done in Hawaii and the church of Jesus is really growing there. Wherever this is done, the Jesus movement flourishes. Jesus is all-inclusive and wants to work with everyone.

MYTH #4-JESUS WANTS THE ENTIRE WORLD TO BE CONVERTED TO CHRISTIANITY

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I grew up believing not only that Jesus wanted the entire world to be converted to Christianity; I also believed my responsibility before God was to make everyone in my reach a Christian. That's just the way it was.

It was worse than that with much of the Baptist community around me. They not only believed Jesus wanted the world to be Christian, but Baptist. I remember sitting in a church service in my college town where a Baptist missionary made the statement: "There is no Gospel witness in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio." This shocked me, because I knew my uncle was a pastor there and I also knew several others. When I approached the speaker, he said: "There is no Baptist witness there." I quickly protested that my uncle and several other pastors I knew there were Baptist. He then clarified it for me: "They are not General Association Baptists." Do you get it? If people weren't becoming Baptists, then they were not hearing the Gospel message! This is just taking this thinking to its logical extreme and it is nuts!

Think about this myth for a second! Can you really believe that this Middle Eastern message of the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom is owned by Western Christians and that all others around the world must become Christian in order to have eternal life? How haughty we are?

The greatest damage here in this myth is that Christians take on the attitude that they are the only ones who are right and therefore the only ones who will receive salvation from God. The secondary damage from this myth is that missionary organizations actually stir up more persecution than might have been. When missionaries insist on the natives "converting" to Christianity and to denounce their culture, they have the wrong goal. Of course, members of non-Christian cultures are threatened by this approach and react badly. What's worse is that they miss out on Jesus! Jesus is not the issue in those encounters; cultural conversion is!

I'm convinced that much of the persecution on the mission field is unnecessary. We are finding that when you make Jesus the issue and not religious conversion, there is an amazingly positive reception to Jesus. It's the same reception Jesus had among the non-Jewish encounters He had. Jesus is for the entire world. Jesus never urged anyone to become a part of a Christian culture or to join a Synagogue or Church. His only concern seems to be the person's heart of faith and the subsequent act of whether or not the person becomes a follower of Jesus.

Jesus made it a habit of reaching out to people from all kinds of religious and cultural backgrounds. NOTE just a few illustrations of how the approach of Jesus and his disciples was all-inclusive:

FIRST-In John 4, Jesus encountered the woman at the well. She was a Samaritan with very different beliefs regarding the center of worship. He left her with her cultural beliefs intact, except that He trumped the center of worship by saying that someday the center of worship will not be in a given location, but in your heart. Jesus was not promoting a new religion or defending the status quo; He was offering a personal relationship with God in the heart. This personal relationship would transform both her religion and the Hebrew religion. When Jesus conversed with the Samaritan woman, He didn't make certain to warn her of her false beliefs and be sure to change the mountain where she worshipped. There was no renunciation of her false doctrines. It was all about her relationship with Him.

SECOND-In Mark 7, the Syrophoenician woman was a gentile from a godless culture. Her faith was evident in her persistent conversation with Jesus about her daughter. Jesus honored her faith, however He didn't pull her into a new religious system or study class, nor did He have her renounce her cultural upbringing. The presence of Jesus will change a person from the inside out to be like Jesus. God's presence will convict their hearts in His time of what needs to be changed in their personal and cultural ways; NOT US!

THIRD-In Mark 6-7, NOTE Jesus' trip to Gennesaret. Do you notice how many times the Gospel writers refer to going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee? Whenever they were on the Jewish side, they crossed over to the other side. Why? Jesus performed the same works among the gentile world. He never urged them to change their religious culture, but let them remain right where they grew up. However, they were drawn to Him.

FOURTH-In Matthew 8, NOTE the Roman Centurion. No doubt the Roman Centurion grew up with the Roman gods, yet Jesus does not speak to this at all. His concern was his faith. When Jesus declared the Roman official's faith as outstanding, even greater than He had seen among the house of Israel, Jesus didn't tell this man to make sure to repent and go renounce the many Roman deities or his faith would be for naught. Further in the scene in the healing of the Roman Centurion's servant, Jesus says: "I say to you that many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." Non-Jews or in our vernacular, non-Christians are going to be at the Kingdom feast. How can this be? It can only be through a personal relationship with Jesus.

FIFTH-In John 10, Jesus mentions "other sheep" that are His. Who are these other sheep? Could it be that they are from the various cultures of the world? Could they be those spoken of in Romans 2:14-15 and 1 John 4:7?

SIXTH-In Acts 15, the first followers of Jesus were all Jews. When the first gentiles (everyone else) came to Jesus, some religious Jews insisted that all followers of Jesus must become cultural Jews. The apostles clearly decided against this. All people could be followers of Jesus without changing their culture!

SEVENTH-In Acts 10, Peter's experience with the non-Jews is interesting and shocking to Peter. After Peter was supernaturally led to the house of Cornelius by a radical vision from God, he told them: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism, but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Did you get that? God accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.

EIGHTH-In Acts 17, Paul spoke in Athens: "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us." God made the nations-all nations; they were made by God in such a way so that all men might seek and find God.

NINTH-Also in Acts 17, when Paul spoke before the gentile audience in Athens, he didn't quote Scripture, didn't use Jesus' name at first, stroked them for their many idols of worship and proceeded to explain to them who this UNKNOWN GOD is that they commemorated. He didn't call for the renunciation of these "gods" and he used their "heathen" poems to explain what God is like (Acts 17:28), yet many believed in Jesus that day. What's that all about? I don't know many with this kind of approach.

TENTH-In Revelation 5:9, the reference is to every tribe and tongue and people and nation. Jesus came to reach all of these, not by exporting any given tribe, tongue, people or nation, but from within each of these faith in Jesus naturally emerges. Since the Creator-God is the source of all people, He has already marked all of these people groups. The word translated as "nations" is actually "ethnos" in the Greek. This is where we get the word "ethnic" from; in other words, there will be every cultural group who are followers of Jesus.

Anyone, anywhere can be a follower of Jesus-cultural Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Animists, Agnostics, Muslims, and even Christians can all be followers of Jesus. Christians have said for years that a cultural Jew doesn't have to renounce being Jewish in order to follow Jesus. Following Jesus makes a person's Jewishness more full and meaningful. I believe this translates into the many cultures of the world. Following Jesus brings out the fullness of any and all cultures. A cultural Buddhist can be a follower of Jesus. A cultural Muslim can be a follower of Jesus. It's just like a cultural Catholic can be a follower of Jesus without renouncing his cultural background or a cultural Baptist or a cultural Methodist. Anyone can be a follower of Jesus and still remain within his or her cultural background.

Jesus doesn't want the entire world to be Christian; Jesus wants the entire world to follow Him. This is why Jesus gives us His primary command to carry on His ministry to the world. He says, "Make disciples of all nations!" Make followers of Jesus in all nations; don't try to make them Christians! Introduce them to Jesus.

MYTH #3-JESUS IS THE FOUNDER OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH

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Strangely enough many people in the USA and lots more in the cultures of the world believe the myth that Jesus founded Christianity and the Christian Church. It's as if this was His intent and His purpose. This identification is a man-made connection between Jesus and Christianity and the organized Christian Church. When the Christian Church became an organization, Christianity became Christendom. The organized Church provides lots of services for the consumer, but it wasn't what Jesus intended. In Jesus' time there already was an organized Church in existence-the Synagogue. He didn't speak against it, but only against its leadership.

The damage of believing the myth that Jesus founded Christianity or the organized Christian Church is three-fold: FIRST-The religion of Christianity becomes a substitute for the personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus commonly is left out of the Christian, religious, expression of faith. When I spoke at the major Dalai Lama event, those who were set up to represent Christianity didn't even mention Jesus one time.

One of my hobbies is to read over Christian newsletters and prayer letters to see if Jesus made the editorial cut. It is amazing how many times Jesus is left out of their expression of what their ministry really is. Just recently a major article was published in a secular magazine about a visible and prominent Christian leader and his plan to change the world. Sadly, Jesus never made it into any part of the plan nor did Jesus even receive honorable mention.

SECOND-The organized Christian Church becomes a substitute for personal relationship with Jesus and with His people. This produces spectators and not participators. It's just too easy to check off Church attendance as one of the things you feel you must do. But as powerful as the Church experience might be through authentic worship and exceptional messages, the once-a-week "show" just isn't what Jesus intended. They already had this experience in the Synagogue. There's nothing wrong with it; it's just not what Jesus came to found.

THIRD-When you believe Jesus is the founder of Christianity or the organized Christian Church, you expect Jesus to be the author and architect of what is done in the name of Christianity and by the local organized Christian Church. Therefore, Jesus gets the blame for it all! He gets tied to the Crusades. He gets tied to pastoral moral failure. He gets tied to the raising of money and endless fundraisers.

Now to debunk this myth: Jesus was a founder, all right, but not of the organized Christian Church or the religion of Christianity. Check out these observations: 1. Jesus must be separated from Christianity and the organized Christian Church. Remember the bumper sticker and later the movie: "Lord, please save us from your followers." To link Jesus with the organized Church or the religious system of Christianity caricaturizes Jesus beyond recognition. And then the world criticizes Jesus and His movement on earth based upon the Church and the religious system. This is as absurd as judging Beethoven by how well the local Junior High School band plays his music.

2. I have come to believe Jesus is the unique Son of God. For me to believe this myth limits Jesus in most every way. He is to be preeminent above all things, peoples and religious systems. To keep Jesus in the position of being the founder of Christianity keeps Jesus in His holy box and unavailable to the rest of the world.

3. Jesus never intended to found or launch a highly organized Church with membership requirements and man-made labels. He founded and launched a movement-a dynamic, relational fellowship of followers of Jesus who love God and love their neighbors as themselves.

4. Jesus nor any of His disciples bashed the Synagogue of the day, which equates to the Church today. There was no thought or teaching on planting new Synagogues (Churches) to compete with the primary Synagogue in the city. This sets up the next observation:

5. The dynamic, relational movement Jesus launched was not about building an organization or a monument; He set in motion a movement that was loosely held together. This movement was not to take the place of the Synagogue nor is it to take the place of the organized Church today. However this movement is totally out of control-our control-and in the control of Jesus, the Head of His body.

It was to be a movement that orbited around the Synagogue (Church), the community and around the marketplace, demonstrating the love of Jesus to all. This movement doesn't have the privilege of gathering spectators together, because its all about participation in a fellowship, learning to love God and love one another. This movement is called the church (little c)-the gathering of the followers of Jesus into a fellowship. Jesus uses the term only three times, because His primary teaching was the Good News of the Kingdom. Big C Church was not taught nor was it in His mind or in the practice of the early disciples as they spread the message of Jesus and the Kingdom.

The book of Acts is sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles, but I think it's best to refer to it as the Acts of Jesus. The revolutionary movement of Jesus is still on today! The purpose of the movement is to do one of the most difficult things ever-to introduce Jesus to the world by demonstrating Jesus-walking, talking, thinking and loving like Jesus. You see, Jesus doesn't want you to demonstrate for Him, but to demonstrate Him and His love.

Jesus launched a revolutionary movement. Are you participating in this movement-the orbiting (little c) church movement Jesus founded-or are you still only playing spectator in a big C Church? You can do both and gain much out of your experience, but just don't miss out on the Jesus movement in your community right where you live! Jesus is already moving in the world around you. He's looking for you to join Him there!