You’re not meant to BE Jesus at your work

It’s not uncommon to hear that you’re meant to BE Jesus.

In your home.

In your workplace.

Amongst your family and friends.

I have a few problems with this…

First of all, you don’t need to be Jesus. Christendom already has one. He is enough.

Jesus is enough Jesus for your home, work, school or social circles.

Second, I’m not convinced this is what the New Testament actually teaches.

Paul wanted to be like Christ. Not Christ.

We are to be Christ’s ambassadors. Not Christ.

We are to be His witnesses. Not Christ Himself.

Third, this BE Jesus theology can actually be quite dangerous.

Being Jesus is how cults start.

Being Jesus moves power and authority to a dangerous, man-centric, place.

Fourth, when you elevate yourself to BE Christ, then you set yourself, and those around you, up for failure

For, you will fail.

You will sin.

You will let others down.

The real Jesus won’t do that.

Finally, we already have a role.

In our homes.

In our workplaces.

Among our friends and family.

our role is to people to Jesus.

This is our job.

This is our ministry.

This is our part.

That is enough.

Because Jesus is enough.

Willingness > Expert

Now that churches are starting to open up in Sydney, once again, congregations are singing.

Last week I saw a few singers and they made me reminisce about the many people who have sung into the microphones at the churches I’ve attended.

Without fail, they have been vastly more talented than I am.

The less said about me leading the singing, the better.

But, every singer wasn’t equal.

Some vary greatly on the talented-willing scale.

A number have been, frankly, world class. They sing in bands. They have released albums. They have travelled internationally.

Others wouldn’t make it post the first round of the regional qualifying for Australian Idol.

But, I would rather the later than the former.

This is true for almost any ministry I was involved in.

I would rather willingness over sheer talent.

Why?

Because I could help develop those who are willing to become more competent.

And, usually, the distance they needed to improve to reach competent wasn’t a great deal.

They just needed a few tweaks.

They needed to reflect on what they did.

They needed to observe someone else do it well.

They needed more experience.

All of this can be managed alongside gracefulness and time.

And I would rather minister alongside a willing heart than a superstar.

Heaven is going to be amazing… unless…

The best, biggest, church service ever!

The greatest, closest, Christian camp ever!

These are two of our favourite images for heaven.

Worship and community.

And, for some, this sounds… heavenly.

They love to sing.

They love to hear the joint praise of a large group.

They love the intimacy generated from living in one another’s pockets.

They love the connection of sharing their lives with someone else and hearing their stories.

Some people love this.

Others, don’t.

For some, they will not love these things, they will just be indifferent.

Others will loathe them.

They put up with the singing, but draw little connection from it.

They will endure close contact with others, but will count down the hours until it has passed.

So, how do these believers connect with these heavenly images?

How do those, outside of the Christian bubble, connect with these images if they hear about them?

It may be callous for the worshipping loving camp devotees to hear… but some people will shirk away from these images. For the, this heaven would seem hellish.

So, is there an answer?

Should we abandon these images?

In short, no.

The bible, when speaking about the afterlife, does use these kinds of images. So we shouldn’t avoid them.

But, we should mine down into the significance of them.

What do they want to communicate about heaven?

At the core, it’s about connection.

Connection, uninhibited by sin.

As was intended.

Creator and created.

We will, no matter what form this specifically takes, be in the presence of God. Justice will completely reign. Evil and sun will have been completely defeated.

And yes, this could be associated with the heavenly tropes we trot out.

But, we can go slightly further.

We can connect other foretaste of heaven to those who don’t connect strongly with worship music or camping.

Heaven could have elements of a deep, thought-provoking sermon.

Heaven could have elements of an insightful book.

Heaven will encapsulate the grandest bush-walk.

But only to a point. 

For all and any analogy of heaven will fall short.

Form this side of eternity, we are only ever granted a foretaste of what is to come. We only ever catch a glimpse.

But if we dogmatically stick to our narrow tract of heavenly images, then we will, inevitability, be selling the greatest reward short.