Hide and Go Seek Blog

Does the coolness of Christ help the Christian Cause or Hinder the Message of the Gospel…or both?

It’s hard to tell, watching the news, reading the newspaper and magazine articles, whether or not the Christianity thing is the latest pop-culture crazy or a culturally diverse religious revolution that has divided the entire world for two thousand years and counting. In a little town in the Middle East a small child was born to a woman claiming to be a virgin.
Today we mark the occasion with a celebration that brings together King and peasant alike. Yet when it happened it was the source of little fanfare, but the start of something big. The birth of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, the celebration of which being the difference between the God of the Universe and the Baal of the Old Testament—God’s persistent, pursuant love for his children. Christianity is the only major world religion that is based around a creator’s love and desire for deep growing relationship with His creation. And Christmas, one of two celebrations of that, is dead. It’s been swallowed by advertising and marketing and presents and everything to do with Christmas. One question that needs to be asked is…Has Satan won Christmas?
In the forth century, the emperor Constantine, who will remain my favorite historical figure next to Jesus himself, made Christianity the Roman standard for the day, one of the most unforeseen political moves in time. At that time, the church starts to become inundated with a barrage of diverse beliefs, world views, motives and culture. It was no longer the secret sect striving for life, but now the talk of the town. The doors were opening for the church to become the overriding powerhouse, both socially and politically, into bigger stature and into bigger buildings. Yet was the message of Jesus Christ become less and less the centre of attention? Did it become marginalized next to what would become a simple and subtle struggle for power in the church—and reflected by the state?
The message of Jesus Christ reflected by the church turned from “make disciples” into “make believers” a huge difference in meaning and in application and a very relative term at that (Believe what?). Jesus is now content with attendance and involvement, instead of the old days when He was only ever interested in being absolute Lord over a man’s very life.
Christ is the servant of all, but does that mean that he is at our beck and call, there for our every need? There was one time, I remember, when a man found Jesus walking on the road. He was exciting for the opportunity to actually meet this Jesus, from Nazareth, that everyone was talking about.
Indeed, there was quite a buzz surrounding the man, a mysterious presence that surrounded him. It must have been this mysterious presence that attracted the large following that began to travel and live following him around the region. This following actually had friends of this man in it, maybe even some family members. This lifestyle, this following Jesus around, seemed like a very lucrative deal. It had perks. No work, simply life on the road, stopping to listen to Jesus’ teaching and see incredible things that no one could fully explain, living on the charity of the local hosts. It was like being a roady for Jesus.
Finally, an opportunity to become of those roadies. Finally, an opportunity to meet the man that everyone has been talking about, and ask him personally to follow him. There was an expectation of tremendous gratitude at the anticipation of another loyal follower. The timing wasn’t perfect. The house wasn’t in order. There were things in the man’s life that needed to be accomplished before he could leave it all behind to go on the road, but the man knew that Christ would wait for him, that in a short time, he could join Christ on the road.
Indeed, the man was met with such anticipation that it was Christ who asked the man, first, “Follow me,”
The man said, “Jesus, I want to follow you, I do, but let me first go and take care of business at home, so that I can go on the road and live with you and the other disciples without having to worry about my family or my workers. Will you still be here when I get back.”
Jesus’ reply took away all hope. “let your house take care of itself, for to follow me means following me now, for when you return I will be gone.” (Luke 9:59-60 Chad’s paraphrase)
It is the amazing realization of the dreams and goals of the Kingdom of Heaven for the message of Christ to be popular all over the world—but only if it’s the right message. I don’t think it is. The message of Jesus Christ that the world has adopted as popular is in complete disarray to the reason Christ was born two thousand years ago. The message is no longer about relationship, friendship, Fathership, sacrifice and Lordship. Christmas is not about Christmas anymore.