"Domesticating Jesus"

"Many Americans think Jesus came to give them a "better life" in the here and now and to help them make friends and win influence. Others say Jesus would join movements to protect and conserve the earth's resources or engage in other "environmentally-friendly" practices. Innumerable people understand Jesus to be the supreme ethical teacher who is concerned with accepting all into His kingdom even if they never repent of sin.

Friendship, the stewardship of creation, and the love of others are all praised in Scripture; however, reducing the purpose and teaching of our Lord to any of these things ends up domesticating Him. A domesticated Jesus embraces the culture's values without challenging them; He is a "safe" Jesus who is no threat to the established way of doing things.

Yet Christ did not come into the world to be "nice" or "safe," and the Jesus we find in the Gospels cannot be domesticated. He brings a salvation that turns our values upside-down. ...Christ's coming produces peace among His people, but it also sets the fallen world against His own. The scandal of the Cross brings with it the promise of a final, cosmic redemption that will include all who believe. At the same time it becomes a stumbling block to unrepentant Jews and foolishness to hardened Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:18-31).
Though we know these truths, we also run the risk of domesticating Jesus, albeit in a different way. Often we limit His work to giving us a clean heart so that we may live forever in heaven. Certainly, our Savior is concerned with individual redemption, and only individuals who put their faith in Christ alone will be saved. But individual redemption is only part of His intent to redeem all creation. Our Lord's full purpose is to bring a new heavens and earth in which we will dwell with Him forever. A Christology that does not take into account the reality of future, resurrected life and the renewal of all things is one that is severely lacking." -RC Sproul, From TableTalk December issue.

There are many false Jesus' in the hearts and minds of lost people. The Church needs to preach the pure and simple truth of the Gospel, the good news of who Jesus Christ is, according to the Bible. The Scriptures, which are living and spiritual, are the boundaries for the simplicity of Christ. So read, study, and meditate upon the Holy Bible. Join a church that reveres the Bible, and learn it, and you will surely see incredible things happen in your life, and great works will follow you for the glory of the true and faithful One, Jesus Christ.