Not long ago, authors Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola crafted 'A Jesus Manifesto: A Magna Carta for Restoring the Supremacy of Jesus Christ." It states that Christians have made the gospel about so many things other than Christ, yet Jesus is the gravitational pull that brings everything significance, reality, and meaning. Without him, things are like busted pieces of a space station floating around in space.
The problem is that we sometimes emphasize spiritual truths or values and miss Christ…and still feel we've obtained something.
What is Christianity? It is Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. It's not a philosophy, an ideology, or a worldview. Christianity is the 'good news' that Truth and Goodness are found in a person. Community is found in connecting to that person. Conversion is more than a change in direction, or a change in team uniform, but a change in connection to Jesus.
The biggest problem we have is JDD: Jesus Deficit Disorder.
Jesus has become increasingly politically incorrect and his teachings replaced with 'leadership principles'. It is possible to confuse the cause of Christ with the person of Christ. When we say the words 'Jesus is Lord', I'm afraid we sometimes mean 'Jesus is my core value'. Jesus isn't a cause; he's a real person who can be loved, known and embodied. Focusing on his mission is not the same as focusing on and serving Him.
Jesus was not a social activist or moral philosopher. To pitch him that way is to dilute his divinity. Justice cannot storm the gates of Hell. Righteousness can. He didn't come to make us good, but to make us alive.
"May God have a people on this earth who are a people of Christ, through Christ, and for Christ. A people of the cross. A people who are consumed with God’s eternal passion, which is to make his Son preeminent, supreme, and the head over all things visible and invisible. A people who have discovered the touch of the Almighty in the face of his glorious Son. A people who wish to know only Christ and him crucified, and to let everything else fall by the wayside."
As a Christian, I am not called to follow the trends of Christianity, but Christ.
As a Christian, I don't point people to core values, but to Christ.
As the collective ekklesia of God, we may disagree about many things–eschatology, ecclesiology, economics, politics and various statements of faith– but we agree on Christ, the crucified, resurrected, victorious, sinless, living, and returning Lord.
He is our Passion and Purpose and Life.