The Long Drop

“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.”

No strings or binding ties in relationships is nothing new. People have felt that way throughout history. That philosophy has never been more true than when it comes to a relationship with God. The profession, “I’m spiritual, but not religious” is nothing but a modern repetition of the age old desire to be free from any claims God may make on our lives. People are willing to concede God’s existence as long as it doesn’t interfere with what they want to do. The whole idea of being bound by rules or duty is abhorrent to human thinking. We are rebels at heart and proud of it. But here’s the thing about bands and cords; there are times when you need them.

Several years ago the boys and I went to a scouting camporee. On the final day we climbed climbed into the mountains to go rappelling. I thought it would be great fun for the boys, but I had no intention of going over any cliffs on a rope. Earle Acree, the leader of the expedition, put on all the safety garb and went running over a sixty foot drop to show us all how fun it was.

Reaching the bottom, he called up for all to hear, “Now, Jack will show you how easy it is.”

Two hundred eyes suddenly looked to me for inspiration and assurance. I had fallen into a carefully laid trap. I was a leader; a man among boys; I could do this. I quickly looked for a way out, but to no avail. I was strapped into a harness and crowned with a helmet. With gloves on my trembling hands, I peered over the edge and wondered anew what kind of fool could think this was a good idea. Was I really one of the idiots that came up with this idea?

“Turn around,” Earle called up.

At least I wouldn’t see the bottom racing up to shatter my bones. Sometimes in life there’s no time for prayer beyond a desperate, “God help me.” I positioned myself on the brink.

“Now, walk backwards over the edge,” came the instructions from below.

Without even waiting the mental command, my feet shuffled back a few inches. My toes tried to dig into the rock that my heels abandoned. I went over the edge.

“No, lean back away from the rock and walk down it.”

This was insanity. My terror fueled instinct to cling to the rock was evident from below. Earle stepped in to help.

“Let go of the rope,” he said. “I won’t let you fall.”

This sounded impossible, but hanging in midair five stories up, sometimes you’re willing to try the impossible. I let go---slowly.

Nothing happened.

I was still alive! I was still hanging from a cliff, but I was alive. Better yet, I hadn’t moved an inch.

“As long as I have a hold of the rope that is tied to you; you won’t fall,” Earle said with complete confidence. “Walk on down.”

Fear gone and a strange sense of thrill setting in, I walked down the cliff. Once I realized that the one I was tied to kept me safe, I could do what before seemed impossible.

This story came back to me in full force this week with the passing of my daughter-in-law, Paula. Death is an impossible drop into an unknown abyss. What becomes of us when we step over the edge depends on who have tied ourselves to in life. We all have an appointment with death, but few choose the time. Who holds the rope for you?

The heathen rage over the bonds of God and His people imagine they can live free of His cords. The scripture says,“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.” But whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

  

Christ Crucified

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

Years ago Pentecostal preachers wore this verse like a badge of honor boasting that what they preached came for God and not a seminary classroom. Experience with their college prepared peers lead them to presume that education and spiritual prowess were mutually exclusive. This conclusion is simply untrue. While it is true that education is not a prerequisite to spiritual power or understanding, it is equally true that it is not a hinderance.

Paul was educated and a spiritual powerhouse. His message to the Corinthians is not a slam against eloquence or education. It certainly is not an endorsement of ignorance. It is, rather, a statement about the unique person who is Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified is a religious message like no other. This simple message is the linchpin of the Gospel and separates Christianity from all the other major religions. However, the message has power only when the two elements are joined together. Christ and Him crucified, taken separately, are exactly as those outside see them. They are a nice story that makes people feels good. Together, they are the power of God for the salvation of all mankind.

Jesus, without the crucifixion, was a teacher of moral truth and, as such, He is no different from Muhammad, Buddha or Confucius. The moral law of God has never been hidden. Men of all sorts and various times have lecture on morality and truth accurately. The world is right when they say that nothing Jesus taught about morality and truth was unique. He definitely wasn’t telling the Jews anything they didn’t know.

The concept of “love thy neighbor as thyself” can be found in a number of sources before Christ---before Moses for that matter. That doesn’t diminish its truth, but it makes it clear that if Christ came only to teach it was unnecessary and Christianity is unnecessary.

Jesus, without the crucifixion, was a prophet who lead people to God. Rarely has the world lacked for prophets. Muhammad's claim to fame is that he was the only prophet to ever tell it like it is. As a rule, that is the case for prophets outside of the Judeo-Christian tradition; they all claim some new or better revelation. Jesus boasted no such primacy. He pointed His listeners to the long line of Hebrew prophets and said-- “he that has an ear, let him hear.”

Jesus, without the crucifixion, was a miracle worker. There are those who scoff at this idea insisting on a logical explanation or saying Jesus manipulated circumstances for His benefit. Even as a fervent heathen, I never believed that. But, for argument’s sake, let’s suppose it’s true. Suppose all those miracles were nothing more than a power placebo. The fact is, Jesus fed the multitude and the next day they were hungry all over again. He healed the sick, restored sight to the blind and raised the dead. However, the woman with the issue of blood, Bartimaeus and Lazarus are all dead. The miracle stories are inspiring, but miracles don’t last. Except in a literary sense, their power disappears with the objects involved. If Jesus came only to do miracles--they are over and what use are they to us today?

For all the teaching, prophecy, and miracles there is a fundamental difference between Jesus and Moses, Muhammad, Buddha, et al. This is where the idea of Christ crucified comes into play. Christ, unlike the others, did not claim to speak for God. Jesus said He was God come in the flesh. Now, we may disagree with someone who claims to speak for God, but we dismiss out of hand the person who says he is God. No one who heard Jesus seems to dismiss Him.

I’ve read scholars who claim Paul was the one who turned Christians to the idea that Jesus was divine. Paul did preach the divinity of Jesus, but it wasn’t an original thought. In fact Paul spent a good deal of time trying to stamp out the notion that Jesus was anything but a man---and a misguided one at that.

Jesus told the Jews that He was the one and only God come in the flesh. He said He came of His own volition for a specific purpose. He didn’t come to teach, prophecy or do miracles. He came to do what no man could do. Moreover, He came to do something He, as God, wouldn’t ordinarily do. Jesus came to die and be resurrected.

The purpose of the crucifixion is reconciliation. God, in the person of Jesus Christ, became a man to reconcile Man to God. Because of sin, no man born of Adam’s seed, was able to reach beyond sin and death to make the kind peace with God that the blood of animal sacrifices could never make. The integrity of God’s word demanded that sin be recompensed with death and so all men die. However, in Christ and Him crucified, a sinless man, with the power to lay down His life and take it up again, died and returned to life anew.

Christ, like Adam whose image He adopted, is able to share His new life with all who are born in Him by faith. From Christ and His crucifixion emerge new men with a new life at peace with God. This rebirth and new life is Christianity there is no study or words needed beyond this. Paul didn’t go to Corinth to dazzle them with his education or his oratory. There was plenty of that in Corinth already. He came with the simple message of Christ and Him crucified--the power of God unto salvation.