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Grace, Then Gratitude
For many of us, the thing that we fear the most is being insignificant. This is why we are so driven and ambitious—we think that we have to do everything we can to prove that we are significant and that our life counts for something. We scramble to find whatever meaning, value, and purpose this world alone can offer. Although it is true that there is no good or fulfilling life without significance, through Jesus we are offered not only significance but grace. While we may be tempted to try and prove our worth to God or others, God relates to us not on the basis of merit, but on the basis of grace. Our life is simply a response to his love. Accepted First God showers his love upon us simply because he loves us—not because of what we have done, will do, or what potential he may or may not see within us. This is what gives us absolute and utter security. If we do not do anything to win God's love, there is nothing that we could ever do to lose it either. Furthermore, grace means there is nothing we could ever do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we could ever do to make God love us less. His love for us is immovable. This is the difference between Christianity and every other religion. Religion requires you to obey before you are accepted. But the message of Christianity is that you are accepted in and through Jesus Christ first, despite all your faults and failures, and therefore, you obey—not in order to try to win God's love or out of obligation, but out of gratitude for the love you have first been shown. Consider the Exodus story. God could have given his people the Ten Commandments while they were living in bondage in Egypt and required them to follow the law before he rescued them. But instead, he rescues his people first. It is only after he delivers them from their bondage that he then gives them the law in order to show them how to live their lives in response to his love. It is not law, then grace. It is grace, then gratitude. Contra-Conditional Love Grace is the most powerful force in the world. And yet, at the very same time, it is the most difficult thing for us to accept because it is an affront to our pride and self-sufficiency. When we accept God’s grace, we acknowledge that we cannot save ourselves. Years ago I had a conversation with a college student who told me, “I hate the very concept of grace because I want God to love me for me. I want God to love me for the things I do for him because then I know what I'm worth. Then I know that I'm valuable.” I tried to help her see that grace is far better. Consider the words of Victor Hugo who said, “The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved—loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” God's love is not conditional or even unconditional. His love is contra-conditional. In Jesus Christ, he does not merely love us as we are. He loves us despite who we are and despite what we have done. That is why Pastor Jack Miller used to say, “Cheer up! You're worse than you think! But in Jesus Christ, you are more loved than you could ever imagine.” The House of David In 2 Samuel 7 we read that several decades after God raised David up to be the prince over Israel, David decides to build a house for the Lord. David is living in a luxurious house with paneled walls made out of fine cedar, and he realizes that by contrast, the Ark of the Covenant—the place where God said that he would dwell in the midst of his people—is being kept in a tent. It suddenly dawns on him that his housing is better than God’s! David, understandably, wants to do something for God by building him a permanent house. But rather than allowing David to follow through with his plans, God responds by saying God is going to make a house for David, and David's son, in gratitude, will be the one who builds a house for the Lord. In 2 Samuel 7:16 God says, “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” God makes this unconditional promise to David—not because of any merit on David's part but out of sheer grace. This is how God works with all of us. Like David, we might want to go out there and do something great for God as a way to prove our worth or win other’s respect and admiration. But God’s grace always precedes our work. He makes the first move and takes the initiative. His grace comes first. If you continue reading through the Bible, you discover the house of David eventually comes crashing down. The kingdom is plagued by civil war, and eventually, the Babylonians conquer David's kingdom, setting fire to the temple that Solomon builds and carrying away the last kings in the line of David into exile. And yet centuries before, the prophet Isaiah promises that one day a child will be born who will establish and uphold the throne of David with justice and righteousness forever. The promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7 points us forward to Christ, the true son of God, who knows God as Father. That is why Jesus is repeatedly referred to as the Son of David. When Jesus begins his public ministry, he proclaims: “the kingdom of God is at hand.” And when Jesus establishes the kingdom of God, he says that he will build a house for the Lord in the midst of his people, not in a temple made out of human hands. This means that the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Building for the Kingdom After becoming a Christian, we might start talking about bringing the kingdom, building the kingdom, advancing the kingdom, expanding the kingdom. But “bringing the kingdom” is precisely the one thing that we cannot do. Only Jesus can do that. Matthew 6:33 tells us we are called to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” We are called to proclaim the good news of the kingdom, to testify to the kingdom, to inherit the kingdom. The kingdom is not something that we achieve through our own effort but rather something we receive as a gift of grace. But that does not mean that we are supposed to sit back and passively await the coming of the kingdom in its fullness. We may not be able to build the kingdom of God, but we can and must build for the kingdom of God. New Testament scholar N.T. Wright writes, “The final coming together of heaven and earth is, of course, God’s supreme act of new creation, for which the only real prototype—other than the first creation itself—was the resurrection of Jesus. God alone will sum up all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. He alone will make the ‘new heavens and new earth.’ It would be the height of folly to think that we could assist in that great work. But what we can and must do in the present, if we are obedient to the gospel, if we are following Jesus, and if we are indwelt, energized, and directed by the Spirit, is to build for the kingdom…You are—strange though it may seem, almost as hard to believe as the resurrection itself—accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world. Every act of love, gratitude, and kindness; every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation; every minute spent teaching a severely handicapped child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings and for that matter one’s fellow nonhuman creatures; and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching, every deed that spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honored in the world—all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation that God will one day make. That is the logic of the mission of God.” The kingdom of God is a present reality because the kingdom is present in Jesus. It is a kingdom of grace, which means that it can only be received. That is why Jesus said in Luke 12:32, “‘Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.’” He went on to say that only those who receive the kingdom like a child will ever enter it. How does a child receive the kingdom? With empty hands. Our faith does not add or contribute anything to our rescue. Faith is simply empty hands which receive what Jesus gives. And what Jesus gives us is himself. Wherever Jesus is, there is the kingdom. There is grace. ___ Adapted from David and The Good Life: Grace, a sermon delivered by Jason Harris on October 23, 2022. Listen to the sermon or read the full transcript. Christ and Contemporary Culture is a journal written by Jason Harris which reflects on the intersection between Jesus Christ and our contemporary culture. If you are skeptical or resistant to Christianity, the hope is that you might pause to reflect on your pre-existing ideas about the way things are and perhaps think again. For those who have embraced Christianity, these posts will serve to encourage you in your ability to communicate the gospel in a way that takes our current cultural context seriously. Produced by Mary-Catherine McKee
August 9, 2023 | Read
Latest Resources
Multiplying Ministry
Just like the Church today, the New Testament Church was made up of sinful people who couldn’t escape conflict and controversy. The apostle Paul sought to address these issues, but he also didn’t write the Church off as a lost cause because of them. Watch this sermon as we consider how Paul’s encouragement for the early Church to multiply their ministry can be applied to us today.
November 17, 2024 | Watch
Providing Encouragement
The biblical concept of the day of the Lord — Jesus’ second coming — is defined by judgment, justice, and even wrath. And on top of that, we are told no one knows the hour or the day it will happen. So how is there any hope in that? The hope lies in the reality that God’s judgment, justice, and wrath are in opposition to sin, evil, and injustice — against which God has already issued the ultimate blow. Watch this sermon as we consider the encouragement that comes from anticipating God’s promised consummation of his Kingdom.
November 10, 2024 | Watch
Providing Encouragement
Purpose To discover and experience Jesus Christ in our midst To cultivate mutually encouraging relationships To participate in God’s mission to the world Opening Prayer Lord, we pray, absolve your people from their offenses; that through your bountiful goodness we may be set free from the chains of all those sins which in our frailty we have committed: grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Responsive Prayer — Isaiah 59 The Lord saw it, and it displeased him, That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no one to intercede; Then his own arm brought him salvation, And his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on his head; So they shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, And his glory from the rising of the sun; For he will come like a rushing stream, Which the wind of the Lord drives. Summary and Connection This study explores the topic of the day of the Lord. Having responded to the question of death, Paul is now responding to the question of judgment at the Lord’s coming. The Thessalonians wanted to know the exact date and time in order to be ready to stand before Christ and his judgment. However, Paul gives another solution to be prepared for Parousia (the Second Coming), which is to be awake and alert. Using light and darkness metaphors, Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers that they are children of the day, not of the night, and instructs them to behave accordingly, exercising self-control. Once again, Paul points to the death of Jesus Christ for the hope of salvation. Equipped with the armor of God, the church at Thessalonica can experience peace and security in life and death, because of the gift of eternal life they have in Christ. We are in the midst of a sermon series called Resounding Faith, and we want to explore how we can have peace and hope in the day of the Lord. Discussion Questions 1. Looking at the Bible Observation: Read the passage privately. What does the text say? What is the theme of this passage? Do you notice any keywords? Why does Paul not answer the question concerning the times and the seasons? The Bible does not give us a specific time for the Lord’s return. Why is that, and what importance does that have for us? 2. Looking at Jesus At Central we believe that all of Scripture points to Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the theological center of the Bible. Every passage not only points to Jesus, but the grand narrative of the Bible also finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. Read verses 9 and 10. What did God appoint us for? What is the purpose of Jesus’ death? What implications does this have for our “hope of salvation”? 3. Looking at Our Hearts Paul writes that Jesus’ coming will be sudden, and while people are saying “peace and security,” Christ will return with judgment and destruction. Where do we find our peace and security? Have we placed them somewhere other than in Jesus, the Prince of Peace? 4. Looking at Our World Paul calls the believers “children of light, children of the day” (verse 5). How can we act among unbelievers in a manner such that we have our “light shine before them, so that they may see our good works and glorify God” (Matthew 5:16)? Jesus said “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Where have we placed our hope in this world? Do we have our eyes fixed on Jesus as the lighthouse who will guide us to life? Sending God’s word is a lamp to our feet. Christ’s teachings are a light to our path. May God’s word take root in our lives. May Christ’s love nourish and sustain us. Amen.
November 10, 2024 | Read
Generating Hope
Purpose To discover and experience Jesus Christ in our midst To cultivate mutually encouraging relationships To participate in God’s mission to the world Opening Prayer God, our refuge and strength, the author of all godliness, hear the devout prayers of your Church: and grant that what we ask in faith we may surely obtain; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Responsive Prayer — Psalm 16 I have set the Lord always before me; Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; My flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, Or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Summary and Connection This study explores the topic of death and the coming of the Lord. Timothy brought a letter to Paul from the Thessalonians, and in it Paul is responding to the questions that the believers in Thessalonica had concerning sex, work, and death. Today’s passage concludes chapter 4 and ends with the ethical teaching of death. The Thessalonians misunderstood the Second Coming, which caused some to stop working altogether and left others completely unprepared for the experience of bereavement. Paul reminds the Thessalonian believers that as Jesus was raised to life, they too will be resurrected. He explains that when Jesus returns, Christians will rejoin him again. Paul exhorts the church in Thessalonica to hold on to this hope and to encourage each other with this truth. We are in the midst of a sermon series called Resounding Faith, and we want to explore how we can have hope in spite of death. Discussion Questions 1. Looking at the Bible Observation: Read the passage privately. What does the text say? What is the theme of this passage? Do you notice any keywords? What is the intent of Paul’s instruction? What is his purpose for teaching about death and the coming of the Lord? Notice what Paul wrote on grief in verse 13. What is he prohibiting, and what is he allowing? What importance does that have for us as Christians today? 2. Looking at Jesus At Central we believe that all of Scripture points to Jesus. In other words, Jesus is the theological center of the Bible. Every passage not only points to Jesus, but the grand narrative of the Bible also finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus. Where is our hope? Have we misplaced our hope in other things? How has Jesus proven himself as the reason for our hope in the Bible and in our life? 3. Looking at Our Hearts The eschatology (theology of death, judgment, and the afterlife) of the Thessalonians either led them to become idle or to grieve without hope. How does our eschatology shape how we live today? What would a gospel-centered eschatology look like in the life of the believers? 4. Looking at Our World Benjamin Franklin famously quipped that nothing is certain in this world except for death and taxes. How does the world view death? What is Paul saying in today’s passage to the church in Thessalonica, and what should our attitude be, as Christians, toward death? How can we share this hope regarding death and resurrection with unbelievers? Sending God’s word is a lamp to our feet. Christ’s teachings are a light to our path. May God’s word take root in our lives. May Christ’s love nourish and sustain us. Amen.
November 3, 2024 | Read
Can We be Good Without God?
Throughout human history, both the religious and non-religious have exhibited the capacity for doing good works. But when we turn to the question of universal moral obligations of goodness, does atheism hold up? Without a belief in God, there is a ceiling to how far goodness can reach.
September 30, 2024 | More...
Is Christianity Sexist?
In order to address what the Bible has to say about men and women, it’s important to consider the broad sweep of the Bible’s message. When we do that, we discover that the Bible affirms the equality, the complementarity, and the unity of the sexes.
March 13, 2024 | More...
Beyond Morality: Living a Life of Worship
When most of us think of the “good life,” we are not merely imagining an ethical or moral life but a life that is truly worth living, even in the face of the existential problems with which we must contend. Luc Ferry, a French philosopher and self-proclaimed atheist, offers this interesting thought experiment: Imagine we could wave a magic wand and cause everyone living today to begin treating one another perfectly, with equal dignity and respect. There would be no more war, genocide, racism, or xenophobia. There would be no need for a police force or a standing army. Our judicial system and prisons would eventually disappear. And yet, Ferry suggests that even if we were to wave that magic wand, the most profound existential challenges we face would still not be resolved. This is how he puts it, “Still—and here I have to weigh each one of my words—none (I really mean none) of our most profound existential problems would be resolved if this came to pass. Nothing, even in a perfect realization of the most sublime morality, would prevent us from aging; from witnessing, powerless, the appearance of wrinkles and white hair; from falling sick, dying, and seeing our loved ones die; from worrying about the outcome of our children’s education or from struggling to achieve what we want for them. Even if we were saints, nothing would guarantee us a fulfilled emotional life.” The point is that morality is indispensable to human life. And yet, it is not enough. We read in the story of David in 1 and 2 Samuel about the importance of living a life of worship before God. David is far from perfect, but that is not what matters. What matters is that whether winning a great victory or committing an egregious sin, David lives a life of repentance and faith. Whether in triumph or defeat, hope or despair, David does not run away from God. He runs towards God. And that is what fills his life with enduring meaning, value, and purpose. What Is Worship? The problem with religion is that it leads us to think of God like a genie in a bottle—rub the lamp and out will pop God to grant you your wishes. Religious people tend to think God is there to serve us, to fulfill all our dreams, and to make us feel good about ourselves. We assume that if we are good enough, pious enough, zealous enough, devout enough, if we say all the right prayers, observe all the right rituals, and keep all of the right rules, then God is obligated to bless us and to make our life go well. We are not really interested in God for who he is—we are merely using God to get whatever we want. And if God does not deliver, then we become angry, bitter, and resentful because he did not fulfill our expectations. It is critical to realize that the real God will challenge our dreams, not merely fulfill them. The poet W.H. Auden once wrote that a Christian is someone who says, “I believe because He fulfills none of my dreams, because He is in every respect the opposite of what He would be if I could have made Him in my own image.” God is not here to serve us. We are here to serve him. In fact, in Hebrew the word “worship” and “serve” are the very same word. God is not here to worship us. We are here to worship him. God is not supposed to follow us according to our terms. Rather we are supposed to follow God on his terms. And if we do, then he promises that he will bless us—not out of necessity, but as a pure gift. Christianity offers this unique view of salvation: God relates to us on the basis of sheer grace, which means that a relationship with God is not something that we achieve through our own efforts, but something we can only receive with empty hands. Religion leads us to say, “I obey, and therefore, God accepts me.” But the gospel tells us, “God accepts me, despite my sin, through the substitutionary sacrifice of another, and therefore I obey.” We strive to love, serve, and honor God, not motivated by mere duty or obligation, but motivated by gratitude and joy for what he has first done for us—not as a way to try to win God's love, but in order to demonstrate that we already have it. If we know that God has done absolutely everything that is necessary in order to cover our sin and put us in right relationship with himself, then that will infuse our life with insuppressible joy, regardless of our life circumstances or personal challenges. There is, of course, a rightful place for lament as we mourn those aspects of our lives or within the wider world that are not yet in line with his purposes. Nevertheless, the foundation of a Christian’s’ life must be one of joy. The English author G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial. Melancholy should be an innocent interlude, a tender and fugitive frame of mind; praise should be the permanent pulsation of the soul.” Why Worship Matters When Isaiah has a vision of the Lord seated enthroned above the ark of the cherubim in Isaiah 6:5, he immediately says, “‘Woe is me! For I am lost!’” Isaiah acknowledges that he is a sinner and “a man of unclean lips.” But despite Isaiah’s sin, God does not strike him down. Instead, one of the seraphim flies to the altar, the place of the sacrifice, and removes one of the burning coals and places it on the lips of Isaiah saying: “‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’” God has now made Isaiah clean. This, of course, was just a vision. We get something far better. There are only two places in the New Testament where the Greek word for “mercy seat” or “place of atonement” is used—once in Romans 3 and once in Hebrews 9. In both cases, “mercy seat” or “place of atonement” is used not to describe a place but a person. Hebrews 10 tells us that the blood of bulls and goats could never do anything to actually take away people's sin. This is just a symbol meant to prepare us for the ultimate high priest who does not enter the most holy place within a humanly constructed temple, but rather he enters into the presence of the divine being himself. And there he offers not the sacrifice of an animal, but rather the sacrifice of his very own self. He gives himself for us so that our sin might be covered by his blood, and so that God in his mercy might forgive us and cleanse us so that we can enter into his holy presence and live. Jesus is the mercy seat and the place of atonement. He is the true prince of peace and the one who makes it possible for us to approach the throne of grace and live. And the mercy seat is open, still. The gospel tells us that God is so holy and you and I really are so flawed that Jesus had to die. There was no other way for us to be able to enter into God's holy presence and live. And yet, at the same time, God is so loving and you and I are so valuable, that Jesus was willing to die for us. When you take these two truths deep into your heart and into your life, then that is what unlocks the joy. Morality and ethics are essential and important, but they are not sufficient to actually live the “good life.” The Westminster Shorter Catechism, a historic document of faith from the 1600s, begins with this question: What is the chief end of man? In other words, what is the meaning of life? The answer is short: To glorify God and to enjoy him forever. As C.S. Lewis astutely observed, those two commands are actually one and the same. In commanding us to worship him, God is inviting us to enjoy him. The only way in which we truly learn to live the “good life” is through worship, by living our lives before the God of grace. And when we do, it will fill our lives with insuppressible joy. ___ Adapted from David and The Good Life: Worship, a sermon delivered by Jason Harris on October 16, 2022. Listen to the sermon or read the full transcript. "Christ and Contemporary Culture" is a journal written by Jason Harris which reflects on the intersection between Jesus Christ and our contemporary culture. If you are skeptical or resistant to Christianity, the hope is that you might pause to reflect on your pre-existing ideas about the way things are and perhaps think again. For those who have embraced Christianity, these posts will serve to encourage you in your ability to communicate the gospel in a way that takes our current cultural context seriously. Produced by Mary-Catherine McKee
May 18, 2023 | Read
Reclaiming the Importance of Friendship
The depth and the quality of our friendships determine the depth and the quality of our lives. And yet, we are facing an epidemic of loneliness. The number of people who say that they do not have a single close friend has quadrupled over the last 30 years, and nearly one in four people say they have absolutely no one to talk to. In his chapter on friendship from his 1960 work, The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis said, “Ancient people considered friendship to be the highest and the best, the happiest and the most fully human of all the loves. And yet we modern people tend to ignore it, which means that friendship is the one love that you are least likely to experience.” The Friendship Between Jonathan and David Perhaps there is no better place to turn in order to understand the importance of true friendship than 1 Samuel 18 which describes the bond between Jonathan and David. Jonathan is Saul’s son and the next in line to the throne, but God has anointed David, an unlikely shepherd, to be the future king of Israel. Despite Saul’s incurable jealousy and the conflict his rampant suspicion causes, Jonathan and David share a deep friendship. Their bond reveals the key ingredients to any meaningful friendship: a common spirit, a common commitment, and a common vision. A Common Spirit The first thing we are told about Jonathan is that “the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” Jonathan recognizes a kindred spirit in David, which reflects an important aspect of friendship. Friends see the same truth which cultivates a deep unity of spirit. Friends, therefore, are not afraid to share their innermost thoughts or feelings because they know that the other person will understand, even if they do not see things exactly the same way. Friends are willing to be completely open because they do not fear that the other person will hold anything they say against them. A Common Commitment Secondly, friends share a common commitment. We may not always like it, but friendship often entails obligations. That is explicitly the case with Jonathan and David. 1 Samuel 18:3 tells us that Jonathan “made a covenant with David.” A covenant is a relationship based on promises which entails both privileges and responsibilities. Some people assume that a covenant is the same thing as a contract, but while they are very similar, there are some important differences between the two. In a contract, two or more parties enter into an agreement with one another, out of their own self-interest, in order to pursue a mutually agreed upon objective. In a covenant, two or more people make binding promises of love and loyalty to one another in order to accomplish something together that they could never do on their own. A contract is inherently transactional, but a covenant is inherently relational. Considering the hostility that Saul demonstrated towards David, it is understandable why the covenant between Jonathan and David was necessary. Their friendship was caught in the clash of competing dynasties: the dynasty of Saul and the promised future dynasty of David. Even though Jonathan is Saul's son, he gives his allegiance to David, and the two pledge their loyalty to one another and to each other’s families forever. A Common Vision If friends are people who see the same truth and travel the same road toward the same destination, then it means that true friends also share a common vision. Jonathan and David shared God's vision that David, rather than Jonathan, would become the king. That is why in 1 Samuel 18:4, Jonathan takes his royal robe, armor, and weapons and gives them all to David. This was not just a spontaneous act of generosity on Jonathan's part to meet the need of a newfound friend. By giving David his royal apparel, he relinquishes his claim to be the king and joins David in a shared vision of God’s promised future. In contrast to lovers, C.S. Lewis presented the essence of friendship like this: “We picture lovers face to face but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead.” He went on to say that if all you want are friends, then you’ll never make any because friendship has to be about something. “Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers.” But a true friend is someone who shares a common spirit, a common commitment, and a common vision. And for the Christian, in particular, there can be no greater mission than helping one another travel the same path towards the new heavens and the new earth that God has promised. Unity But Not Uniformity Friends share much in common, but unity does not mean uniformity. If you are exactly like your friends in every conceivable way, then how could your friends ever challenge you or help you see things differently? What we need in our friendships is unity in diversity. Proverbs 27:17 says that just as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. As modern people, we tend to think that the essence of friendship is nonjudgmental acceptance—we should simply accept our friends as they are and affirm all of their desires. But what if there is something wrong with your friend’s desires? We need friends in our lives who do not merely accept us “just as we are” but who care so much for us that they refuse to allow us to remain “just as we are.” We need friends who are willing to lovingly speak truth into our lives in order to help us become the truest version of ourselves. The True Friend The sad reality, however, is that no matter how strong our friendships are, even the best of friends will let us down. That is why Proverbs 18:24 tells us: “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is one friend who sticks closer than a brother.” The covenantal friendship between David and Jonathan is meant to prepare us for the ultimate friendship that we can enjoy with God in and through Jesus Christ. Many people—ancient and modern—are familiar with the idea that two people could enter into a covenant with one another and the Lord would serve as a witness to those promises. But no one—ancient or modern—would have expected the God of the universe to actually enter into a covenant with human beings. And yet, that is what the God of the Bible has done. God comes to us and makes his promises of love and loyalty to us. Even though we often prove to be faithless, God remains faithful. Jesus left his Father's throne above, giving up his royal rights, status, and position as God's one and only Son, to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. On the night before his death, Jesus gathers together with his disciples one last time. Even though he knows that moments after this Judas will betray him with a kiss, Peter will deny ever knowing him, and the rest of the disciples will abandon him and desert him in his greatest hour of need, Jesus says to them in John 15:15, and to all of us by extension: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” Jesus opens his own heart to us. He shares his innermost thoughts and feelings, holding nothing back. We were on the outside, and he brings us into the inside. He tells us that there is no greater love than that one person should give up his life for his friend. Jonathan was willing to risk his life for David, but Jesus actually lost his life for you on the cross. Aristotle once said that it would be impossible for a god to be friends with human beings because they are too dissimilar—it would be like a man becoming friends with his tools. But that is not the message of Christianity. The message of the gospel is that the God of the universe has gone to extraordinary lengths in order to transform you and me, strangers to his promises, into friends. Even though we have failed, Jesus bears those failures. And even though we are faithless, he remains faithful. When we receive Jesus as our friend, we are then able to go out into our world in strength, proactively seeking to be a friend to others in a time when we all so desperately need one. ___ Adapted from David and The Good Life: Friendship, a sermon delivered by Jason Harris on October 2, 2022. Listen to the sermon or read the full transcript. "Christ and Contemporary Culture" is a journal written by Jason Harris which reflects on the intersection between Jesus Christ and our contemporary culture. If you are skeptical or resistant to Christianity, the hope is that you might pause to reflect on your pre-existing ideas about the way things are and perhaps think again. For those who have embraced Christianity, these posts will serve to encourage you in your ability to communicate the gospel in a way that takes our current cultural context seriously. Produced by Mary-Catherine McKee
May 4, 2023 | Read