WWJD + WWJS
He stood at a busy intersection with a bunch of tracts in one hand and a microphone in the other. You could hear his voice booming over the loudspeaker from a block away. He was shouting about how much God loves us, but with equal passion was warning about the danger of hell. We’ve all seen billboards and bumper stickers with the same kind of message. Some folks feel compelled to include a healthy dose of God’s wrath whenever they tell people about God’s love. I’ve heard many sermons in which preachers promote Jesus primarily as the solution for our sin problem. We’re in big trouble with God, but thankfully by accepting Jesus today we’ll avoid hell later. There are other variations on the theme, but the focus is always on providing people with a ticket to somewhere else. Jesus commissioned his followers to continue the work he started and to share the message he gave us. So we share the message and then live in a way that validates it. For the church, there are really only two questions. The first is: ‘What would Jesus do?’ And the second is: ‘What would Jesus say?’
The Medium is the Message
To get to the answers, we can observe what Jesus did and said in the NT gospels. For further validation we can read through Acts and the epistles to better understand how the early church modeled the life of faith in the real world. God is a master communicator. He’s always very effective at delivering his message clearly and with maximum impact. The most significant message he ever sent was a person—Jesus Christ. In John’s gospel, Jesus is called ‘The Word’ who became a flesh and blood person, lived on Earth and interacted with people. He taught people what God is really like and how they should live. Marshall McLuhan, the well-known philosopher of communication theory, coined the phrase, ‘the medium is the message.’ This is a perfect way for us to think about Jesus because he was a living message from God who communicated truth and then demonstrated what he taught. Jesus was a real guy who lived a real life in the real world. He is our role model for how to live a life of faith and how to share it with others.
Jesus 1.0
When a software company releases the first version of a program or operating system it’s never perfect. They start with version 1.0, but over time there are new releases that fix bugs or add enhancements to improve the software. Often, the enhancements are added based on end user complaints or suggestions. Jesus 1.0 is different. When we think about how we should live and what message the church should share with the world, it seems clear that we need to use Jesus 1.0. When we point to Jesus we see a real person who became a living message that reflects God’s heart of love. Pastor and author Bill Johnson once said, “Anything you think you know about God that you can’t find in the person of Jesus, you have reason to question. Jesus is the standard—the clear revelation and manifestation of the Father. In Him, the nature and heart of God are clearly seen.”
Throughout the gospels, especially in John’s account, Jesus makes it very clear his primary objective is the reveal God as Father. He even says that he and the Father are one. When he staked his claim as God’s son he got into big trouble with the religious leaders. In fact, his claim to be God eventually got him killed. Religious people always prefer rule following and tradition over relationship. That’s why many Christ-followers and churches do not recognize Jesus 1.0, but instead have developed their own version of the Jesus platform and added their own so-called ‘enhancements.’ When God released the Jesus 1.0 platform, it was perfect. Unlike the apps on your smart phone, updates are never required. The way we choose to communicate with people may change, but the core message cannot be improved.
Love and Life
Jesus was all about showing love, not just talking about it. He healed people who were sick. He showed compassion to people who were outcasts. He raised people who were physically dead and gave life to people who were spiritually dead. Most of the time, his love demonstration preceded his verbal communication. That’s a pretty good example for us to follow. If you strip away everything else, Jesus was compelled to love people and to give them new life. The only folks he ever threatened with punishment were religious people who rejected him because they thought they knew God, but clearly did not. Jesus often forgave people before they asked to be forgiven. What was that about? Religion requires people to jump through hoops and follow rules. Relationship, says, ‘I love you for who you and I accept you where you are.’ Jesus invited people into a relationship first. If they were engaged in destructive behavior, he asked them to stop. When people experience unconditional love, they’re motivated to change. Jesus made it clear that loving God and loving people is the highest priority. The only priority. When we add things to Jesus 1.0, we’re simply piling on unnecessary rules, traditions and enhancements that are not required. We have to find a way to keep it simple. The message is about love and life. Period.
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