The primacy of Jesus

People all have a “center” that determines our actions, our way of doing life. That “center” is the starting point for all paradigms and perceptions that shape the way we live and act. For those of us who follow Jesus, the center, the starting point must be Jesus Himself. The moment we as Christians move from Jesus as the center of our practice we immediately move into a perversion of Christianity. Every action must be done and lived through the filter of the example of Jesus.

The problem with many of our religious institutions and their accompanying paradigms is that they have rarely been placed against the template of the life of Jesus. While we may find Old Testament paradigms that support many of our current structures and ways of relating to God, we frequently discover glaring flaws when our Old Testament-modeled structural paradigms are placed against the template of Jesus’ life. Unfortunately many of the paradigms we hold most dearly are periphery to the cause of Christ at best and contradictory to the ways of Jesus at worst.

Let me say that there is nothing wrong with Old Testament paradigms as long as they mesh with the leadership attitudes and the life example of Jesus. However we must also remember that the work of Jesus demolished many of the Old Testament worship forms and structures. To attempt to recreate those demolished structures is to engage in “another gospel” (see Galatians 1:6-9)[1].

It is my observation that there were several characteristics of Old Testament worship demolished by Jesus that we frequently attempt to recreate. (Kind of like the Jews sewing the veil in the temple after it was split at Jesus’ death). They include:

A sacred person, a priest – The Old Testament priest was a man who was set apart to represent the people to God and God to the people. I hear the re-creation of this holy man in liturgical traditions (the pope, the bishop, the vicar), in evangelical traditions, (the pastor), as well as in the charismatic traditions (the man of God, the apostle, the prophet). In the elevation of a man to be our “priest”, our “go between”, we ignore the work of Jesus that opened the door for each of us to direct communication with the Father.

It is easy for leaders to subtly suggest[2] that they “hear God” more clearly than the less spiritual. People look to prophets to hear a personal word from God, desiring an external word coming through a person more than the internal “rhema” word from the Father Himself.

Much of the teaching on authority reinforces the sacred man concept. Believers are told that they must be under, must have a covering[3]. Don’t hear me wrongly; I fully believe that a person cannot have authority over something until they have first learned how to submit. However to demand someone submit to a positional leader or else they are in rebellion to authority is not compatible with Jesus’ style of leadership. It is imperative that we keep in focus that there is only one head of the church. It is Jesus Christ Himself. Any other head is a false head.

A sacred space, a building – The Hebrew worship took place primarily at the tabernacle and later at the temple. Both the tabernacle and the temple were the dwelling place of God. The re-creation of the holy building today manifests in the great emphasis the church places on gathering at a building, frequently referred to “The house of God”. (As in, “it’s good to be in the house of God today”)

There is a mindset that assumes that most of the work of God in the world today occurs in the confines of the building. We invite people to our building to experience how God is working. We bring them to the priest so he can bring them to God, our actions born from the assumption that somehow we are incapable of ministry to the pagans wherever we meet them.

For most Christians today, it is inconceivable that Christianity could exist apart from the building. Perhaps the best indicator of the depth of this paradigm is the fact that most Christians call the building “the church”. Yet the most rapid expansion of Christianity in the first several centuries occurred apart from buildings.

Jesus was not impressed with the grandeur of the structure of the temple. He was interested a creating a new sanctuary, a temple of living stones, built together to form a new temple for the presence of the I AM. Everywhere the living stones are found, the presence of God can be seen.

A sacred time – The Jews worshipped on certain days, every Sabbath (Saturday) was holy and then there were various feast times. The re-creation of the holy time is perhaps one the most emphasized features of Christendom. Believer’s growth and maturity are measured by how faithfully they attend the sacred space, to hear the sacred person, at the sacred time (Sunday morning sometime between 8 AM and 12 PM). While most church leaders will deny they hold to the sacredness of Sunday morning, let someone not attend a church service for several weeks and immediately there arises an assumption that something must be wrong with the person not attending. All church growth statistics, all church attendance statistics measure Sunday morning attendance. The success of churches is determined by how many people attend “church” instead of how well the life of Christ is being formed in the disciples.

In many ways, today’s Christianity has become meeting focused. The apex of a believer’s walk with Jesus occurs in the meeting. The experience of the first disciples however, was vastly different. For them, following Jesus took them far outside of a meeting. The world became their platform; wherever they found themselves with Jesus became their classroom.

As the “logos” (the word) becomes flesh in us, as Jesus becomes formed in the life of the believers, as believers begin to be the church (instead of going to church), all time and space is sacred. The work of God suddenly explodes far beyond a specific geographic location defined by an address and a specific timeframe measured by a clock.

An emphasis on external behavior – The Hebrews lived according to an external set of expectations and rules (the law) that determined their holiness, their relationship with God. The re-creation of the emphasis on the law and external actions manifests in much of the teaching that circulates through the church world. I hear much emphasis on things like the need to live a holy life, the fear of God, and conforming to certain standards of behavior. While I certainly agree with need to be holy, and I believe that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, the starting point of many of these teachings is external actions instead of the internal, transformational work of Jesus on the heart. If the heart is holy, the actions will be holy; however no amount of effort can ever make a heart holy.

It is important to note the Jesus did not just reform the Hebrew worship, He abolished it completely. The final manifestation of that abolishment was the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Yet at every step, the temptation to re-create the Hebrew form of worship has haunted the church. Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia addressed the efforts to re-create Judaism in Christianity. In this case, the re-creation had to do with the circumcision of the Gentile men who had begun to follow Christ. Paul violently denounced the re-creation effort, going as far to state that those who attempted to bring in the old forms of relating to God were an anathema (were cursed). The writer of Hebrews stresses the superiority of the work of Jesus over the Jewish form of worship, repeatedly making a case that the way of Jesus is superior to the Old Testament worship structures. (Read the first 10 chapters of Hebrews.)

It seems to me that we spend far too much time and energy maintaining periphery structures and worship forms, many of which are modeled after the very worship forms that Jesus abolished. When we begin to protect the institutions and the accompanying paradigms that do not mesh with the life and example of Jesus, we begin to actively resist His work in the world today.

Every action, every effort, every work, must be laid on the template of Jesus’ life. We must measure our motivations against His; we must judge our values by how they integrate with His. The things that violate the mission and work of Jesus today must be ruthlessly discarded. The things that are periphery must be held lightly, always with an attitude willing to release them if the mission demands.

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[1] The believers in Galatia were embracing a gospel message that emphasized works, a gospel that incorporated the Old Testament doctrine of circumcision. Paul called this “a different gospel” or “another gospel”.
[2] To be honest, sometimes it is not done so subtly. In the past year I have heard from numerous people who have told me that their leaders told them that because they were “lay” people they should not expect to hear from God as well as the “one with the anointing”.
[3] It may shock many people to discover that the Bible never uses the term “covering” in the way it is presented in many teachings today. Believers are not required to have someone be their covering. Jesus is head of the church and as such is their covering. This does not negate the need for ALL believers to engage in submission but the Biblical concept of submission differs from much of the teaching about covering.

Theology of celebration

I’ll bet you never expected to hear the words, theology and celebration, in the same phrase! For some reason, Christians get stuck on the self denial, the dying, that comes with following Christ and never really seem to get the celebrative heart of our Father God. Often, celebration and enjoyment of any kind are equated with sin. It’s almost as if Christians fear celebration.

In reality, God is a God of celebration! Read the about Old Testament feasts again. In two of the three major feasts, God commands them to rejoice (literally, to make gleesome). These celebrative feasts lasted for up to seven days! The feast of tabernacles was in many ways a week long communal camping trip.

Perhaps our fear of celebration can be seen most clearly in the King James Version of the Bible. Look at the following words from Deuteronomy 16:15:

Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God…

If I read these words as translated, I assume that the feast talked about must be kept in a somber manner. In reality, the Hebrew word translated as solemn means anything but somber. The Hebrew meaning had to do with a sacred feast celebrated in a manner by implication to be giddy, to celebrate, to dance. Huh??? To be giddy? To celebrate? Now that couldn’t be God! Or could it?

The Hebrew concept of the original word is lost in the KJV. Why? I believe it is very possible that to the translators, to be giddy, to celebrate, to dance, seemed contrary to their idea of God, kind of like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. His only perception of his relationship with his father was one of duty, of hardship, of a father who was a hard taskmaster.

I’ve just spent several days in Upstate New York with family and friends. We thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie, the laughter, the food, and the drinks. At times the night would ring with laughter (fortunately we had no close neighbors!) The fire blazed, throwing sparks into the star-speckled sky. The distant call of the loon eerily echoed across the lake. The s’mores, the late night coffee, the card games, pipe smoke wafting skyward, all celebrated the abundant life made possible by Jesus. Every day the goodness of God was celebrated with joy. Truly the abundant life is good! It is meant to be celebrated.

the joy of losing my life

The kingdom of God is full of paradoxes. So much so that almost everything seems backwards or contrary to to my way of thinking. Jesus said that if we are to find life, we must lose our life. In fact He poses the question - what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

Recently my daughter met an acquaintance that she had not seen for some time. She was shaken by his "deadness". She described him as lifeless and empty. In all likelihood he had exchanged his soul for an illusion of safety, trusting his own understanding instead of courageously embracing the risk of following Jesus.


So often we trade our soul for good things. Like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, we fall prey to the allure of the religions systems, trading our soul for the protection of our traditions (I am not opposed to tradition, but when the tradition becomes our God, we have made an unholy transaction) We may attempt to create a structure, a theological system, or a financial framework that gives us a sense of safety. While none of these things are necessarily wrong (and may even be good in the right context), God desires the best for us. We must however, let go of the good to receive the best that God has for us...Jesus called it losing our life to gain it.

For many years, I traded my soul for religious activity, attempting to climb the ladder of religious success, playing the political game of religiosity. Bev will tell you that something happened inside of me. Perhaps the best way to describe it was that I died. My radical, prophetic nature was exchange for religious correctness in an effort to please people and expectations. My validation came from leading a successful church instead of the affirmation of my Heavenly Father.


Thank goodness Jesus came to seek and save that which is lost. Several years ago, He broke into my "lostness" and invited me to a place of life. That invitation has led me on a journey of continually losing my life. In many ways, God has been my enemy these last several years (or so it seems to me at times). However in the middle of losing my life, I have made a great discovery. God is not a simply a sadistic taker. As I have lost many of the external "props" that identified my life, I have discovered joy, abundant life and an overflow of blessing. I KNOW God is real, I have experienced His affirmation in a very real way. I KNOW I am a beloved son of the I AM. I KNOW Jesus more intimately than ever before.

That joy, abundant life, the affirmation of the Father have not come without cost. Responding to the invitation of Jesus required me to let go numerous self-centered desires. Desires like financial security, the validation found in a ministry position, the right to determine the course of my life. In many ways, I have been in a process of losing my life. In the process however, I have receive infinitely more than I have lost. I can say experientially that Jesus' words about losing life to find it are absolutely true.