Ever Growing Revelation of Jesus Christ

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Leadership Book Interview: Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola on Jesus Manifesto

ES: What do you believe is the dominant view of Jesus in the evangelical church, and what is wrong with it?

LS: Myron Augsburger, former President of Eastern Mennonite Seminary, has said it best for me:

I believe in justice, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of justice, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to justice.

I believe in love, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of love, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to love.

I am committed to peace, but I am not a preacher of the gospel of peace, but the Gospel of Christ who calls us to peace.

I believe in the value of the simple life, but I am not the preacher of the simple life, but of the Gospel of Christ that calls us to the simple life.

For Augsburger, evangelicals have too often been guilty of the ultimate plagiarism: "borrowing some great concepts from Jesus then, running off proclaiming these concepts and not sharing the Christ that empowers these concepts."

FV: At best, Jesus is Savior and Lord, but not much more. So He gets routinely short-changed and limited. At worse, Jesus is a slogan, a banner, a logo, or a footnote to the gospel and the many "things" that Christians enthusiastically chase after today, whether they be the gifts of the Holy Spirit, leadership principles, apologetics, healing, miracles, the "five-fold ministry," helping the poor, social justice, personal holiness, memorizing Bible verses, a certain theological system, end-time theology, the coming revival, etc.

The problem is that Christians can chase these things, pursue them, major in them, and leave Jesus Christ out in the cold. I've met many evangelical Christians who were jazzed about a host of religious and spiritual "its" and "things" I was also at one time yet when Jesus Himself is brought up, they are disinterested. One of the reasons for this, I think, is that many believers have been given a very small Christ. By contrast, our book seeks to unveil His stunning greatness.

In short, if our eyes are opened to catch even a glimpse of the glory, the beauty, the majesty, the "otherness," and the amazing greatness of Christ, it would blow our circuitry. Everything else would turn into plain yogurt, and our hearts would be stolen for Him alone. That experience is the "Game-Changer" beyond all game-changers in my view.

Let me add one more word in this connection: Guilt is the greatest motivator on the planet. Psychologists tell us that guilt is a stronger motivating force than sex or money. That said, guilt is often used by contemporary preachers to get God's people to do certain things and stop doing other things.

But instead of being placed under a pile of guilt, what God's people need more than anything else (I believe) is an ever-growing revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. For out of that flows everything else. The words of a classic hymn explain this better than I can:

What has stript the seeming beauty
From the idols of the earth?
Not a sense of right or duty,
But the sight of peerless worth.

The look that melted Peter
The face that Stephen saw
The heart that wept with Mary
Can alone from idols draw

This touches evangelism too. Not long ago I was talking to a young man who was a leader in a very large para-church organization that's known for its evangelism. After observing some intensely Christ-centered gatherings where every member present was participating and sharing the riches and depths of Jesus Christ, the young man said to me:

"I just got back from one of our leadership conferences and the more they talked about saving the lost, the more disinterested I was. I come to these meetings here and while nothing is said about evangelism, I'm so excited about my Lord that I want to share Him with others. There's no guilt or duty in it at all. I'm fired up about Him."

In short, we all need a fresh unveiling of our Lord. And that's what Len and I have set out to do in Jesus Manifesto.