Shortly after moving to the
Richmond, VA area in 1989 we met two couples who lived north of the city. Their
friendship has been precious to us over the years. The two husbands have met
much to me, men to whom I could reveal my soul.
When I first met them, my two
new friends (the husbands) had been friends, it seemed, before time began. They
had a friendship that I, at times, envied; at all times I respected it – their
friendship, and that of their families, was a wonderful model of love and
friendship. Over the years these two couples have been a constant source of
love and encouragement for Vickie and me. Whether in good times or bad, whether
in celebration or in stress, our friends have always been there for me, for
us…always, always, always.
The friend who I am thinking
of this morning, and praying for, is one of those men who has a presence; when
he walks into a room you know he is there, when he writes his thoughts they are
powerfully communicated, when he speaks he draws your attention the way a
magnet draws iron shavings. He is soft spoken, he is kind, he is generous. I
envisioned us always being together, if not in physical presence, then in
communion with our Lord Jesus.
But now I look and I don’t see
him and I don’t understand why. He once shared his testimony about coming to
know Jesus Christ, he once read the Scriptures to discover Christ…wherever he
might be reading…whether the Law and Prophets or the Gospels and Epistles. But
now I look and I don’t see him and I don’t understand why. I don’t understand
why he now says the Gospels and Epistles are man’s fantasies; I don’t
understand why Jesus is but another man to him…to him my friend. And I don’t
understand why he, my friend, now strives to turn others from knowing Jesus,
the Son of God.
I am convinced of two things
which my friend disputes; that Jesus Christ is the risen Son of God and that
the New Testament is a reliable document in terms of textual transmission. My
bookshelves are lined with English translations of ancient Christian writing
that span many authors and centuries; the writings contain quotation after
quotation, and allusion after allusion, to the New Testament as well as the Law
and the Prophets – it would be a grand conspiracy indeed if this mass of
documents (along with other documents that are not on my bookshelves but are from
the same period) were found to be the result of forgery, fabrication, and lies.
Whether one believes the assertions and witness of these documents, the textual
integrity of the Scriptures is open for all to see. It is arrogant for people
who live two-thousand years after the fact to dismiss that for which countless
men and women have given their lives for down through the centuries. Dispute
the witness if you will, but to dispute the textual transmission is something
that requires a suspension of historical tests that are otherwise applied to
other ancient and historical documents and witnesses. Why would men and women
disseminate this poison? My friend was poisoned by others, now he passes the
poison on.
Then there is Jesus; Jesus is
Biblical Christianity and Biblical Christianity is Jesus Christ, the risen Son
of God. My friend would likely now say that since he does not view the New Testament
as Scripture that my idea of Biblical Christianity is not important to him. My
response is that I know Jesus Christ and I know others who know Jesus Christ.
For the past 2,000 years there is a record of countless men and women and
children who have known Jesus Christ. They have not just known about Him, they
have known Him. These people have come from countless backgrounds – social,
economic, educational, ethnic, political – and they have had personal and
collective relationships with Jesus Christ. It is not likely that they have all
had the same delusion or illusion; in fact, many people I have known have
shared the same experience of Jesus without preconceived notions of what that
experience should be.
The historical record
indicates that countless people in history have not only believed the Biblical
witness – but they have experienced the Biblical
witness – they have known Jesus Christ in much the same way we know our
spouses and family members – in personal relationships. Many of these people
have been functionally illiterate or have otherwise had limited knowledge of
the Bible – and yet there is a commonality of experience of Jesus Christ – a
commonality we would expect when talking about actually knowing a person…rather
than simply knowing about a person. The Biblical witness guides and authenticates
our experience, and our experience authenticates the Biblical witness – in other
words, the Biblical witness corresponds to the reality we see around us and the
reality we experience within us and with others.
My friend would point to
caricatures of Jesus as seen in Christians and in organized religion – I cannot
argue that the professing church has often desecrated the image of Jesus and
the Gospel, I cannot argue that the professing church can often be on
artificial life support as it seeks to sustain itself rather than trust Jesus
Christ to sustain it. I cannot argue that professing Christians often act as
though they know nothing of Jesus Christ – the Biblical Jesus Christ. But my
friend pays too much attention to the ugly and not the beautiful, he focuses on
the counterfeit and not the real…and in so doing he employs one counterfeit to
counter another counterfeit.
I love Jesus Christ. I have
known Him for around 51 years now. He is my life. He is not an idea, He is not
a belief, He is not an icon, He is not a painting, He is not a figment of my
imagination. He is my Lord and my God and I owe Him my life. His love and
presence surrounds Vickie and me as we walk though this life together. We do
walk with Him, and we do talk with Him; as individuals and as a husband and
wife. We experience Him with others, and we long to see Him face to face.
Our society may teach that we
are the products of time plus matter plus chance, and we may be encouraged to
live as if there is no eternity. Others may entice us with promises of a higher
way of thinking or learning and promise us a hidden spiritual wisdom and
experience not available to others. Toxic teachers and false prophets under the
guise of scholarship may spin webs of deceit with systems of thinking that in
any other discipline of study would likely be rejected due to lack of
objectivity, and in doing so they may lure others into a spiritual opium den.
All of these groups and individuals may do what they may to make us “men
without chests” (from C.S. Lewis) and desecrate the one message of hope in the
world, the Gospel of Jesus Christ – but we have the promise of Jesus Christ
that He will never leave us or forsake us and that the gates of hell will not
prevail against His Church, the true Church, that transcends time and space and
natural origin.
Life is about Jesus Christ,
and in Jesus Christ alone there is life. This is not an esoteric or academic or
sociological game.
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