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I'm A Good Person What More Do You Want?!?!

The following constitutes my closing remarks from my sermon last Sunday.  It really should be taken in the context of how an apologist, skeptic, and Christian would interact with this question.  These closing remarks assume a deep conviction that all of us are a complexity of good, bad and ugly and beautiful.  We are broken pieces of the image of God. 

"Brent the Rhodes Scholar and I were sharing back and forth on this subject and he said to me, if one of his colleague informed him, “I’m a good person, what more do you want?” His reply would be deceptively simple. “If you are a good person, you do not need Jesus.” 

He says, “People should not try to convince good people that they need Jesus, because good people simply do not need Jesus.  Jesus is for bad people. 

"For they watch for your soul"

Spiritual Authority 3

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Hebrews  13:17

Particularly in fundamentalist circles a verse like this can become a license for leaders to spiritually abuse people.  In my professional opinion most spiritual abuses are justified through a misuse of Scripture.  There is a real danger that when we correct a misuse we may fall into the trap of advocating for 'no use.'  I  believe misuses are best corrected by implementing proper use as opposed to abandoning all use.   

So what does this text really mean?  How should we interpret this verse? How do I apply a verse like this to my life? 

Don't Question People in Authority!

Spiritual Authority, post 2. For most of us post-Nixon children this is a no-brainer.  Whether it be NY Governor Spitzer, a parent who neglected their child in a car in a hot Phoenix sun, FEMA during hurricane Katrina or the CEO of Enron.  None of these entities or personalities have authority carte blanche.  Why then do pastors and televangelists think or maintain that they are above the scrutiny and accountability of man?   When the president of any other non-profit entity pads his pockets with money we cry foul play.  So how can pastors get away with financial indiscretions, spiritual abuse and ‘above-the-law’ antics?

Jesus among the gods

"For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you."--Paul of Tarsus. 

Paul walks among the gods and goddesses of the Athenian cult. Amid the stories and statues, pagan superstitions and philosophical mysteries he finds Jesus.  Not an idol or a relic, but a space set aside for the Unknown. Paul seizes the moment and builds a sermon from an altar not crafted by Abraham or Moses, but by some polytheistic gentile.   Without TaNaK or Hebrew lore, in the most uncommon and unkosher of manners Paul unveils YHWH Creator among the gods.  In their familiar territory, under the gaze of Zeus and outstretched arm of Apollos, in the shadow of Aphrodite  Jesus is revealed.  He has no statue, only story.  He is no mere logos morphing to life through centuries of debate and myth.  Jesus, is logos in flesh.  Mystery in muscle.  The power of deity harnessed in sinew and blood, speaking through heart and soul.  Paul speaks in tandem with the resurrected Christ.  Since the Spirit of Christ lives in him, he freely quotes Epimenides (6th century B.C.E, Greek Seer and Servant of Zeus) "In him we live and move and have our being." Their response to Christ is more important than following the rabbinical protocol of speaking and substantiating himself with Torah so Paul turns and quotes another Greek Poet Aratus (3rd century B.C.E.) "For we are too his offspring" another Zeus quote Paul uses in describing the Unknown. 

For the full sermon series (April, 2008) visit San Francisco Lighthouse