“So, Jon, I’ve been coming to Engage Church now for a couple months, and I don’t necessarily disbelieve. I’m just struggling with ‘why.’ Why do I need Jesus?”
This question came from a good friend of mine who has been attending our church for the last nine months or so. Historically, America has been a predominately Christianesque nation.
In the past, most people went to church, even if it was somewhat obligatory. And most of the people I meet had some Sunday school experience in their early years — some good and some not so good. It’s just what you did growing up. But those days are fading.
For many, especially those under the age of 50, faith and organized religion is increasingly becoming like a distant childhood memory.
It’s like that time when you were 12 years old and your family went on the 15-day road trip out west to visit the Grand Canyon. You remember where you went, probably had a good time, but everything else is kind of a blurry.
Maybe your parents still recall the story of how you ran off — like some “Brady Bunch” episode, they couldn’t find you and thought that windstorm blew you off the edge of the canyon, or something like that.
All of the details are just kind of faintly lodged away in the distant past. If you were to go back today, you would be overwhelmed with the textures, the shades of the subtle earthy colors, the depth and feeling so small compared to the grandeur and transcendence of this natural gift.
Most of the people who aren’t “into church” have faint echoes of Jesus in their past somewhere. But that was then, and this is now.
Back to my friend’s question — when he came to Engage, he said, “I feel like I’m losing my faith. I mean, life is good. My marriage is good. I have healthy kids and a great job that I love most days. I have friends. I’ve been making more money each year the last few years. So I’m not an atheist. I just don’t see why this God and Jesus business is such a big deal!”
For the American middle class, this phenomenon has been building over the last three decades. I’m 33 years old. My grandfather came back from the war and worked swing shift for the next 40 years to make a better life for his children. The Builder Generation laid the rails for the U.S. prosperity machine to run on for the last 50 years.
Skip to the next generation. If you have a college degree and worked really hard, it has been quite possible to settle into nice, comfortable lives on a quiet .33 acre of land in the suburbs and there live out the American dream.
“Why do I need Jesus? Life is working for me.” We simply don’t see our need for deep connection with a transcendent personal being whose wise interaction with us bleeds into every sphere of our lives.
I want to propose an alternative. My pastor friend Brian told me a story about his friend Chris. Chris is a good family man. He’s not in therapy. He’s got a good marriage. He’s an involved dad. He did well in his career and retired at age 45.
Since he retired early, he coaches soccer, and when he’s not spending time with his family, he buys and renovates apartments buildings. He will fix leaky faucets, rip out old carpet, slap on fresh paint and then raise the rent, enjoying a nice return on his investment.
Chris has a friend name Rob who is a person of faith in Jesus. Rob runs a homeless advocacy group in his town. As Chris was fixing up apartments, he began doubling the rent, and one by one people were being evicted because they could not afford the new rent.
Rob has been hoping that Chris, too, would come to faith in Jesus. Not because Chris is a bad guy and his life is in shambles — it’s quite the opposite. Rob prays Chris would come to faith because personally knowing Jesus tends to reorient the very core of what life is about.
Jesus not only brings out the better sides of ourselves but also reinterprets all aspects of our life through the lenses of love. The possibilities of this kind of goodness are inexhaustible.
Rob came pleading to Chris because his friends were being put out on the street. Rob asked Chris if he could go easy on these people, who would otherwise be evicted. Chris said, “Sorry, man. This is just business, end of story.”
What if Chris was motivated by a different story? A story of a personal God who comes to us in Jesus and is rejected by us because we “don’t need” his love? This God dies for us and resurrects to prove his love for us is greater than our self-indulgence and rejection.
As we get to know Jesus, things begin to change. We begin to notice the significance of our lives in this world. We begin to see that maybe we fall short in ways that we’d never considered, ways that have more impact on others than we could possible know.
We all want the world to be a better place. Most of us want to be better people. How are we going to live extraordinary lives of love if we don’t see how much God’s love changes everything?
Calling all hardworking, comfortable, middle-class, educated, family-loving suburbanites! What kind of significance could you have in this world if every sphere of your existence was motivated by over-the-top, extraordinary, out-of-this-world kind of love? The alternative is “just business as usual.”
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