Jesus As An Accessory

I am continuing to look at the state of the church in America, and the reasons I think we have gotten to where we are. Today I am looking at this issue of how we view Jesus. Like many historical figures there are many different views on who Jesus was and if he is an is. There are the classic labels of good teacher, prophet, holy man, Son of God, Messiah, rebel, religious reformer etc. There is no conclusion as to his current state of being as well. Most who are followers of Christ hold to the resurrection, this is not a view held by all. For the purposes of this discourse, I am working form Jesus as Messiah, Savior and Lord, and the resurrection being Truth.

Having said that, I want to look at the ways we interact with Jesus in the church today. More often than not, Jesus is used as a tool. At times a tool for great good and at other times a tool for great harm. The church using Jesus as a tool has had many poor consequences, the one I will look at is the way we allow Jesus to impact our daily living. I content most of us use Jesus like an accessory in our wardrobe. As long as he accents what I am doing he is fine, but he is not allowed to shape what I am doing. For men I see a tie as an optional accessory, to be used only when absolutely necessary. For the most part a tie is chosen to match the outfit, not the outfit to match the tie. Very rarely do we allow the accessory to determine what the rest of the outfit will be. the exception is when we want everyone to see the accessory we have. Thereby announcing our possession as a status issues.

This is how many are using Jesus. A little show and tell now and again, but no real impact. The roles have been reversed. We think we are the main show and have made Jesus to be the accessory. In reality Jesus is, was and will always be the main show and we are the accessory. Our role is to accent the work of Christ in our world, not ask Christ to accent what we are already doing. For all too long the church has attempted to form, mold and shape Jesus into the image we want. The result is an impotent church. Many forms of ecclesial Viagra have been used, but the problem continues, the church remains impotent. The solution is not found in a wonder drug, or the latest program. The solution is found when groups of men and women place Jesus as the main thing, and radically live out the live Jesus calls us to live. We must become the accessory.