True Love

I love, love, love my Monday night group.  Monday night happened to be my birthday, which was shaping up to be quite crappy for awhile.  I ended up having to squeeze in a lot of running around and extra errands.  I was in a lot of pain with what is either a stress fracture or tendon damage in my left foot.  I was the only one in the office.  It was raining. But I went to group.  And there was a birthday cake and cards and presents and hugs and laughs there. 

Normally we meet at my friend Cathy's house, but we have switched it up for 12 weeks and agreed to do a study lead by one of her sister-friend's moms at her house for a change.  It is called "The Truth Project" and it is something put out by Focus on the Family.

Confession: I am not a fan of Focus on the Family.

But I am a big fan of my Monday night group.  Where they go, I go.  And I went into this venture as humbly and open-minded as I could.

Discussion time came after the video and I was really quiet.  I am NEVER quiet on Monday nights. I was quiet because I didn't want the dear, sweet lady leading to be offended.  And I didn't want to be negative.  And I thought I might need some time to process and sort out if I was knee-jerking and would regret what I said later.

Today, after praying and thinking and looking at scripture, at my core I still disagree with an opening statement the gentleman in the video said.

He stated that Jesus did not come into the world to redeem us.  He came to testify to the truth.

So if this were a geometry proof, then therefore (little 3 dot triangle) : the truth is not that Jesus came to redeem us?  The truth is something else?

Every world religion claims to have the truth.  Or at least be on the right path to seeking it.

No other world religion claims to have a Redeemer, who took our filthiness upon himself and took our punishment so that we could be free.  I think the proof goes this way: Jesus came into the world to redeem us: that is the truth.  If he didn't, what is the point in Christianity? 

Jesus' love is what sets him apart from other religious deity.  No other religion's god did what Jesus did.  If that's the truth, great, I'm with ya.  But do not say that Jesus did not come to redeem us.  He did. Luke 19:10 "The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost." And this is not a reference to truth being lost.  This is a reference to a particular individual (in this case Zacchaeus) being lost. I am not denying that Jesus came to testify to the truth - but I cannot swallow that Jesus did not come to seek out individual souls.

The gentleman on the video gave a series of verses in John that were supposed to prove that Jesus came to tell the truth.  I read each one I managed to jot down, and they are all intricately linked with redemption.

John 1:17 - Grace (equal importance to truth here) and truth come through Jesus.  What is grace?  Jesus' redemptive action of taking our guilt on his shoulders, something we did not deserve.

John 14:6 - Jesus is the way, truth and life. Again, truth is not taking importance over way and life.  How does he offer us life? Redemption.  The way is through redemption.  The truth is that we couldn't come to the Father if he hadn't provided the way.

John 17:17  - This is Jesus' prayer as he is going to the cross! He is asking for our protection and redemption. The plea for guarding us in truth is surrounded by his plea for our redemption.

John 4:24 - This is in the middle of the story of Jesus speaking to the woman at the well -  a bold, defiant, status-quo-shattering act of Jesus that was nothing if not a demonstration of love.  The truth was that he had the water she needed to drink. He was what she was searching for.  Why? He loved her enough to die in her place.

John 8:32 - Jesus was just speaking about his upcoming death, which would redeem us.  He then promised that the truth would set us free.  What truth? That he redeemed our souls.

The redemption story, Jesus' love, is what stands out in a world of line-drawing and battling over who's right and wrong.