Jesus Has Baggage

Three things in life are rare. Behold, four are practically inconceivable. Wealth without work. Wisdom without experience. Knowledge without curiosity. Family without forgiveness. There are some things you just can’t order a la carte. Fitness comes with a side of sweat. If you want success, you can’t substitute shortcuts for sacrifice. And the only way to have old friends is to be friendly – for a very long time.

In Ephesians 1:15, the Apostle Paul touches on two other things that are inseparable; I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people. 

Paul calls Jesus Lord. It means master. Ruler. Commander. Boss. We tend to like the other title – Savior – better. We want Jesus the Savior to deliver us from sin, from guilt, from trouble, from the side effects of our decisions and the consequences of our behaviors. We love the Jesus who saves and heals and raises and restores and blesses little children. The meek and mild Jesus. The Jesus who gave hypocrites what for. The Jesus who kicked religion in the rear end.

We’re not so fond of the go-your-way-and-sin-no-more Jesus. The Jesus who equates lust with adultery, hatred with murder and greed with idolatry. The Jesus who says stay married, turn the other cheek, love your enemies, pray for your persecutors, give to the needy, forgive those who hurt you, don’t love stuff, don’t worry, stop judging, and “not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father.” That Jesus is not so much fun. But here’s the deal; if he isn’t your Lord, he won’t be your savior. He is either both or he is neither. The two go together.

The second part of verse 15– I heard about . . . your love for all God’s people – is just as important. Love for God’s people flows naturally from faith in the Lord Jesus. You can’t have the Savior without the Lord. And you can’t have the Lord without loving his people. Which is essentially what Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39. But a lot of folks are trying to have the one without the other.

“Follow Jesus, forget the church,” is kind of a thing these days. “I love Jesus. It’s the Christians I can’t stand.” Whenever I hear someone say that or something like it, I want to ask, do you even read the Bible? Who do you think the church is? In Ephesians 1, Paul calls the church God’s holy people (vs. 1) and the body of Christ (vs. 23). In chapter 5, he calls us dearly loved children. Saying you love Jesus but loath the church is like saying, “Hey, we’d love to have you over for dinner this Friday night, but please don’t bring your wife – she’s awful.” It’s like, “You have a wonderful personality and a keen mind. Have you considered a weight loss program and plastic surgery? Because . . . wow.”

Is the church sometimes hard to love? Yes. WE are. Especially when we elevate ourselves above Jesus by pretending that our standards are higher than his. The holy Son of God arranged for our adoption, welcomed us as brothers and sisters, redeemed us out of debt, cleansed us from our sin, accepted us despite our dishonor, forgave our faithlessness and died our death for us. I don’t know if he wants to laugh or cry when one saved sinner thinks he or she is too good to accept another saved sinner.

British playwright and poet Dorothy Sayers suggested that Jesus experienced three great humiliations in his quest to save humanity: the incarnation, when God became human, the crucifixion, when the Innocent died as a criminal, and the church, when Christ chose to be present in the world through a flawed and sin-prone people.

In other, less elegant words, Jesus has some baggage. It’s called church.

Your brothers and sisters in the church are going to sin, sometimes in scandalous ways. Love them.

They will support political positions you think are unjust, unchristian and indefensible. Love them.

They will be silent when you think they should shout. Shout when you think they should whisper. And, then, when they finally speak with the right tone at the right time, they’ll say exactly the opposite of what you think needs to be said. Love them.

You can’t have the Savior without the Lord. You can’t have the Lord without his people. We’re a package deal.