Everybody is following somebody. Everybody makes decisions everyday about what is important, how to treat people, and what to do with our lives. Everybody gets their perspectives from influences during their life.
Who can influence us? (Parents, Teachers, Mentors, Scientists, Doctors, Siblings, Children, Girlfriends, Pastors, Wives, etc)
From these people, we learn how to view the world, and how to interact with it; our way of living. Everybody has faith in something and somebody. In our discussions about what matters most, we aren’t talking about faith or no faith, belief or no belief. We are talking about faith in what or belief in what. The question is not whether we have, but whether we have it or not.
As Christians, we are trying to orient ourselves around living a particular kind of way, the kind of way Jesus taught was possible, and we think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live. Our faith is not irrational, blind or primitive, we are simply being honest that everyone is living a way based on perspectives.
What do our old perspectives revolve around and produce? (Gal. 5: 19-21)
What do our new perspectives revolve around and produce? (Gal. 5: 22-23)
We are convinced that being generous, forgiving people, having compassion, pursuing peace in every situation, listening to wisdom, and being honest are the best ways to live. We are trying to follow Jesus.
In Colossians 3: 10, we have put on the “new” man, and are being “renewed” in knowledge according to the image of our Creator.
What were human beings created as? (Genesis 1:27)
Jesus lived as we are supposed to in God’s image. We were made to be an image of God. This is how things are meant to be. Jesus exposes us to reality at its rawest. It’s not about religion; it’s about lining ourselves up with how things are.
How did the Israelites describe God? (Deuteronomy 4: 12; 15)
This was a revolutionary in the history of religion. In Moses’ day, gods people followed were honored were by making sculptures of them and bowing down to the sculptures. Moses tells the people that no sculpture could ever capture this God. This is because God has no boundaries, no limits, no edges, and no end. This truth about God is why study and discussion and doctrines are so necessary. They help us put words to realities beyond words. They give us insight and understanding into the experience of God we are having. But these “springs” only work when the serve the greater cause: finding our lives in Christ.
So we take this way of living and compare it to jumping on a trampoline. The act of jumping is living as God intended. Trampolines are fun, and once we are jumping, we begin to realize the need for springs. The springs help us make sense of these deeper realities that drive how we live every day. They are not God, Jesus, or the point. They are statements and beliefs about our faith that help give words to the depth that we are experiencing in our jumping; basically, they are doctrines of the Christian faith. These “springs” have emerged over time as people have discussed, studied, experienced, and reflected on their growing understanding of who God is.
For some, faith isn’t a trampoline; it’s a wall of bricks. Each doctrine is like an individual brick that stacks on top of others. If you pull one out, the whole wall wavers and starts to crumble. It appears strong and rigid, but if you rethink or discuss even one brick the whole wall is in danger… like saying if you do not believe the world was created in six 24 hour periods, you are denying that Jesus died on the cross. With a trampoline, there are so many springs, you could examine and discuss it, and keep on loving God, and live the way he intended.
A brick is fixed in size. It can’t flex or change in size, because if it does, it then will not fit into the wall. Unfortunately, the wall becomes the sum total of beliefs, and God becomes as big as the wall, but God is bigger than any wall, any worldview, any religion, and bigger than the Christian faith. In brickworld, people defend their doctrines, basically, talking about how right they are, which leads to how wrong others are. Very rarely are trampolines defended, we invite others to join us.
Another problem with brickworld is that a wall inevitably keeps people out. It often appears that if you don’t agree with all the bricks, you cannot join. Jesus invites everyone to jump, and saying yes doesn’t mean we have to have every spring figured out. I mean, if we knew everything, we’d be God, but we can jump and still have questions right there with us.
So how do we get these discussions about the springs started? Questions. Questions are essential to the Christian faith. To truly pursue the living God, we have to ask questions. These questions aren’t belligerent, arrogant or have no respect for our Maker, but naked honest, vulnerable, and raw questions that arise out of engaging God. Questions bring freedom. Freedom that we don’t have to be God and don’t have to pretend to have it all figured out. We can let God be God.
Who has questioned God? (Genesis 18 – Abraham) (Exodus 4 – Moses) (Psalm 13 – David) (Luke 1: 30-34 – Mary) (Mark 15: 34 – Jesus, SIDE NOTE: also Psalm 22:1, as a secret code to the readers of the Scriptures that the Savior had arrived.)
Example (John 3:16)
Why did God give His Son?
Why does God love the world? (1 John 4: 8)
We could further ask “How can God be love,” “Is every experience of love an experience of God,” “Is every experience of God an experience of love,” and go on and on and on. Truth always leads to more truth. Truth is insight into God and God has no boundaries or edges, so truth always has layers, depth, and texture. God is the mystery and the answers to our questions only will lead to more questions. The great thing about the Christian faith is that we do not have to know all the answers. Even the best descriptions of our doctrines sound like a small child playing Mozart with pots and pans. God’s mystery is the truth. Being a Christian isn’t about conquering or figuring out the truths; it’s about celebrating them. A trampoline only works if you stop investigating the springs, and jump into the air. Jumping on a trampoline is fun, and we love it. What do we do with things we love to do? We invite others to come with us. We invite others to come and live the way of Jesus and see what happens. You don’t have to know all of the answers to follow Him.
What’s the point of living the way of Jesus? (Psalm 37: 4)
God’s joy and our joy are not two separate things; they are the same. He takes great pleasure in us living as we were made to live. Of course, joy doesn’t rule out suffering, difficulty, or struggle. In fact, Jesus pretty much guarantees our lives to be difficult. But God’s joy transcends these struggles.
What did Paul say about this? (Philippians 4:7)
What did Jesus say about this? (Matthew 11: 28-30)
The way to pure joy and a peace the passes all understanding is to take on Jesus yoke, or to live the way Jesus taught us to.
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