I've been reading a book by Mark Driscoll called Vintage Jesus. The chapters are titled things like "Is Jesus the only God?", "How Human was Jesus?", and "Why did Jesus come to earth?". It is Driscoll's attempt at elaborating on who Jesus was as God and as man as well as what His ministry was about and what the Scripture that are yet to be fulfilled until His return. I'm enjoying it so far as I've really had a desire recently to learn more about the life, both earthly and eternal aspects, of Jesus Christ. At the end of each chapter, Driscoll answers common questions that are asked dealing with that specific aspect of Christ to give us all additional resources to contend for the faith.
In the last chapter that I read, Driscoll answers the question "why did Jesus come to earth?" by splitting Christ's ministry into three primary roles. I found his thoughts particularly interesting and wanted to share. The three roles that Driscoll discusses are prophet, priest, and king. He begins to answer the question by saying that Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures.
As the role of prophet, Jesus had the benefit of being God so He was always speaking of His own authority. Driscoll writes of Christ being the ultimate prophet and greater than Moses as the writer of Hebrews states. As prophet, Jesus was harsh, blunt, and straight forward. Driscoll uses an old Puritan saying "the same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay" to describe how the truth softens those who receive it and hardens those who reject it. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the ultimate authority and as prophet, He spoke with that authority. My favorite quote from this section is "The written Word of God, or Scripture, exists to reveal the incarnate Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ."
The next role that Driscoll talks about is Christ's role as priest. As priest, Jesus is the intercessor between man and God. Unlike every other priest, Jesus didn't have to present a sacrifice for His sins. In fact, He became the sacrifice that covers all of our sins. He is a great high priest because He was fully human and aware of all of our struggles, yet He remained spotless. As priest, Jesus displayed grace and forgiveness which allowed Him to meet broken people right where they were and still love them in spite of their sin.
I think this section can be summarized by the following which shows Driscoll's unique humor and ability to relate to today's culture without sacrificing the truth of Scripture. He is writing about Jesus' encounter with Matthew and the dinner that followed.
Joining them later at the party at Matthew's house was nothing short of a very band hip-hop video, complete with women in clear heals, dudes with their pants around their ankles and handguns in their underware strap, lots of gold teeth, bling, spinners on camels, cheap liquor, and grinding to really loud music with a lot of bass. When word got out to the religious folks, they were perplexed as to how Jesus could roll with such a jacked-up posse. Jesus' answer was purely priestly. Jesus said that they were sick and needed mercy. pg. 77
The third and final role that Driscoll discusses is Jesus as King. As God has been showing me a lot lately regarding His authority, I found this role particularly interesting to consider. Driscoll writes that Jesus is king over all of existence in both the spiritual and physical realms. In addition, He is the authority over every aspect of our lives. Driscoll says it better than I can by saying "Jesus is not just the King who rules over nations on earth and principalities and powers in the heavens, but He also rules over our pants, web browser, refrigerator, debit card, cubicle, and car horn. As our king, Jesus demands and deserves obedient loyalty to His commands over every aspect of our life."
I agree completely with what Driscoll says here. He goes on to say that "The failure to see Jesus as king over all of creation in general and all of our life in particular leads to nothing but hypocrisy, secrecy, and shameful privacy as we continue to live in darkness." That is some hard-hitting truth right there! How different might we live if we gave Christ every single last thing that we cling to? How might we be able to let Him shine through us if we really gave Him Lordship of everything? I've been asking myself those questions.
Driscoll finishes the chapter by discussing how an imbalance or exclusion of one of Christ's primary roles leads to different extremes of "Christianity" that distort the truth.
Prophet + King - Priest = Jesus of Fundamentalism
If we don't understand Jesus as priest, we become intolerant, unloving, and unable to show grace to the sinner. It fails to see Jesus' gentleness when we need forgiveness and therefore prevents us from loving others when they need forgiveness. I think I can relate to this one right now more than the other two.
Prophet + Priest - King = Jesus of Evangelicalism
Driscoll's thoughts on this reminded me of the people that Paul was disputing when he posed the question "shall we keep on sinning so that grace may abound?" If Christ speaks the truth and forgives us as priest, we can do what we want and be forgiven no matter what. Sadly, without giving Christ the authority, we fail to see that His words are intended to bring us to repentance. Instead of living for Christ, if we ignore His kingship, we live for ourselves only seeking Christ when we need help out of a jam or when we want something that we don't have. I can relate to this because it is how I used to live.
Priest + King - Prophet = Jesus of Liberalism
Taking away Christ's role as prophet leads to a warm and fuzzy, truth is relate type of religion. It fails to see that obeying Christ's commands is imperative to show a true understanding of God's grace. It makes Jesus into a gentle, unconfrontational, sin-accepting pushover. Sadly, this seems to be the popular route to take today with so many churches accepting homosexual leaders and not taking firm stances on issues in which the Bible and Christ are clear.
I guess as a guy who can fail to let Christ's role as priest dictate how I approach others, I have very little tolerance for this final group. I fail to see how Jesus can be seen as loving and accepting of sin while so much destruction results from it. People are drawn to this fluff and led into the fire because a God who forgives but requires no thanks or obedience in return seems so great to so many people.
I think that ultimate all three of these subtractions fail to accept the full reality of who Jesus Christ is. When we do that, we fail to accept God for who He is and act as if we know how God should really be.
I'm thankful that I've been reading this book and gaining new perspective on Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. It is growing my love for Him and causing me to consider ideas that I hadn't before now. I recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity.
In the last chapter that I read, Driscoll answers the question "why did Jesus come to earth?" by splitting Christ's ministry into three primary roles. I found his thoughts particularly interesting and wanted to share. The three roles that Driscoll discusses are prophet, priest, and king. He begins to answer the question by saying that Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures.
As the role of prophet, Jesus had the benefit of being God so He was always speaking of His own authority. Driscoll writes of Christ being the ultimate prophet and greater than Moses as the writer of Hebrews states. As prophet, Jesus was harsh, blunt, and straight forward. Driscoll uses an old Puritan saying "the same sun that melts the ice hardens the clay" to describe how the truth softens those who receive it and hardens those who reject it. Jesus is the Word of God. He is the ultimate authority and as prophet, He spoke with that authority. My favorite quote from this section is "The written Word of God, or Scripture, exists to reveal the incarnate Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ."
The next role that Driscoll talks about is Christ's role as priest. As priest, Jesus is the intercessor between man and God. Unlike every other priest, Jesus didn't have to present a sacrifice for His sins. In fact, He became the sacrifice that covers all of our sins. He is a great high priest because He was fully human and aware of all of our struggles, yet He remained spotless. As priest, Jesus displayed grace and forgiveness which allowed Him to meet broken people right where they were and still love them in spite of their sin.
I think this section can be summarized by the following which shows Driscoll's unique humor and ability to relate to today's culture without sacrificing the truth of Scripture. He is writing about Jesus' encounter with Matthew and the dinner that followed.
Joining them later at the party at Matthew's house was nothing short of a very band hip-hop video, complete with women in clear heals, dudes with their pants around their ankles and handguns in their underware strap, lots of gold teeth, bling, spinners on camels, cheap liquor, and grinding to really loud music with a lot of bass. When word got out to the religious folks, they were perplexed as to how Jesus could roll with such a jacked-up posse. Jesus' answer was purely priestly. Jesus said that they were sick and needed mercy. pg. 77
The third and final role that Driscoll discusses is Jesus as King. As God has been showing me a lot lately regarding His authority, I found this role particularly interesting to consider. Driscoll writes that Jesus is king over all of existence in both the spiritual and physical realms. In addition, He is the authority over every aspect of our lives. Driscoll says it better than I can by saying "Jesus is not just the King who rules over nations on earth and principalities and powers in the heavens, but He also rules over our pants, web browser, refrigerator, debit card, cubicle, and car horn. As our king, Jesus demands and deserves obedient loyalty to His commands over every aspect of our life."
I agree completely with what Driscoll says here. He goes on to say that "The failure to see Jesus as king over all of creation in general and all of our life in particular leads to nothing but hypocrisy, secrecy, and shameful privacy as we continue to live in darkness." That is some hard-hitting truth right there! How different might we live if we gave Christ every single last thing that we cling to? How might we be able to let Him shine through us if we really gave Him Lordship of everything? I've been asking myself those questions.
Driscoll finishes the chapter by discussing how an imbalance or exclusion of one of Christ's primary roles leads to different extremes of "Christianity" that distort the truth.
Prophet + King - Priest = Jesus of Fundamentalism
If we don't understand Jesus as priest, we become intolerant, unloving, and unable to show grace to the sinner. It fails to see Jesus' gentleness when we need forgiveness and therefore prevents us from loving others when they need forgiveness. I think I can relate to this one right now more than the other two.
Prophet + Priest - King = Jesus of Evangelicalism
Driscoll's thoughts on this reminded me of the people that Paul was disputing when he posed the question "shall we keep on sinning so that grace may abound?" If Christ speaks the truth and forgives us as priest, we can do what we want and be forgiven no matter what. Sadly, without giving Christ the authority, we fail to see that His words are intended to bring us to repentance. Instead of living for Christ, if we ignore His kingship, we live for ourselves only seeking Christ when we need help out of a jam or when we want something that we don't have. I can relate to this because it is how I used to live.
Priest + King - Prophet = Jesus of Liberalism
Taking away Christ's role as prophet leads to a warm and fuzzy, truth is relate type of religion. It fails to see that obeying Christ's commands is imperative to show a true understanding of God's grace. It makes Jesus into a gentle, unconfrontational, sin-accepting pushover. Sadly, this seems to be the popular route to take today with so many churches accepting homosexual leaders and not taking firm stances on issues in which the Bible and Christ are clear.
I guess as a guy who can fail to let Christ's role as priest dictate how I approach others, I have very little tolerance for this final group. I fail to see how Jesus can be seen as loving and accepting of sin while so much destruction results from it. People are drawn to this fluff and led into the fire because a God who forgives but requires no thanks or obedience in return seems so great to so many people.
I think that ultimate all three of these subtractions fail to accept the full reality of who Jesus Christ is. When we do that, we fail to accept God for who He is and act as if we know how God should really be.
I'm thankful that I've been reading this book and gaining new perspective on Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. It is growing my love for Him and causing me to consider ideas that I hadn't before now. I recommend checking it out if you get the opportunity.
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