3 questions about Jesus: JR Woodward

My friend JR Woodward is the last to tackle our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko | Steve Burnhope | Jason Evans | Daniel So | Bryan Dormaier | Sean Campbell).

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I was driving in Columbus, Ohio, when I came upon a hitchhiker who alternated between holding his thumb out and clasping his hands together as if he were praying. I picked him up.

His name was Mike, and I soon discovered he was a hard-core Aryan, pointing to a passage in scripture about being “a chosen people” as the reason for his convictions. I asked if he would be willing to reread the passage in context. He agreed.

As I reached in the back seat to grab my Bible he pulled a gun and pointed it at my head. I assured him I was just getting my Bible, so he put his gun away, and my heart started to beat again.

I realized Mike had no place to stay that night, so I invited him to stay with me.

“You mean you would trust me to stay with you after pulling a gun on you?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, “because God has given me a love for you that I can’t explain, and He loves you.” Tears welled in Mike’s eyes.

We talked until 4 a.m. and I told him about the Jesus the apostles wrote about, this Jesus who had become my hero, my savior and my example. I told him how Jesus was the liberator of those oppressed, the lover of those rejected, and the deliverer of those seduced by consumerism. He cried most of the night.

Later that week he took me to a Chinese restaurant and continued to inquire about Jesus.  I told him how Jesus lived his life for the sake of others, how he died so we could live, and how he rose again to show what God was going to do for the world.

Something in Mike changed that evening; he understood in a profound way who Jesus was and what he had done for him and the world. When I left Columbus, Mike’s heart wanted to share with his Aryan friends what he had learned, hoping they would let go of their racism and be part of a community that included people from every race, tongue, tribe and nation.

As I reflect on his story, I’m reminded that Jesus invites each one of us to partner with Him in the renewal of all things. And if Jesus can turn a racist into a lover of all, there is hope for everyone.

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JR Woodward is the co-founder of Kairos Los Angeles, a network of churches in the LA area.  He is also co-founder of the Ecclesia Network, a relational network of missional churches, and the co-founder of the Solis Foundation which gives micro grants to help start small businesses in Lodwar, Kenya.  He is finishing his Masters of Art in Global Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary and he compiled and contributed to the book ViralHope.  You can learn more about him at (jrwoodward.com).  You will find him blogging at (jrwoodward.net) and tweeting @dreamawakener.

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3 Questions about Jesus: Sean Campbell

We have a couple of late addition to our 3 Questions About Jesus series. This week, my good friend Sean Campbell tackles the questions, Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko | Steve Burnhope | Jason Evans | Daniel So | Bryan Dormaier).

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After losing what seemed like the same argument again and again, my wife finally clued me in. She had probably been telling me for a while, but I tend not to pick up on these things quickly. She said that behind every difficulty we’ve ever had, she always wanted to know that I still loved her, or, rather, that she was still lovable.

God gives us relationships as metaphors to better understand how he relates to us and how we can relate to him. One clear metaphor he gave us was that of husband and wife. Jesus came that we might know not only that we are lovable, but, also, that we are desperately loved.

What’s more, when my wife handed me this epiphany, I was offended. (And this is the risk God takes when giving us relationships as metaphor. They’re nearly always flawed.) I actually wondered how my wife could suspect me of not loving her; I tell her I love her multiple times every day and I always have. How could she have such a warped picture of me? But as I reflected on this, I realized that this assurance is a deep need of hers and it is also an important part of the metaphor.

Jesus came not only to demonstrate the Father’s love for us, but also to defend his character. You see, God also wonders how we could have such a warped picture of him. We all do. And this is why he sent his son, to daily tell us he love us, that we’re still lovable, and he hopes, that as he remains faithful in this, we might begin to correct our image of him and see him for who he is. This is what Jesus accomplished.

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Sean is software engineer for a startup in Carlsbad, California. He is married with four children.

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3 questions about Jesus: Bryan Dormaier

My friend Bryan Dormaier is next to answer our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko | Steve Burnhope | Jason Evans | Daniel So).
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Is there anything worse than a person who only does things looking out for themselves?

You know the type- the only thing they worry about is how things will effect them. And we all know if we’re honest that we do it, but at the same time we see it in others and it disgusts us.

If I am to talk about Jesus in the most basic way I know how, I think that Jesus was all about saying that worrying first about oneself is not a good way to live. One of the sayings of Jesus that I find most interesting was about wheat. He said, “think about wheat – if the kernels stay on the head, what good do they do? They remain just one grain. But if they are willing to give their lives, ‘if they fall to the ground and die,’ they produce something much greater than themselves, something exponentially greater, for think, from one kernel of wheat, an entire plant grows and that plant grows many kernels.” And so in this way, Jesus says, “if you want to have a meaningful life, it has to be about something greater than your self preservation.”

Another time, Jesus was asked to sum up what it meant to live the spiritual life. He answered two things: love God first and foremost, and love others as much as you love yourself. In doing so, he said, you really would be living the spiritual life.

But Jesus didn’t just put this forward as some sort of romantic idea, this idea – that life is best lived for serving others than for serving ourselves was the message that Jesus lived in his actions. That is, the Christian story says that Jesus willingly let himself be arrested and killed for teaching this message, he took his message that self-preservation isn’t what life is all about to it’s logical end, that when it became an unpopular message he allowed himself to be murdered to illustrate his point.

Now, the Christian story is told by people who followed Jesus and believed that not only was he a fantastic human, but he was also God. And as proof they offered that after he had died, he came back to life – an almost unbelievable thing. But for these early followers of Jesus, it was an authentication to that entire way of living, that life is about more than ourselves and that God wants us to not be focused on ourselves because God is not focused on Godself but on serving others.

This is why I think Jesus is so important, because if that kind of God exists, I believe it is very, very good news.

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Bryan Dormaier is a graduate of Multnomah Biblical Seminary where he received his Masters in Pastoral Studies. Bryan also has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science from Whitworth University, in Spokane, WA. He is currently involved with a missional church plant in the Portland area.

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3 Questions about Jesus: Daniel So

This week Daniel So answers our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker| Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko | Steve Burnhope | Jason Evans).

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Jesus is the most remarkable person I’ve ever known.

In him, everything that has gone wrong is being put back together, in all the most important relationships we know — with God, others, ourselves, and the world. For many years, because of my disconnected sense of identity, I sought escape. The longer I have followed Jesus, though, the more I have come to see that he offers something better than escape: in him is genuine hope.  That which is lost, broken, and dead is found, restored, and made alive in Jesus.

Before Jesus found me, I struggled with a sense of being “neither/nor” as an Asian American — neither fully accepted as “American” nor fitting in a “home” culture to which we never belonged. In, through, and because of Jesus, I am learning to see another way forward. “Both/and” people learn to navigate fluidly between worlds and cultures, with empathy for those at the margins. Jesus is not obliterating my ethnic identity; rather, he is restoring it and freeing me to embrace it for the sake of loving God and people more fully.

On one day recently, I sent my daughter off to her first day of school, prayed at a funeral service, and visited a family in the hospital who was celebrating the birth of their child.  Life, death, new beginnings – everything all at once.  Days like those remind me of why I love and follow Jesus: the world we long for, which requires the courage, compassion, and creativity he fills our lives with, is already here and is on its way.

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Together, Daniel and his wife Jeya pastor United, their church community in San Diego, where they seek to cultivate better expressions of God’s love for the world. Their daughter lights up their house with her beautiful singing and electrifying dance moves.  Daniel also serves on the board of directors for Justice Ventures International, a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening ventures that promote justice around the world. As a freelance writer and graphic designer, Daniel explores the connections between faith, culture, and identity. For more, visit headsparks.com

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3 Questions about Jesus: Jason Evans

Yet another installment of our latest series is provided by Jason Evans, who tackles 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker| Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko | Steve Burnhope).

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I don’t think you make up a story like Jesus’ and hope it convincing. Gods aren’t to be born in barns, to peasant girls and laid in feeding troughs on the edge of empire. You have to really believe this to be true to write it down for others. And I guess that is why I believe. It is so ridiculous, that it just might be true.

There’s no pretense. There’s nothing trying to convince me. Yet, I’m convinced.

I think Jesus was on to something. Jesus got it. He saw how the world was intended to work. He could see that in our broken, feeble attempts we-meaning humanity-had missed the point. He knew what it would take to set us straight. The way he lived his life, the things he said and did showed us a way of living which would draw us back into a way we were intended to. Yet, I think he knew that the death we let enter into our lives had to be removed. And we couldn’t do that on our own. So, he defeated death for us.

I think that is something only God could do.

I have found this to be so in my own life. I look at the Gospels’ account of how Jesus lived his life, and I see a way to live my own. Yet, I quickly find that I am quite incapable of living as I want to. Jesus said he was “the way, the truth and the life.” And as mystical and ill-defined as that may seem I find it to be true. When I conclude that I cannot do it on my own, and I submit to this God-made-flesh I find life.

Some would call this, a crutch. I prefer, a stretcher.

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Jason is currently a student at Fuller Theological Seminary and has a certificate in Urban Ministry from Hesston College. Before joining our team, Jason was a church planter and church planting consultant. These efforts have been documented in several books. He and his wife, Brooke, have three children, Paige, Matt and Sam. They live in the South Park neighborhood.

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3 Questions about Jesus: Steve Burnhope

This week my friend Steve Burnhope answers our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko | Amy Rozko).

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To me, the reality of a creator God is the most likely explanation of the created order; and to be in relationship with that God, humanity’s most likely calling.

Christianity understands a perfect God wanting a perfect creation to love and be loved by.  But for any love to be genuine, it must be freely offered.  Love compelled, even by God, is abuse.

Creation had to include choice, the option of living in a different story.

Christianity sees humanity choosing badly, collectively and individually, and finding ourselves living in the consequences of our bad choices – dominated and polluted by selfishness, independence and alienation.

Screwed up relationships with God, each other and our world.

A humanity once somehow made in the ‘image’ of God, now like a badly-faded portrait, stained and ripped.

Surely, though, a perfect creator God would know that this possibility would arise?  Yes – from the very beginning.  The potential, the risk, could not be programmed out without compromising perfection.

Surely, then, he must accept some responsibility for what happened?

Actually, not just some.  The Christian explanation says he intended all along to take the full responsibility; to pay the entire price of restoration.  To give us back a choice.

In Jesus, God became human and entered his own created order.  Sharing in the suffering caused by our choices, submitting himself to humanity’s abuse of humanity, fully and genuinely participating in the best of what it means to be human in relationship with God and in the worst of what it means to be human in a damaged world.

God’s solution still requires us to choose.  There is still no compulsion.  This time, though, we know better what our God is like.  Who and what we’re choosing for.

And what he, in Jesus, has done to make it possible.

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Stephen Burnhope lives in Buckinghamshire in the U.K. and is part of the North Thames Vineyard. He was awarded the Master of Arts with Distinction by the London School of Theology and will begin PhD research in 2010. Stephen is married to Lyn, a religious education teacher and fellow MA graduate of LST, with four children and one grandson.

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3 Questions About Jesus: Amy Rozko

Amy Rozko is next to answer our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke | JR Rozko).

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You couldn’t have asked any more important questions.  Ever since I met Jesus I’ve made it my goal to get to know him better and try to be better understand him. I’ve known him over 20 years now, and I have to admit that I still don’t have him completely figured out.  Is that so surprising, though?

It would be easy for me to get existential and abstract when talking about Jesus, so let me first talk more concretely about what I know about Jesus.  It is undisputed among legitimate historians that a man named Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth approximately 2000 years ago in an area of the world now known as the nation-state of Israel.  If you can believe in the historical reality of Julius Caesar or Cleopatra then you can believe that Jesus really lived and walked on this earth.  His life was of such significance that we restarted our clocks, so to speak, to mark time before and after his life here on earth.

Jesus was the only person born fully-man yet fully-God.  I can’t fully explain what this means but let’s just say that he was absolutely unique.  He taught about God and the meaning of life with authority and in a way people could understand.  He backed up his teaching with miraculous signs that backed up his claims to be God (the most astounding being that after having been killed for crimes he did not commit he rose to life again).  Jesus claimed to be God and Jesus spoke with the power, authority and love of God.  So either he is, in fact, God in the flesh, or else he was crazy or else he was a scam artist.  The people who knew him best were willing to bet their lives on the fact that he was God and, over the past 2000 years, millions of others (including myself!) have come to the same conclusion about Jesus.

Sorry for the monologue.  Did I answer all of your questions?  I’m sure I didn’t.  I actually hope you have even more questions.  I’d love to keep exploring who Jesus is with you.

PS – I’d encourage you to begin reading the Gospel of John before we talk again if you’re curious– some great stuff about Jesus life and teachings written by one of Jesus’ very best friends.

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Amy and her husband of just over a year, JR, live in Elgin, IL (Chicagoland area) where she also works for International Teams US as the Director of Mobilization. They are an active part of Life on the Vine and really excited to be participating in the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization this coming October in Cape Town, South Africa.

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3 Questions About Jesus: JR Rozko

JR Rozko approached our 3 Questions About Jesus as though it were an email from a  friend, asking: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark | Ben Sternke)
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Dear Friend,

What matters most to you?  No matter how you answer that question, I’d venture to guess that it relates to what it means to live a life of significance.  I mean, regardless of whether we think that some higher being exists or not, the mere fact that we exist compels us to wonder what life is all about – it’s really the most fundamental of life’s questions right?

The basic Christian answer to this question regarding the purpose of life is that we have been created by a God who made the world and everything in it and desires to be in relationship with us.  As I’m sure you’d agree, our world is far from perfect.  I wonder what you might name as its fundamental problems and where you think they came from?  Christians would say that all the pain and suffering in the world stems from the fact that this relationship we were created to have with God has been broken by our prideful attempts to try and be God as opposed to be in relationship with God.

This is where Jesus comes into the picture.  Jesus is both our chief example of what it means to live in relationship with God as well as the one who has restored our ability to even have that relationship.  Jesus fed the hungry, restored sight to the blind, and made crippled people walk.  He did all this to exhibit God’s desire to make all things new.  The pinnacle of this mission came by way of his death and resurrection.  He was killed because he suggested that God was ultimately in charge of the course of history and not us.  A few days after the ruling powers hung him on a cross, God triumphantly raised him from the dead.

I realize this might be difficult to believe.  It is – and it should be.  I wonder if you can pinpoint any beliefs you hold that might be difficult for someone else to believe?  I bet you can.  That’s because believing is always a matter of experience and relationship.  One never really comes to believe in God, the resurrection, or the ongoing work of God in the world until they experience it in the context of a true relationship.

Looking forward to more conversations.
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JR and his wife Amy live in Elgin, outside of Chicago.  JR works for Northern Seminary and Amy works for International Teams.  They are part of Life on the Vine, a missional community in the NW suburbs of Chicago.  JR blogs at lifeasmission.com.

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3 Questions About Jesus: Ben Sternke

This week Ben Sternke responds to our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins | Jason Clark)

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Who is Jesus Christ? Wow, where to start. Jesus is a lot of things. First, I should say he was a man who caused quite a stir around 2,000 years ago by claiming that the God who created the entire cosmos was working through his life to save the world from itself, to make everything right.

Which sounds incredibly cliché, doesn’t it? It’s easy to find nutcases like that today. The thing about Jesus, though, was that he backed up his claims by making things right with unusual power and effectiveness: delivering people from sickness and psychological oppression, bringing freedom from guilt and shame, challenging injustice, and teaching people how to live well.

Ultimately this put him on a collision course with the religious and political authorities of his day, because they had stock in keeping people fearful and needy. But instead of fighting them, Jesus allowed them to torture and kill him. Even those closest to him didn’t understand this. Why not fight to stay alive? They thought it was over after that.

Hang with me, because here’s where the story gets crazy. He didn’t stay dead. A few days later he was alive again, in a totally new way, like he’d gone through death and out the other side. He had actually conquered death by his own death and through his resurrection opened the door for everyone to enter into a truly blessed life in God’s family.

We enter into that life by becoming an apprentice of Jesus. It might sound kooky, but you can actually know Jesus today. You can really be with him and he will teach you how to live a blessed life in God’s family, just like him.

Pretty unlikely story, huh? Yet I find myself living in it every day.

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Ben Sternke is a husband of one, a father of four, and currently pastors Christ Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana, a recent missional church plant. He also blogs about faith and church leadership at bensternke.com.

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3 Questions About Jesus: Jason Clark

This week Jason Clark responds to our 3 Questions About Jesus: Who is Jesus the Christ? What has he done? And why does it matter? (Previous installments: Jason Coker | Jesse Schroeder | Cari Jenkins)
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We all try to make sense life, what the meaning of life is, asking what is my purpose here, what is a good life, at least for myself?  And we all seem to get one shot at this life, one chance to take all that we are and invest it into our best answers to those questions.  At this time in history, and even when I was younger (I know it was some time ago), life seems about competition, survival of the fittest, and doing to others before others do it to you. Or as my gentle white haired grandma used to say, ‘take care of yourself grandson, because in this life I’ve learned no-one else will’.

It’s not that we don’t want life to be about more than this, it’s just that in our fast paced consumer world, being successful, getting ahead, looking out for yourself, is what our friends and family and so often we default to.  And even if you wanted to, you can’t jam the system, there is no way to opt out of the juggernaut for getting ahead in life. It’s the way things are, so either drop out, or get stuck in.

And the effort and investment to get ahead, is kept alive and made worth while by the prize of what we think life is about, maybe a great career, great family, holidays, living somewhere cool, and retiring early.  Where we live, what job we do and what relationships we have reveal the answers to what we really think the meaning and purpose of life is about, they are the real investments we are making, daily with all we are.  It’s our life, we are kings of our kingdom with our decision and choices, as we decide who and what we are, and what we bring into our lives, as we make a life.

Jesus was someone who understood what life was about, and decided to invest his life very differently. Instead of getting ahead, he said he had come to serve others, that his investment was into a different reality and economy, which he called ‘The Kingdom of God’. That life, this life was about investing all we have, time, energy and money, our heart, soul, body and mind in a different reality. He said that jobs, where we live and relationships are very important, we’ve got that part right, but how we invest ourselves for those aspects of life is very different.

He even told us not to worry about all these things, that the reason we worry is because we fear losing things we shouldn’t be putting our heart and soul into in the first place.  And he did more than talk about this new reality, he lived it.  Every day, every breath, every step, he invested his life in helping others see that life was about knowing God, and entering into the plans God has for us. Using our gifts, and skills, passions and interest to invest in God’s economy.  And he said that if we do that, God will give the best life we could ever have.  And he said that if we practice this life investment, our lives will continue, after death into eternity.  Jesus brought a warning too, reminding us to take care.  That where we invest our lives determines who we become now and forever, so choose wisely.

Jesus invitation seems so impossible, it was as impossible 2,000 years ago as much as it is now.  In fact people intent on investing in a way of life much like ours today, eventually put him on a cross and killed him. And as they looked at him dying with no friends, no job, no career, no success, and no status they asked him, ‘where is your God and this way of life now’?

I was 17 the first time someone explained to me who Jesu was and is, and why it mattered, and maybe if I tell you what that friend told me, it will sum up what I’m trying to say here?  My friend said that, investing my life in Jesus, taking all that I am and giving it to Him, might not make my life easier, in fact in lots of ways it would be much harder.  But he promised me that, I would have something to live for and something to die for, that there wouldn’t be a day when I wouldn’t know meaning, adventure and purpose.

I chose to make that investment, and 24 years later, I have experienced the most amazing life, with all of that and more.  The depth and richness of discovering who I am, the most amazing experience of life with others, as I daily try to invest all I have in Him, has been stunning.  I’d love to tell you more about that sometime. Choosing Jesus was the best investment I ever made with my life.  Where are you investing yours?

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Jason Clark (www.deepchurch.org.uk) is British, recently turned 40, and lives on the SW edge of London, UK. He has three teenage kids, and is celebrating 20 years of marriage to Bev later this year. He is midway through a PhD in theology at Kings College London, holds a D.Min from George Fox Seminary, and is the senior pastor of a Vineyard church that he started with his Bev 13 years ago, having been involved in Vineyard churches for 23 years in total.

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