Oracles, Apostles and Somewhere in the Between

Over the past few days and weeks, as I have perused a very well known social networking site, I have started paying attention to and seeking out people’s “religious views”. What I have found, even amongst believers, is in my opinion, shocking. I will try to mark down some of the “views” I have come across. Now, these views are not reflective of the person, but of the society we have been brought up in, and the subliminal disconnect that we all suffer from.

“Jesus Drugs”

“I play for team Jesus”

“I like (or love) me some Jesus”

“I’m buds with the Big Guy”

“Jesus is my homeboy”

“Jesus. Look him up. Good Kid.”

These are just a few of the ones that I found while going through my “friends list”. Like I said, this isn’t a strike against that person, I know each and everyone of these personally, and I love each of them dearly. And although I am not as great as Stephen or certainly of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I can understand it when they say “forgive them father for they know not what they do”.

All of these “religious views” are ambiguous, not to mention most, if not all of them, are irreverent to the power, Lordship, and sacrificial grace of Jesus Christ. We are disciples of the living God who willingly gave up his seat of supreme power, put on man’s flesh, came down to earth, and sacrificed himself, so that we may live. We don’t “play for his team” and He certainly isn’t a “drug”. Jesus Christ isn’t someone we high five on the street, he’s not our “homeboy”. He isn’t our “bud” (even though he certainly does love us very much) and he was much more than a “Good Kid”. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Master, and we are forever his faithful servants. If we esteem him any less than that, we are being irreverent and possibly sacrilegious to the name of Christ Jesus.

There is a reason why the disciples only called Him certain things, and why they certainly did not make up such “playful” terms for Jesus. It is because they knew he was God incarnate, the Messiah, the Anointed One. He Was YHWH, the Great I AM, Jehovah Jireh, God in the Flesh. The ancient Israelites knew what power a name and a title could hold, so much so, that even up unto our time they refuse to utter the full name of YHWH. Because it is the name of God. Think about that, God, the creator of all things, the author of our faith, the Great Judge, the one to whom all things are known. The Ultimate and Supreme Being over all of the Heavens and the Earth. Think of that Power, and of that Saving Grace and Love. All this, and We DARE be so irreverent to that power as to claim him as a “drug”? How much does he really mean to us, if we, as a people unto the Lord, can take his Holy name, and claim it to be no more than a bodily substance that prolongs our Life in our Earthly, Corruptible, and Fallen natures? Is that all He is to us? A sustainer of human life? Because if that’s true than I might as go worship in the ER and ICU.

How dare us, collectively, as a society to be so callous and so wanton to the name of Jesus Christ. We claim to hold the exclusive truth within the Word of God, and yet, we cannot hold the name of Jesus Christ as reverent as the Muslims hold to the name of Allah and Mohamed. We cannot even hold the name of the One, True and Holy God as reverent as the Ancient Greeks held the name of Zeus. If we cannot be reverent as the Ancient Greeks, then what are we? Where is our righteous fear of the Power of the Almighty God?

All throughout History humans from all different societies have held a special power to a name. In fact, the Ancient Ethiopians believed in “name voodoo” so they would not even call each other by name, or even respond to their own name; that is how much a name meant to the Ethiopians. I believe God has instilled in us the knowledge that in the utterance of a name holds power. When I call aloud the name of my Mother, she comes to my aid. So too, if we call upon the name of the Holy Lord Jesus Christ, we have invoked him into our presence. One of the Chief Commandments that Moses gave to the People from the Lord was this: “Thou Shalt not take the Name of the Lord in Vain” Why? Because by invoking the name of God you call forth his power and his judgment. That is how much power is in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us never forget the power that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ holds, and let us certainly not throw around his sacrifice in such lackadaisical manner. Remember with fearful trembling and a joyful heart the Sacrifice he paid on the Cross for Our sins, but also remember the Power which he holds at the very tips of his fingers. Never bring him down our level. He is not our “homeboy” our “buddy”. He is the One, True, Living God who came to this Earth of His own Free Will and Sacrificed himself on the Cross for Our sins one and all.