Still Resolving

Friends,

The Energizer bunny keeps going; so we'll keep resolving. And continue resolving, even when the Energizer bunny stops going.

In keeping with the topic of resolutions, I will put mine up as well. First, though, a reiteration of the questions.

1) What are your resolutions?

2) What do you hope that looks like on a day to day basis?

The Resolution.

I'm going to take my resolution from Scripture and quote Paul:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2, emphasis mine).

The verb "decided"--past tense of the Greek word meaning to decide / judge--has the same connotation as the word "resolved." In fact, the NIV renders the verb as "resolved." So here is my resolution, short and sweet:

I resolve to know nothing except Christ and Christ crucified.

A qualification is in order here, because I want to bring to your attention that Paul makes this resolution in response to the various preaching methods of his day (full of "lofty speech" and "wisdom"); not, as I am using it, as a sort of "way of life." In other words, Paul is not writing this resolution with precisely the same intention that I am using it here--he uses it to describe his preaching, and I use it to describe my life. Nonetheless, the implications of such a bold resolution are the same for one's life as they would be for one's preaching, as I am sure Paul would be unable to preach Christ crucified if he did not live as one who believed as much.

What it Means.

This resolution is particularly close to my heart because it directs me to the cross. It is an extremely cross-saturated resolution that Paul has made--and the application of this resolution has far-reaching consequences, which I shall flesh out. This resolution--to know nothing, but Christ and Christ crucified--embodies a couple simple truths of the gospel: God's strength in weakness, His wisdom in folly; His amazing, saving grace; and the basis of my pride.

Strength in Weakness; Wisdom in Folly.

I am consistently crippled by an unhealthy fear of man that puts me at inaction. I desire success more than the glory of God; and at times, I desire God glorified by my means than by His--let us sing louder, strum harder, and pray better, so God can hear us!

But this verse reminds me that God could care less about how "successful" our endeavors as a church are. Christ crucified is the prime example of a failed movement. For all his signs and miracles; for all his raising the dead and healing the sick; for all his talk; and for all his claims to deity; Jesus could not--correction, would not--save himself from death on a cross. With the death of its leader, early Christianity should have simply vanished from sight--like the movement of Bar-Kochba (sp?) shortly after. And, yet, at its precise moment of weakness, with the leader crucified, Christianity exemplifies its greatest power--the breaking of the bonds of sin. And the confirmation of Christianity's claims? The physical and bodily resurrection of Christ, as has been expounded for ages--and for ages to come.

One must wonder how ridiculous the message of the gospel sounded to anyone at the time. How could it even be considered "good news"? The good news consisted of telling people that the Messiah--the one who came to deliver Israel from its enemies--had died! And not only had he died, he died the most gruesome and grotesque death known to mankind! He died an insignificant death, flanked by petty thieves.

According to some statistics that I've read, Rome once crucified 2000 Jews to crush a rebellion and left the crosses on the roads to Jerusalem to serve as a warning to those would-be rebels. Vivaldi (or some other classical composer) wrote a symphony that supposedly conjures up the scene of travelers entering Jerusalem and being flanked by crosses on either side, with the crows and vultures scavenging for food. Of all those ever crucified by the Romans, Jesus was a statistic--one among the many to die the most horrific death. Think of it as Jesus dying in Guantanamo Bay; something we just don't talk about.

Yet within years of His death, a movement spread, proclaiming the message that He had risen. How insane his followers must have been! To think that He had come back to life? How can one possibly believe in a religion that kills off its deity in the worst possible way and proclaims that as "good news"? And to back up their claims, these people say that their deity came back from the dead? It is utter insanity!

Or perhaps it is the power and wisdom of God.

To this day, the great paradox of "Christ crucified" confounds the greatest of minds. I quote, from the New York Times, regarding the "science of religion."

These scholars tend to agree on one point: that religious belief is an outgrowth of brain architecture that evolved during early human history. What they disagree about is why a tendency to believe evolved, whether it was because belief itself was adaptive or because it was just an evolutionary byproduct, a mere consequence of some other adaptation in the evolution of the human brain. (Darwin's God).

What is the adaptive advantage of Christianity? What is the adaptive advantage of believing in Christ crucified? Where is the adaptive advantage? Scientists puzzle over why religion ever appeared on the face of the earth; some calling it a "tragedy of human cognition."

And, yet, I am reminded of the earlier verses of 1 Corinthians.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. (1 Corinthians 1:21).

If rhetoric and "wisdom" (sophia) was the rave in Paul's day, let us replace those words with "science" and, still, "more science." The contemporary man refuses to look at the world except through the lens of science; and in turning this lens to religion, he is completely confounded at its folly! And of all the lamest religions, Christianity is the lamest of them all! By all means, I agree--the basic tenets of its faith are wholly absurd and grotesquely offensive. Even modern-day marketing would do little to make it appeal to me in its rawest element.

But I am a fool for Christ; not ever of my own choosing, but for the grace of God.

Amazing Grace

Here--I find this amazing--I am, a Christian; a Christian wholly convinced of the truth and reality of the cross and resurrection. As I have written previously, the Christian faith is utterly nonsense when viewed in light of modern world views. So I must put the question, consistently, to myself, "Why? Why am I a Christian?"

The verses in 1 Corinthians speak of God choosing the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; that, in his plan, all human wisdom would fail to understand Him. Then, if in my human wisdom I would be unable to know Him, by what have I come to understand Him at all? By what have I become a Christian?

Were it not for God's grace and mercy, I should not be a Christian today.

Humility

At the heart of this verse, I must remember that I have nothing. Everything that I have is on a divine loan. There is no boasting, even in my salvation. I can't even say, "I found God." And now that God has found me, opening my eyes to the mystery of salvation, I must go and proclaim a message of "foolishness." There really is no (worldly) gain to be had in being Christian.

Therefore, in light of these things that I've written, the resolution ultimately must move me to action--to continually meditate on my undeserved salvation, to recall that I have nothing to boast in save the Lord, and to grow in His wisdom (not the world's wisdom) by consistently studying His Word, for His Word is about Christ and Christ crucified.