Jesus Is #1

I have to admit, when I saw this as the central piece of Apostolic Genius, I was a bit disappointed. It seems rather simple - but that may be the very point. Lordship is both simple and radically difficult.

Summarizing this aspect is not easy. These snippets may help us to understand the primacy of "Jesus is Lord." [for Cru purposes, substitute 'church' with 'movement' for this to be relevant to our situation.]

What does all this practically mean for those seeking to recover Apostolic Genius in the life of the community of God?

• it will involve (re)engaging directly the central confession of "Jesus is Lord" and attempting to reorient the church around this life-orienting claim.
• it will also mean simplifying our core messages,
• uncluttering our overly complex theologies,
• and thoroughly evaluating the traditional templates that so shape our behaviors it and dominate our consciousness.

From Alan:

I have become absolutely convinced that it is Christology, and in particular the primitive, unencumbered Christology of the NT church, that lies at the heart of the renewal of the church at all times and in every age.

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Sadly history amply demonstrates how we as God's people can so often obscure the centrality of Jesus in our experience of church. There is so much clutter in our "religion," so many competing claims, that this central unifying claim that lies at the heart of the faith is easily lost. It is remarkable how Jesus can be so easily cast out from among his people.

So - what do we have that clutters our Christiology - and what should we do about it? What should we do about it organizationally?

Dallas Willard on Send

“Jesus did not send out his students to start governments or even churches as we know them today. They were to establish beachheads of his person, word, power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and it’s King to every corner of human life…. Churches are not the kingdom of God but primary and inevitable expressions, outposts, and instrumentalities of the presence of the kingdom among us. They are societies of Jesus, springing up in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and to the furthest points of the earth as the reality of Christ is brought to bear on ordinary human life.”

Dallas Willard in Renovation of the Heart