More Human
Introduction
Every time I return from ministry in a non-Western nation (off again in January) I ponder why their Christianity is so strong-hearted. Why do they read the Bible aloud as a congregation, pray as a body, throw their hearts into singing and are so ready to come forward for prayer? Why are our own congregations lacking this zeal (Rom 12:8)? Is the Lord prejudiced against whites? Whilst the usual ways of weighing up these things don’t go deep enough, I had an insight the other day which seems to point in a more fruitful direction. It may seem offensive, but it strives to be Christ-centred.
An Insight
I was talking to a devout but distressed young man about his very broken family history, and how that had led him into various addictions, not all of which he is liberated from. Then he described how he seemed to have an ability to recognise others in church who had a similar history to himself. He was able to get alongside them to bring encouragement, despite his own struggles with loneliness. These are the sorts of things “normal people” seem unable to discern and act upon. Why? Because the average churchgoer is preoccupied with making a “success” of life. They want a happy marriage, a home of their own, a stable career path, a solid family and so on. These are not bad things, but in and of themselves they are not Christ-like things. They are barren of the emotion most used of Jesus in the Gospels, “compassion” (Matt 9:6; 14:14; 15:32; Luke 7:13). The Lord sensed something in his guts when he was around the needy and he did something to heal their brokenness. I have often noticed that people with prophetic and intercessory gifts have had traumatic life experiences which, through the Spirit, has sensitised them to the wounds of others, including those of Jesus (Isa 53:5; 1 Pet 2:24). (I am often inwardly disturbed by the pain the Church is causing the Lord cf. Acts 9:4; Eph 4:30). All this is connected to being united with the humanity of God’s Son.
The Humanising of the Cross
When Hebrews insists that Jesus was “made perfect…through suffering” (2:10; 5:9; 7:28) it is referring to the trials of Gethsemane and the cross. In bearing our sin (2 Cor 5:21) and enduring God’s wrath, something unnatural to the Father’s heart (Isa 28:21; Lam 3:33), Jesus came to possess absolute sensitivity to the anguish of God and humanity. This full awareness of spirit makes him the complete Mediator, “there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). The sinless and glorified nature of Christ’s saving humanity makes him the only measure of what it means to be human (Eph 4:13). In an age where culture pushes in on us with many definitions of identity we must know that the cross and its subsequent glories (1 Pet 1:10-11) is the sole lens through which we can understand what it means to be human. If this is true, I must conclude that people like my young brother struggling with addictions (cf. Gal 5:16-17), given they are alive with sensitivity and compassion to the hurting, are more like Jesus than the majority of “normal” people. If we use the resources of our affluence to desensitise us to the sufferings of humanity, including Jesus, we remain a spiritually anaesthetised people. The application of these observations is troubling, and humbling.
More Human
If sensitivity to the struggles of humanity is the index as to what it means to be Christlike, then, on average, the believers’ resident in the slums of Nairobi, Mumbai, Cairo, Mexico City or Manila, are more like Jesus than middle-class Australians. Speaking generally, non-Western Christians are more human than us. A comparison between the Church in Laodicea and the state of our congregations is appropriate. Jesus says, “So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Rev 3:16-17). To be spiritually blind and deaf to the voice of God is a consequence of idol worship. If marriage, family, dwelling, career and leisure come before God then spiritual blindness and deafness flows as a punishment from the Lord (Ps 115:5-8). Likewise, sexual depravities follow God’s “handing over” of idolaters to their unbridled passions (Rom 1:22-24). A heart committed to having “things” is a heart hardened against God and dulled to the speech of the Spirit. This can take place in the Church (Ezek 14:3; Heb 3:14-15). It has happened, generically at least, to us. Things are about to get worse before they get better.
A Tsunami of Shallowness
The technological wave of the “Internet of Things” is about to crash upon our affluent societies, impacting especially a younger generation. This avalanche will create an increasing distorted form of humanity where unmediated intimate relationships become rarer and rarer. The remedy that the Lord has provided in advance for this malaise is the Church as a family of deep interpersonal empathetic love. Sadly, a Body very different from what we find today in the West. The revival we need isn’t first and foremost one of the power of signs and wonders, but heart sensitivity to the Lord and to others. Only then will we become more like Jesus, that is, more human. The implications of such a spiritual revolution are great.
Conclusion
Jesus fully understands how difficult, and how glorious, it is to be a human being. But Western Christianity rarely admits the scope of both pain and glory. All across the world Satan is happy when churches, whether through music or prosperity teaching, emulate us! If he can’t stop people coming to Christ, his great aim is to stop them becoming more like Christ. As nations e.g. China, India, move forward economically we would naturally expect the demonic success rate will increase. Presently we have an opportunity to turn away from our sins and prophetically warn our brothers/sisters in Asia and beyond not to follow our way. Let’s stand up as “world-Christians” in prayer, praise and prophecy pointing people everywhere to follow only “the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5). It is time for all of us who have been dehumanised to grow up to “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4:13).