Illusions and Essentials

The scriptures referred to are Psalm 111 and Luke 17:11-19.

When we were kids, my brother and I would accompany our dad downtown as he would buy supplies for his bar and then he would take us to the magic shop nearby where the owner would do tricks and sell us small items. Like the finger chopper, that would cut a cigarette in two but not a finger. While I had a normal kid's interest in magic tricks, my brother made it his avocation. Since high school, he has been making his own equipment, like a full-sized guillotine that cut heads of lettuce in two but will not cut off human heads! He has been president of his local association of magicians and still regularly visits the children's hospital and does shows for the kids. And while you might think that the important thing about magic tricks is the equipment, a good magician doesn't need specially made props. He can use ordinary objects and make you believe he has done something impossible. What's more important than props is the patter—what he says—and the ability to misdirect the audience. Those two skills allow you to make people look at what you want them to see and to not notice what you don't want them to see, like how the trick actually works. In that way, being a magician is similar to being a conman. His job is to direct attention away from what is actually essential and put it on what is not. The difference is you know a magician is trying to fool you. It's entertainment. He may make your watch disappear but he will return it. A con man will make your life savings disappear and then disappear himself.

If you want to know the truth about something, you need to keep your focus on what is essential. And this is especially true in Christianity. In his second letter to Timothy, Paul is reminding his protege about the essentials. “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel...” There's a lot packed into that brief statement. The heart of the gospel or good news is Jesus, the Christ or one anointed by God. He is a descendant of David, and therefore his ancestor's successor as king. And as Christians, we acknowledge him as our king and obey him.

Paul says, he was “raised from the dead.” This wasn't a magic trick to impress us. In the previous chapter Paul says, “He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Timothy 1:10) Jesus' resurrection wasn't for his own benefit but ours. Paul quotes what may have been an early Christian hymn: “If we have died with him, we will also live with him...” Jesus gave his life for us and if we give our life to him, we will live with him in eternity. That commitment is essential to being a Christian.

The hymn goes on to say, “If we endure, we will also reign with him.” Paul is not speaking about those who made a statement of belief at sometime earlier in their life but are not really following Jesus, especially when it gets hard. What matters is not stepping forward at Bible camp or once reciting the “sinner's prayer” but whether you are sticking with that commitment now. Jesus said, “If anyone wants to become my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23) Not occasionally, but daily we are to disown our “right” to do whatever we want and take up our cross and follow in Jesus' footsteps. Jesus even says, “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27) So this is not optional; it is essential. We are not to be like those folks who start the marathon, turn off the path, get lunch, take a nap and then reenter the race a mile or two from the finish line, pretending to have endured the entire ordeal. You can't fool Jesus. But if we stay the course, we will, as adopted children of God, reign alongside the Son of God.

The hymn continues, “If we deny him, he will also deny us.” If we say we aren't really his followers, he will agree with us. And this is true even if we say we are following him but actually aren't. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven—only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out many demons and do many powerful deeds?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!'” (Matthew 7:21-23) Again, you can't fool Jesus. If you don't really trust in him and believe his promises, he will know. I don't imagine that in God's kingdom we will see a lot of those televangelists who live in mansions and have private planes and live like kings now, all the while engaging in all the scandals we've seen. They reveal how they have been trying to serve both God and money. Or God and sex. Or God and politics. Or God and anything else they try to place at his right hand, where only Jesus should be. That's idolatry.

We all find ourselves tempted to substitute something else for God or to put it up alongside him. We all sin and fall short of God's standards. (Romans 3:23) But thank God for the truth in the next line of the hymn, which says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.” We will stumble. But Jesus is by his very nature faithful to his promises, and one of those is to forgive the sins of all who come to him and do not resist the work of his Holy Spirit. (Mark 3:28-29) As it says in 1 John, “But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) If we fail but turn back to him, he will take us back.

Those are the essentials of the gospel: Jesus—who he is, what he has done for us and is doing in us, and how we should respond. And the state of our spiritual lives and the state of the church will be better if we remember these truths. But even in the first few decades of the faith, people were losing their focus on the essentials and being dazzled by the patter and slight of hand of conmen.

Paul says, “Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening.” I am all for precision in the use of words but sometimes it is more important to note their content. Comedian Patton Oswalt points out that smart bigots will use the proper words but what they use them to say is terrible. The educated people of the Roman Empire often looked down on Christianity because the New Testament documents used Koine or vernacular Greek rather than the cultured classic Attic Greek of Homer and Plato. They were more concerned with how something was said than with what was being said.

And too often Christians will go after other Christians for not saying things the right way or not saying all the right things, rather than listening to what they are trying to say. And even if they are in fact wrong, Paul says, “And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, patient. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 2:24-25)

Paul goes on to stress that our job as workers for God is “teaching the message of truth accurately.” (NET translation) In other words, not misrepresenting the essentials of what we believe and how we behave. To that end, Paul continues “But avoid profane chatter because those occupied with it will stray further and further into ungodliness, and their message will spread its infection like gangrene.” (vv.16-17) The Greek underlying the words “profane chatter” means literally “worldly, empty babblings.” Then Paul goes on to mention 2 men who were undermining some people's faith by saying the resurrection has already occurred! So these empty babblings are theological speculations and innovations.

And sure enough, by the second century we get all these apocryphal gospels, telling fantastic stories about Jesus as a child making clay birds and bringing them to life, or kids who run into him being struck dead, or Jesus offering to turn Mary Magdalen into a man or him spouting all kinds of mystical things that have nothing to do with the gospel of God's love and grace. They read like bad fan fiction about Jesus. And people still read them today, not as scholars, but seeking new, hidden and they claim, forbidden knowledge. Indeed, later in this letter, Paul says, “For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have a insatiable curiosity to hear new things. And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand will turn aside to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

It's almost as if Paul foresaw the explosion of cults in our time. What he says also applies to the internet, which, through the algorithms social media employ to keep you online, have led people down the rabbit hole of ideologies like the flat earth, Q Anon, lizard people, Christian nationalism, white replacement theory, antisemitism, vaccination misinformation and other controversies and conspiracy theories which have completely taken over some people's lives and turned them from people who are supposed to love others into folks living in fear and in hatred of certain people.

And not a few of these people have tried to marry these ideologies to Christianity. Which, as Paul predicted, has undermined the faith of some other people. The percentage of the US population who call themselves Christians has declined from 90% fifty years ago to 64% today. Unless things change, it will dip below 50% by 2070.

And the reason for this decline is not merely politics. People are leaving churches which lean left as well as churches leaning right, as evidenced by the rising exvangelical movement. Only half of kids raised as Southern Baptists stay Southern Baptist. All the churches, left, right and center, are losing members.

And it's not that the people who are leaving are converting to other religions. Other faiths are not growing in proportion to those leaving the churches. Nor are the ranks of atheists swelling. 86% of those who give their religion as “none” still believe in God. People are just disaffiliating with Christianity. It's as if something about it no longer attracts them.

I think that what is doing this is what Paul is saying. It's about the essentials. And it cuts two ways.

First, some people who call themselves Christian are not really interested in disowning themselves and taking up their cross daily. That's difficult and it calls for changes in how they live. Instead, as Paul says, they are fascinated by novel ideas and elaborate mythologies. These modern day Gnostics think salvation is a matter of knowing esoteric and secret knowledge about the world, rather than of believing in Jesus' death and resurrection, and then trusting and following him. (1 Corinthians 2:2; Romans 10:9)

Or they see themselves as holy warriors called to fight cosmic battles against evil, by gaining power, and by using force if necessary. That's more exciting than simply being witnesses to the good news about Jesus, which is what we are actually called to do. (Luke 24:46-48) Jesus told Peter to put down his sword (Matthew 26:52) and then healed the man whose ear he had cut off. (Luke 22:24). And Jesus pointed out to Pilate that his followers were not fighting for him for that is not the nature of his kingdom. (John 18:36) The only weapon Jesus supplies us with is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) And even this we are not to use in an aggressive manner. Remember what Paul said about gently instructing others.

But I think still other people are leaving the churches precisely because of the hatefulness and because of these additions to and subtractions from the gospel. They've read what Jesus says about how we should live and they don't see it being practiced in the church. Instead they just see all the baggage and all the junk under which we have buried the essential truths about Jesus. They see church people say and do things that contradict what Jesus said and did. And they see people trying to impose additional requirements to being a Christian, the way Paul's critics insisted that Gentiles had to be circumcised to be saved. It's not enough to believe in Jesus, they seem to say. You have to subscribe to this additional doctrine or this position on this hot button issue or you're not a real Christian.

Jesus did everything necessary for our salvation on the cross. All we have to do is accept it and trust in his gracious love and faithfulness. He wants us to love him back and to love everyone else he loves. And if we trust him, we will live as he said we should. After all, if you trust your doctor and he says you need to change your lifestyle to prevent a fatal heart attack, you would.

My brother says little kids are the hardest audience for a magician. They don't always look at what you are trying to distract them with but will often notice what you are really doing with your hands. So if you want to see through the illusion, you need to keep grounded and not lose track of the essentials. A man can't really produce doves out of thin air nor saw a lady in half without killing her. It's okay to enjoy being entertained but don't forget it's an illusion.

And if it's a conman, remember he is ultimately trying to part you from your money. Sadly, there are today, as in Paul's day, people who don't care if in the process of getting you to buy into what they are selling, you die of the cancer their bogus supplements or crystals are supposed to cure. And they don't care if your lose your soul believing in some elaborate mythology about angels or aliens you learn from their seminars and videos and books.

The essential truths are that God loves you, that he sent Jesus to save you and that he wants your trust and love in return. There are no magic formulas nor any hidden knowledge that somehow got left out of the Bible. Everything essential to salvation is in there. In fact, God wants everyone to know what he has done through Jesus. He wants us to teach and live the gospel.

Sure, life can get complicated and in such cases living a Christian life can be as well. Just don't forget the basics. Love God. Love others. Listen to the Spirit. Follow Jesus. Don't get sidetracked or distracted.

In Deuteronomy it says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5) When Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is, he says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30, emphasis mine) Jesus adds that we are to love God with our whole mind as well. God gave us brains and he wants us to use them properly. He wants us to be wise, as it says in our psalm. Wisdom isn't about merely accumulating knowledge. Wisdom is having your priorities straight and knowing what is truly valuable. It means thinking clearly about what is essential, what is important but not absolutely essential, and what is neither.

What is essential is Jesus Christ, our incarnate, crucified and risen Lord, who loves us and saves us and bids us follow him. It would be foolish to think otherwise.