As a fundamentalist and evangelical I was taught that the way to be saved was to "ask Jesus into my heart".
However, no one ever told me I was only getting half of Jesus!
Evangelicals, Baptists and other Reformed Christians believe that Christ's body, his heavenly body, is at this very moment, sitting at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. In fact, according to Reformed Christians, Jesus has been sitting at the right hand of the Father, without moving an inch, for almost 2,000 years!!!
You see, thanks to Reformed leaders such as Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, a large percentage of Christians in the United States believe that they only have half of Jesus. They only have the spirit of Jesus in their hearts. When Jesus said in the Bible, "Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" and "I will never leave you nor forsake you", what he really meant to say was "Lo half of me is with you, even unto the end of the world" and "Half of me will never leave you nor forsake you". The other half of me will be glued to a seat at God's right hand in heaven for the next couple thousand years until I come back in the Second Coming."
How sad that our Reformed, Baptist, and evangelical brothers and sisters only have half-Jesus.
We Lutherans and other orthodox Christians believe that we have all of Jesus! We have his Spirit with us always and we have his resurrected, heavenly body and blood whenever we partake of the Lord's Supper.
Jesus isn't stuck to a chair next to God the Father in heaven! He is omnipresent! He is God!
Praise Jesus that we have all of him!
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I never thought of it this way. Glad you posted this.
ReplyDeleteI do think the higher view of baptism and communion is more biblical in the Lutheran tradition. Throw in an good law/gospel homily and I feel like I actually have been to church. Evangelical churches feel like a stale and prolonged tent revival. I now can worship and sing good hymns every week. if I want to rock I can go to a concert for my favorite band.
ReplyDeleteI changed from evangelical to LCMS and still struggle with the laws and works based teaching I was under.I wonder what I am supposed to be doing but love the law and gospel sermons my pastor gives. However I still end up wondering if I am not doing enough. I saw Jesus as the doorway to works and guilt back then. I know better now but it still hangs in there.
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