Christians talk a lot about who Jesus is, but we often don’t talk about what he (and his disciples) say he must do. And if we are to model our lives after his, then knowing what he must do matters a great deal in knowing what we, too, must do.
In his book, Necessary Christianity: What Jesus Shows We Must Be and Do (IVP), Bishop Claude R. Alexander Jr. unpacks what Jesus says we must do: focus, progress, be directed, be clear, be diligent and yield to God’s will. In a world that presents us with options, Alexander expounds on the Bible’s exhortation for us to live with divine intention.
Alexander, who has pastored The Park Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, for more than 30 years, and who serves on the board of several prominent parachurch and secular organizations, spoke with Outreach about the importance of living a life of biblical obligation.
Why are the I Must statements made by and about Jesus worth a closer look?
My devotional practice is to read a one-year Bible each year. So, in the course of reading over years, there are certain things you really notice. One of the things I noticed is how often attention has been given to the I Am statements of Jesus, and how little attention is focused on the I must statements of Jesus. At the same time, I was also observing how relaxed we have become in terms of obligation as it relates to our relationship with God and with the things of God. And that runs counter to the way in which Jesus lived his life. If we take our cue not just from the things Jesus said, but the way in which he approached his life, then it is instructive for us to note that he lived under obligation and necessity, and he calls us to do the same.
Living a life of obligation seems completely opposed to the sort of world we live in. Most people live a “maybe” life filled with choice and personal preference.
The notion of maybe is the predominant notion. I may show up, I may not. I may get involved, I may not. I may contribute, I may not. It is the predominant attitude. That was certainly the case pre-COVID-19, but now it’s really the case post-COVID-19. There’s been a shift in the Christian faith from being a matter of calling to a matter of consumption. Consumption is based upon appetite, and appetite fluctuates. Calling is not a matter of appetite. It’s a matter of discipleship and obedience.
Those two lanes have run parallel, and the consumption lane is outpacing the calling lane. We have reduced the notion of calling to a professional class of people, but we are all equally called by God, which places a notion of necessity in discipleship upon all of us.
Talk about how you understand the difference between an immature Christian and a mature one.
I think some churches have measured strength by the number of people they see on a given weekend. It’s not how they are when they’re here or after they leave. I think maturity is not just a matter of whether or not I show up on Sunday for worship, but how I’m living my life. What is influencing and informing the choices I make on a daily basis? Are both the sense of God and the character of God informing and influencing how I live my life, and therefore are they seen and tasted by those who experience my life?
One point of maturity is realizing certain things are just necessary. A child seeks to push everything as a matter of might and maybe, right? But hopefully when you grow up, you learn there are just certain things you have to do, that are necessary to do, that you can’t skirt or shirk as an adult. Such should be the way as it relates to a Christian. We realize there are just certain things that are expected, that our claim in Christ also puts certain claims on us. Those are claims you really can’t avoid.
When you think of the typical American church, you often think of a consumerist mentality. Are we setting people up to live out their faith in terms of consumption over calling and obligation?
I think we recognize that people’s first steps to Christ are often out of need. There is something going on that causes them to be open to the gospel and the God behind the gospel. That’s very reasonable, natural and understandable. But the goal, then, is to equip them with the understanding of accountability before the God who has saved you and who has claimed you, who has equipped you by way of the Spirit to live out the claims he has upon your life. As leaders, it’s our job to help them fulfill that, which means a greater degree of intentionality on our part.
I think most churches, large and small, are attractional in their orientation, but the strength of the attractional church is also the challenge of the attractional church. We can be great at attracting people, but developing them in terms of calling becomes the great challenge. Jesus was attractional too. He attracted large crowds, but he developed small groups. So the key is to be great at attracting, but also be intentional at developing.
Where is our focus largely misplaced today as followers of Christ?
We often value faith in terms of how comfortable it makes us. Faith becomes like an air conditioner. Things get hot, and we turn it on to cool us off. And again, that goes to the underlying view of faith from the standpoint of consumption, not calling. But wherever one starts is where they’ll sit. So if I start under the perspective of Christianity in terms of what I consume, then the value of faith is a matter of the comfort it brings me. If I start in the seat of a calling, then I sit in the perspective of having been claimed. And if there’s a claim on my life, then my role is to live out that claim. That means recognizing I will often be called into discomfort, which is equally as much the Lord as the comfort is.
If I understand faith as something I get, then it’s a matter of how I use it. But if I understand that God has me, then the matter becomes how God chooses to use me, not how I choose to use God. When I realize I am bought at a price, that I am not my own, then I realize that he may also send me to some places of discomfort where I may not normally go.
The past few years have been challenging, for a variety of reasons. What can we learn about patience and yielding to the will of God, about leaning into discomfort, from what we’ve experienced?
I think the past two-and-a-half years have revealed where we are individually, congregationally and nationally. For the person who viewed their life with God in terms of calling, then the question would be, What and who is God calling me to do and be in this season? We seek to find meaning in those moments. Whereas if my primary orientation was as a consumer of Christianity, then the question would be, How am I gonna get what I’m used to getting, where and when I’m used to getting it? When faith is about convenience and comfort, and you have a pandemic that disrupts those in every aspect of your life, then one of two things happens: One, because that comfort and convenience piece is no longer valid, you just reject the faith altogether. Or, you bring that comfort and convenience perspective under greater scrutiny, and because something within you still believes God must be God, then you ask yourself, What is it that I need to learn about God and my life with him?
Now this is where the leader’s role is really critical, because it is the job of the leader to help frame the perspective of their followers. What lens do I give? What frame do I set? Jesus was all about setting frames and giving lenses. The kingdom of heaven is like ______. We often read the parables in Mark 4 in isolation, but when you read them together, you get a different sense of flow, and you recognize Jesus is seeking to give the disciples another frame of reference, another lens through which they look at their life with him. He’s also seeking to encourage them, because what they currently see is, Hey, everybody is not signing up to be with Jesus, and Jesus says, It’s OK, it’s all right. You didn’t make the wrong choice. This thing is going to start out small like a mustard seed, but it will grow into one of the largest of shrubs. And, yes, there are going to be some who don’t accept, and some who receive readily but then are quickly gone, and then some for whom the cares of the world choke them out, but as long as you’re the good soil, you’ll be fine.
That’s a leader’s role, going back to these past three years: Seek to frame this time in terms of being an opportunity for us to see and experience God in a different way, even though it is a challenging situation. For leaders who did not frame it in those terms, then those following had a greater challenge before them, because they were always looking forward to things returning or getting better sooner than they did, rather than being able to see God in the disruption, in the delay, and in the isolation.
Any parting thoughts?
Yes. I want to talk about the notion of diligence and the importance of discernment. In John 9:5, Jesus says, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
We must give ourselves to the time we have. We may not know how long we have. We don’t determine that, per se. But we can say, For as long as I am here, this is what I’m going to do. While I’m here, this is who I’m going to be. We can find joy in giving ourselves over to that.