~ Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church
Zombies are an intriguing lot, from what I understand of them. I mean, I don't think they really know they're dead, what with all the moaning and drooling and what not. If they were cognizant of the fact they were eating raw flesh, would they? When I'm watching the ever-popular show of awesomeness, The Walking Dead, I'm always like, "Ugh, I wanna slap that walker across the face and say, 'wake up!'" Of course, that would probably just cause half its face to fall off and make it mad, but ya know, I'm a hopeless optimist. However you wanna slice it, there are so many times in my daily life when I interact with people who don't know God the way I wish they would, and I feel that same urge to lovingly slap them outta their dead-and-drooling life.
I was watching an old podcast of our pastor the other day when I caught the quote above. Thank goodness for the Notes application on the iPhone. I had to write it down because it spoke to something I've been wrestling with - daydreaming about - lately: how to effectively communicate Christ's heart to those who don't know Him.
So often, people - even Christians - get confused about what following Christ is supposed to mean. We get caught up in moral codes, our pious deeds, forms of conduct - you know, the stuff Jesus called the Pharisees out on...the "Law." In biblical times, the Law of God passed down since Moses represented much more than a set of do's and don'ts, the Law represented their devotion to God, their very loyalty to Him. Over time, though, it became an obvious burden and represented what God intended it to in the first place: an impossible set of rules and implied moral standards. Don't believe me? Read Leviticus. But that was God's intention, to present a standard that was unattainable so He could introduce the only Way to really connect with God: Jesus. Through Christ's life and sacrifice, God provided the Way and Means to pursue a relationship with Him. It's impossible to be good enough to gain an audience with God, that's why following the Law alone left the Pharisees in the dust and still leaves people in the dust today. Scripture tells us "our righteousness is as filthy rags" before God, meaning it's not our right-living and moral standards alone that bring us the life God intended. That's why Jesus Himself said, "No man comes to the Father except through me." Make sense?
So after all this, you may assume I'm saying righteousness goes out the window, right? ERRRR, nope. You see, righteousness is cultivated by the life Christ offers - it's a product of Christ's heart in you, not a prerequisite. So if our righteousness isn't a prerequisite to get close to God, if our righteousness is like dirty rags before Him, we must need something else. That's where the Way comes in - the Truth, the Life itself: Jesus and the vibrant love his life inside us offers. See, we've thought for so long that our right-living made us "good" that we don't see the forest for the trees. This is the Gospel: it's embracing Christ's work for us and in us, not our vain efforts to redeem ourselves through our own strength. I mean, look at what culture tells us; I can't tell you how many movies and shows I've seen that imply that getting to heaven comes from being a "good person." How often have you heard that lie? If it were up to us to get into heaven, there would be no need for God, Christ and His work would be pointless, truth would be relative, values and virtues would be obsolete, and the weak would be left out altogether...hmmm, sounds a lot like Post-Modernism, doesn't it? Sounds a lot like our culture.
The truth I want to smack so many zombies around me with is that Christianity isn't hard, it's not taxing, it's not being a good little boy or girl, it's about experiencing an awakening to life through Christ...rising from the ashes and coming alive after a lifetime of death and decay. I have compassion for so many people in my life because they can't see it, they don't know the death that's in their lives - just like zombies. They walk through life, trying to survive off the meat and bones the world has to offer, the temporary highs until the next hunger pangs hit. It doesn't make sense to a living outsider looking at their destructive pattern of living, but to the zombie, to the person outside of Christ, it's all they know.
Think you've got it all together? You're like, "I'm no zombie, man. I feel great on my own." Well, to this living breathing outsider, you're toast. And you're gonna stay dead until you let someone wake you up out of your trance to the life that God meant for you - the colorful, rich life only Jesus offers, the life that God has purposed for you to have through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Fair warning: if you're dead and outside of Jesus' heart, you're not going to heaven. Sorry to break it to you, but think about it: the point of heaven is to enjoy the presence of God forever, so if you don't want to be with Him now, what makes you think He'll let you in later? If you don't want Jesus now, what makes you think you'll even want to live in a place where His presence is forever? It just doesn't make sense.
So if you know you're a zombie, I'm here to tell you Jesus came exactly for you. He came for the zombies of this world. Jesus said in Mark 2:17, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." He's not just talking about physical healing here, He's speaking spiritually - He came for the dead, to raise them to life. He didn't come for those who think they have it all together, He came for those who know they don't. He didn't come for those full of hot air and bologna, He came for those who desire His breath of life and hunger for His word and ways. If you're dead, you should see a doctor, and the only doctor I know of who can raise the dead is my doctor...His name is Jesus Christ.
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