Jesus Manifesto Interview

Recently Christianbook.com interviewed me on the book, Jesus Manifesto. You can hear the 37-minute audio here.

What follows is an excerpt from a new print interview that Len and I have done that will be published in the near future. Here’s an excerpt answering the question – “what motivated you to write the book?”

In August 2008, Len and I began talking about our shared concern that Jesus Christ was getting short-changed in many quarters. This comes in two directions mainly.

On the one hand, there are many who affirm the orthodox teaching of the Person of Jesus, yet in many cases, other “things” are being put on the throne in place of Him. As A.W. Tozer once put it, “you can be straight as a gun barrel theologically and just as empty as one spiritually.” It’s easy to get distracted with “things” . . . even good things that are related to the Lord . . . yet miss the Lord Himself. Again, Tozer said, “the devil is a better theologian than any of us and is a devil still.” It’s not enough to be able to parrot correct doctrine about Jesus. The Holy Spirit wants to reveal Christ to our hearts in a living way and make Him preeminent and supreme in our lives, our ministries, and our churches. This happens when our eyes are opened to see His greatness.

On the other hand, the biblical testimony of who Jesus is … that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (rather than one way, a relative truth, or a nice life) . . . has come under massive assault by postmodern deconstructionists. Len and I hold strongly to the apostolic creeds that present Jesus as the Savior who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified for our sins, bodily rose again from the dead as this world’s true Lord, ascended to the Father, and will return to this earth one day as supreme Judge of the living and the dead. (The Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed are solid, yet ancient statements of the above.)

We also feel that many Christians are frozen when they turn to the left or the right (politically speaking). Both the Christian left and the Christian right are seeking to use the power of the Empire to accomplish its goals. Both come to Caesar’s table to negotiate as another political player in the game. We feel that this is not the proper place for the church of the living God, especially in post-Christendom world. Thus we are presenting a “third path” that isn’t left or right, but forward. Forward to the Christ who lives today–who is the same Christ who is presented to us in the inspired Scriptures.

Finally, we see the Christian camp divided between those who see Jesus as mainly the Justifier (advocates emphasize the portrait of Jesus painted in Romans and Galatians) versus those who see Jesus as mainly the Justice-Giver (advocates emphasize the portrait of Jesus painted in Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Our book brings both portraits together and puts them within the larger context of Paul’s revelation of Christ in Colossians, Ephesians, and the Gospel of John. He is Alpha and Omega, and He is far more than the One who justifies the sinner and brings justice for the oppressed.

Charles Spurgeon rightly said that Christ “is the whole gospel. His person, offices, and work must be our one great, all-comprehending theme.” Our book seeks to unravel that statement to a 21^st century audience.

Related: The Jesus Trilogy by Viola & Sweet – all on one page