I recently came across an interview with Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5 and coach on NBC's "The Voice." I do not watch the show. (Although, when an acquaintance of ours was one of the contestants we did watch, at least until he was eliminated.) But what struck me as interesting is that the interviewer began by introducing Levine as a "judge" on "The Voice." Instinctively, Levine corrected him saying, "It's coaches, actually...we prefer coaches ... ‘cause judge sounds judgy, coach is like 'I'm helping.'"
It reminds me of a book title from a few years back, Jesus, Life Coach. I recall seeing that title and wondering, "Is Jesus really a life coach?" Don't get me wrong, if you are going to think of anyone who should be a guide, a source of wisdom, a model to live by—Jesus is all of that. However, it struck me strange to simply refer to Jesus as a life coach because, the reality is, He is so much more! It would almost be like me referring to my wife as a "nice lady." Is she a nice lady? I think so. But to me, she is so much more.
Not only that, but referring to Jesus as a life coach seems to pander to the popular notion that being judgy is bad. It goes with one of the most quoted of Christ's sayings, "Don't judge or you'll be judged." And it also goes hand in
hand with the notion that Jesus is ever-affirming, ever-encouraging, ever-positive. But is He?
The religious leaders might take exception to this representation of Jesus. Jesus referred to them as “full of greed and wickedness,” “foolish people,” “unmarked graves,” and a “brood of vipers.” And those are just a sampling of references from the first half of the Gospel of Luke.
Of course, most people are not too concerned about Jesus taking the religious leaders down a few notches. For some reason, judgy becomes OK if you are taking it to “the man.” We love to hear Jesus sock it to the “1%.” However, what must be remembered is that Jesus also has some pretty judgy things to say to the “99%” as well. We read in Luke, “He said to the crowd…‘Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?’” (Luke 12:54 & 56). Who is Jesus speaking to? The crowd. And he calls them hypocrites. Sounds a little judgy.
The truth is, in the Gospels, Jesus shares a lot of words that are difficult to hear. He talks about coming “to bring fire on the earth” (Luke 12:49). And the context points to this fire not as a source of warmth, but as a tool of divine wrath. Jesus goes on to say, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (Luke 12:51). This sounds awfully different than “peace on earth, good will to men” (Luke 2:14).
What’s the point? The real Jesus is quite different than the always smiling, tolerant Jesus portrayed in culture. The real Jesus is more than willing to put us out of our comfort zones, disrupt the status quo, challenge our lifestyles. The real Jesus is more than happy to be judgy, regardless of how we may judge Him for it. Why? Because Jesus is Lord, not life coach.
There are a few significant conclusions we can draw from these diverse Scriptures about Jesus. First of all, we must be careful about putting Him in a box and only representing Jesus in a manner that best fits what we want Him to be. Representing Jesus with integrity means to let Jesus be who He is regardless of my own preconceptions. Second, we must be careful about adopting views of Jesus which have a ring of truth, but tend to belittle or marginalize some of His most emphasized attributes in Scripture. Jesus as “my buddy,” or “my homey,” or “my life coach,” may have a ring of truth, but these descriptors are worlds away from the overall picture of Christ we see in
Scripture.
Without a doubt, we need to maintain a perspective that embraces the amazing grace and unconditional love portrayed by our Lord on the cross. Yet, we also need to bow before Jesus as the Almighty God! We may find it difficult, at times, to harmonize these diverse pictures of Jesus, but Paul did not:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:15–20
As the old chorus states, Jesus is both “Meekness and Majesty.” He is not either/or, but both/and. And what should be our response? As the song concludes, “Bow down and worship, for this is your God!”
In Him, Pastor Dan