I believe in Christ


I opened up a volume of sermons written and preached by the founder of this congregation that I'm privileged to serve as pastor. Dr. Edgar Dewitt Jones was a man of his day, and likely very different from me (so say those who knew him). He retired decades ago and yet his shadow continues to rest upon the congregation -- though it has receded some in recent years. Still, as his successor, I'm cognizant of the tradition he set forth. I expect that on many points we would agree theologically and politically, and differ at others. The sermon I opened up was his "Personal Confession of Faith," and in it he sets out what he personally believed. I'd like to put out her his first paragraph and then comment on it.



I believe in Christ! You would expect me to say this, Christ is the center of the Christian faith, and it would indeed be strange and sad if a teacher of the Christian religion disbelieved in the Founder of the faith. I cannot recall a time when I did not think of Christ as the Savior of the world and the lover of mankind. I was brought up on the old, old story as related in the Four Gospels. Very early the mystic communion of the Lord's Supper drew my interest and fed my imagination, as I sat in awe while all about me partook of the loaf and the cup. There are many speculations about Jesus which may or may not be true. The theologians and the creed makers have been busy attempting to explain the two natures that were his, human and divine. I believe in Christ even when I'm mystified, believe where I cannot prove. He was in some unique sense the Son of God and Son of Man. He lived in such harmony with the eternal Spirit that he came to know a joy, a power, and a peace that can be accounted for only by his relationship with this eternal Spirit. For nineteen hundred years we have been calling him Lord and leaving undone many of the things he asked us to do. We have worshiped him, yet have failed to follow him in the wondrous way of life he taught and over which his own ministering feet went before us. I believe in Christ, his mind, the principles that he taught, the ideals for which he lived and died. I believe that his death was as unique as his life, that by his death he did not change the will of God toward humanity, rather he revealed that will. By the way he died he has changed myriad lives. (Edgar DeWitt Jones, A Man Stood up to Preach, Bethany Press, 1943, pp. 182-183).


The issue of Christ's death has come up recently on this blog-- what was its meaning and purpose. Edgar Dewitt Jones briefly takes it up here, and I do think that Jones is right that Jesus' death didn't change God's mind about us -- God loved us both before and after the fact. But in his death, Jesus shared God's love for us, demonstrating his willingness to bear our anger and hatred and overwhelm it with sacrificial love. Some, even much of what I learn about Jesus may continue to mystify me, but like Dr. Jones, I will continue to believe and continue to follow (even when I need to be lifted up by the Spirit).

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