JDD – JESUS DEFICT DISORDER

Colossians 1:28, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”

 In last week’s article, we used a quote from Len Sweet and Frank Viola in their book Jesus Manifesto and it bears repeating: “The crisis of the church today has little to do with dwindling numbers, aging congregations, outdated facilities, financial crises, and lace by day, leather by night priests. Today’s church crisis stems from one thing: Jesus Deficit Disorder.” This means the Jesus of scripture is not being given His rightful place.

The tragedy of our times is that countless preachers, teachers, evangelists, youth workers, etc. are preaching messages, teaching lessons, giving lectures and doing Bible studies in which Jesus is little more than a footnote to some other subject. At best He gets honorable mention at the close of the sermon which gives some sort of authenticity to the speaker’s efforts. The gospel preached today, in many instances, is nothing more than a fire insurance policy against going to hell, or the proclaiming of a Santa Claus type God who exists to make us healthy, wealthy and wise, or a performance-based religion in which God does his part and we do ours.

C.H. Spurgeon was right when he said, “The best sermons are the sermons which are fullest of Christ.  A sermon without Christ as its beginning, middle and end is a mistake in conception and a crime in execution.“ 

In contrast, the preaching of the book of Acts and the letters of the Apostle Paul are totally Christ-centered and Christ-saturated.  For example, in the first chapter of the book of Colossians, Paul mentions Jesus 30 times in 29 verses. In 1 Corinthians 1:1-10, Paul mentions Jesus 13 times. In Ephesians 1 there are 26 references to Christ Jesus. In Philippians chapter 1, he mentions Jesus 20 times. Note we are only using one chapter of these references. If you will examine the rest of the chapters in these letters, the number of times our Lord Jesus is referred to will blow your mind!

It is clearly manifest in the Scriptures that the Apostles identified the Gospel with Christ; so that, in their view and practice, to preach the Gospel was neither more nor less than to preach Christ. The record which, in a few words, describes their ministry is that, “daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.” Paul to the Romans defines the whole Gospel by saying that it is “concerning Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 1:3). The employment of his two years’ imprisonment at Rome was all comprehended in “teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus.” And his whole ministry was given unto him, he testifies, that he “might preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.” As he could say, “For me to live is Christ;” so for him to preach was Christ. To him Christ and the Gospel were one.

Len Sweet sums it all up in Christ as he declares:

“Only a recovery of the greatness, supremacy, sovereignty, brilliance, and “allness” of Christ will lead us to restoration and even revival. The wonder of Jesus as “all in all” is the only hope for igniting the flame of a new reformation and resuscitating a church that’s presently on life support.

The body of Christ is in dire need of a reconversion to Jesus, not as Savior and Lord, but as the awe-inspiring, all-inclusive person He is. To say that He is our Savior and Lord is correct, of course, but it’s inadequate. He is so much more. Christ is:

Your Shepherd, your Advocate, your Mediator, your Bride-groom, your Conqueror, your Lion, your Lamb, your sacrifice, your manna, your smitten Rock, your living water, your food, your drink, your good and abun­dant land, your dwelling place, your Sabbath, your new moon, your Jubilee, your new wine, your feast, your aroma, your anchor, your wisdom, your peace, your comfort, your Healer, your joy, your glory, your power, your strength, your wealth, your victory, your redemp­tion, your Prophet, your Priest, your kinsman redeemer, your teacher, your guide, your liberator, your deliverer, your Prince, your Captain, your vision, your sight, your beloved, your way, your truth, your life, your author, your finisher, your beginning, your end, your age, your eternity—your all and all.

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; yet He is new every morning. But beyond all of this, He is your King, your judge, and the True Witness.”

Until Christ is all, and it is Him that we proclaim and pursue passionately, until we, and those we preach to, are utterly enthralled with HIM, the Jesus Deficit Disorder will continue to empty our lives and churches.