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| Ann Arbor |
Tomorrow morning at Redeemer I'll give Core Message #2 - "Real Jesus Church." This is the second in a 6-part series of sermons that express our church's core values and beliefs.
By "Real Jesus" I mean the historical Jesus stripped of cultural layering. I understand the task of getting at the Real Jesus. One section of my doctoral work was on the Christology of the Early Church. One must be humble about this, yet there is a world of beautiful, scholarly ongoing Jesus studies that is there for the taking. I've been doing historical Jesus research for 40+ years. I love studying about Jesus so as to know Jesus better. For me these are the best of times to be doing historical Jesus studies.
The Real Jesus is way more revolutionary and inspiring than the American Jesus or the Political Jesus or the Denominational Jesus. Jesus' Kingdom is "not of this world," and therefore transcends ideology and nationalism and sectarianism. Tomorrow I'll have the joy of sharing the Jesus I've come to understand and know with my church family.
I want to know about Jesus so as to know Him and make Him known to others. Tomorrow morning I get to boil years of Jesus research and Jesus-knowing down to 45 minutes of Pure Jesus.
