Re-Jesus

In their latest book, ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch begin by noting that "the name of Jesus has been invoked as central to movements that do not seem to be in accord with the Jesus we find in the pages of the Gospels" (4). The solution, according to Frost and Hirsch, is for the Church to be "reJesused." Meaning, the Church must continually refocus and remember that Jesus is central to who we are and what we do.

While reading ReJesus there were times when I found some of Frost and Hirch's claims to be pejorative and unhelpful. For instance, they write off the Nicene Creed as "flowery" and claim that "Paul has nothing to do with this airy doctrinal language." Granted, the language is different from Paul's, but it isn't opposed to it. Creeds certainly have an important role to play in helping the Church think and believe rightly about Christ, salvation, etc.

Yet, disagreements aside, Frost and Hirsch do helpfully remind us that we must continually be "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). For each of us that follow Christ as our Lord and Savior, it is not unnecessary for us to be reminded that Jesus Christ is central to everything we say, do, and think. According to Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:20, we are "ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us." As His ambassadors, it is vital that we adequately represent our Savior as He truly is. And one of the best ways that we can do this is by meeting Him again and again as He is given to us in the Scriptures. In other words, we need to be ReJesused.