If one truly adheres to a monotheistic belief- that is the belief in one God- then every aspect of one’s life must fall under that God. It’s not just that God is one entity. That is the implication, but not the full message.
At the center and circumference of every significant Jesus movement there exists a very simple confession. Simple, but one that fully vibrates with the primal energies of the scriptural faith, namely, that of the claim of the One God over every aspect of life, and the response of his people to that claim (Deut. 6:4-6ff.) The way that this was expressed in the New Testament and later movements was simply “Jesus Is Lord!” With this simple confession they changed the world. [Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, 24]
The thing about all-inclusiveness is that it’s demanding. If you leave one aspect of your life out- politics, money, sex- then you are compartmentalizing that aspect into an idol. Jesus merges the “Shema” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6ff) with the latter half of Leviticus 19:18 (“…but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”) in what Scot McKnight calls the Jesus Creed.
Paul argues that to love your neighbor as yourself, from Leviticus 19:18, is (1) our only debt to one another and (2) is the fulfillment of the law because it sums up the whole law.
It was this text in Romans 13 that convinced me that not only did Jesus teach the Jesus Creed as an adaptation of the Shema (Mark 12:28-32), amending it by adding Leviticus 19:18 to the standard Shema, but expected his followers to repeat it daily — as they had repeated Shema at least twice a day since the days of Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
What are you holding back from God?
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. [Deuteronomy 6:4-9, ESV]
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” [Mark 12:28-31, ESV]
What are you going to do about it?
[HT: Alan Hirsch. I wouldn't have even thought about it if he hadn't been in town teaching a bunch of Methodists (and a few Baptists) this weekend. Thanks to the Don Woolley, Missional 3.0, the Alabama-West Florida Conference, Alan Hirsch (blog), Todd McGehee, the Grove UMC, and Baker High School for making this happen.]
by Joe Kennedy
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