Rethinking What Matters Most to God

When I first came to faith, I was quickly convinced that God wanted, most of all, for me to “turn my life around.” Regular church attendance, Bible studies, no more booze, a high degree of chastity, etc., somehow became the most important parts of religion. My life at the time was in a shambles so I was more than happy to try something new.

I became part of a community of people – really good people – who shared my desire to live “clean,” a vision for life that everything seemed to revolve around.

It was also important that we engage in “evangelism;” telling people the “good news” that Jesus died on the cross to erase all of their sins, securing a place in eternity, and removing any barriers between them and God. For anyone accepting our offer, we would immediately stress the importance of clean living, Bible studies, and church attendance.

Sin is a bad thing, so we tried to avoid it like the plague, and taught others to do the same. We weren’t the first would-be-Jesus followers to get confused about what matters most to God, His people have always been tempted to place morality above everything else.

Theologians nowadays call this the “Gospel of Sin Management,” which is no gospel (good news) at all. Turns out that “clean living” by itself doesn’t change anyone. It certainly doesn’t make humanity less dirty, spiritually speaking.

But, because of myriad scripture passages that seem to stress the importance of righteousness, it’s easy for serious religious folk to believe that right behavior is what matters most to God.

So we craft a list of things that we think are most important, convince ourselves that we’re following them, judge the people who aren’t, and drive a huge wedge between ourselves and the world of people who don’t believe like we do.

Morality quickly becomes our religion.

But the teachings of Jesus suggest something altogether different. According to this Messiah, God’s endgame goes far deeper than behavior.

On the night before His crucifixion, nearing the end of His rope, Jesus prayed. He knew what was coming. He’d seen others go through it – thousands beaten, mocked, spat upon, ripped to shreds by the Roman “cat.” Desperate and wanting to quit, He could have asked God for anything, “Make the world follow your rules,” “make everybody happy, make sure they all vote a certain way,” etc.

He asked instead that we would be insanely close to one another.

“Keep them in your Name so that they may be one as we are one.” (John 17:11)
“Make them all to be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us.” (John 17:21)

One. That’s the endgame of God, and the gospel of Jesus Christ summed up in its entirety.

Not “everyone in agreement,” or “on the same page,” but everyone “in” Him, Him “in” us, and by implication us “in” each other – “in” so deeply that we all become “one…”

…just like Jesus and God are “one.”

Don’t miss that part.

There’s more.

Jesus only referred to one of His commandments as an actual commandment, speaking to a group of people who felt strongly that God is the only one who should be uttering commandments.

John 15:17 – “This I command you – that you love one another.”
John 15:12 – “This is My commandment – that you love one another.”
John 13:34 – “A new commandment I give you – love one another.”

This of course doesn’t mean that His other commandments aren’t commandments. He’s simply driving home the idea that everything else revolves around this, while reminding us who the boss is.

According to New Testament guru Bill Mounce, the verb Jesus uses, ἀγαπάω (agapaō), typically means, “…the active love of God for his Son and his people, and the active love his people are to have for God, each other, and even enemies.” It’s something that’s so extreme, it might cost you your life.

We should be careful with our definition of love here. Jesus didn’t call His disciples to “like” each other, or do nice things, or have fond thoughts. He called them into something deeper, into the kind of love He had for them, and the kind He shared with His father.

What fool would call mere humans to be so close?

Some believe that what matters most to God is that we love Him, first and foremost – that we walk in a deep, connected relationship with the almighty. But that’s only half the story. If we fail to love others, unconditionally, we fail to love God, and vice versa.

It’s easy to miss Jesus’ intent here. Our word “love” gets thrown around haphazardly and has garnered a broad range of meaning. We also live in a world of disposable relationships. When things go wrong, as close relationships often do, we bail. Intimate love isn’t something we value, unless it serves us. In our confusion, we’re tempted to reinterpret Jesus’ commandment into something more suited to our tastes – something easier, with much more distance.

In another episode, Jesus reminded His audience that their sacred Torah trumped everything with His brand of intimate love:

“…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is just as imporant: Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37–40, quoting Deuteronomy and Leviticus)

Everything in their Bible (and ours) revolves around God’s desire for oneness.

Jesus also rubbed His finger in the most important moral act an ancient Jewish person could think of. In His day, many believed that worship, i.e., visiting the Temple to pay homage and offer sacrifice was the highest thing you could do. That one got trumped too.

“… if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother or sister; then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5: 23-24)

Another call to “close” love, another plea for impossible intimacy, this one at the expense of something considered “higher” than anything else – and very lucrative for Jesus’ detractors.

Jesus doesn’t envision “love” as our broad, esoteric, contemporary Western individualistic expression would have it, and he’s not hoping that we’d all be nice, or get along. More than anything else, He wanted Intimacy, a ridiculously impossible level of “one”ness.

For me, Jesus’ other commandments make more sense under this interpretation of God’s endgame. Forgiveness (even of our enemies), reconciliation, sacrifice, mercy, compassion, all drive people close.

It’s unfortunate that so many of our religious traditions and observances drive us the other way.

If you believe that God wants obedience more than anything else, this might offend you. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people (myself included) grit their teeth, trying like hell to obey God’s rules, only to fail miserably because they’d isolated themselves from deep relationships. Addiction, depression, and despair always follow close behind, making obedience to God a near impossible business.

I’m not suggesting that things like morality, Bible study, church attendance, etc., aren’t important. They’re fundamental to a good life. But compared to the life Jesus wants us to live, these are the easy parts.

Personally, when I think about my own moral code, i.e., what should be most important to me, I think about how my life affects the rest of humanity. Am I drawing close to others? Am I inciting division? If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you’ll see that I struggle here, as many Christians do.

As I make some attempts at integrating the importance of humanity and “oneness” into my understanding of God, not much about my list of good behavior items has changed. To me, things like forgiveness, honesty, sacrifice, Bible, evangelism, etc. are still important.

But they’ve taken on a greater weight in light of what I now believe matters most to God.