The Spiritual Disruptiveness of the word “If”.

Luke 4.1-13 -  ‘If
you are the Son of God…..’

The word if is
a destabilising word.

It corrodes trust, it undermines confidence, it slackens
our hold on our certainties.  

If.

‘If you
really cared about me…..’

If you were
really serious about…..

If it had
been me I would have…..

If.

A word that, used with precision and cunning,

calls
our integrity,

     our identity,

          our intentions,

               our motives,

                    our core values,

                        our
moral priorities into question.

If you are the Son of God……

Three times, ‘If
you are…’.

Three times an interrogation of the soul,

     a sifting of the heart,

          a
politely framed enquiry,

               disguising the fear and panic of self-promoting evil

                   encountering the obedient self-giving of the Servant and Son of God.

If you are
– prove it!

If you are – live it!

If you are – test it!

 

And throughout Jesus
ministry his response to the If you are
question will be

I AM….

So why
test a certainty?

Why prejudice implicit trust?

Why prove in time, what is eternally true?

 

And that
drama in the desert, the drama of If.

It
becomes also the drama of Christian obedience.

If you are
a child of God……

If God is
to be trusted….

If what you
say you believe, you really believe, then……..

If, has
consequences.

 

In the end our obedience is rooted in the obedience of Christ.

Our
faithfulness in small things is made possible by his faithfulness unto death.

Our
victories are won, only through the final triumph of Christus Victor.

Three final
‘If’ statements, which with disciplined grace, and obedient faithfulness provide
the tension points of Christian existence:

I am the vine, you are the
branches…

            if you remain in me
and I in you, you will bear much fruit….

You are my friends  

            If you do what I command you….

By this everyone will know you
are my disciples,

            if you love
one another……

(The photo comes from here – and captures exactly the ambiguities of those disturbing questions that call our Christian identity into question. Thanks to Pastor Kyle Huber).