More Than A Flannel Graph Jesus

I grew up in the 80's and 90's, and I have lived in a time when cell phones where bricks and the neighbor next door still had a rotary land line. I remember seeing the first FAX machine and thinking that if you put money into it, money would come out at the other end...very Star Trek like. All that to say I grew up in church in an era not to long ago but before screens and multi media...the era of the flannel graph. For those of you that are too young to have experienced them, it was a board covered with a flannel background and you would place flannel pictures of people, animals and buildings on it, allowing children in Sunday School to visualize the Bible story.

As you can imagine, the 2D images skew our perspective on the 3D stories of the Bible. Those pictures of flannel were always safe and tame, neat and pretty. Everything was perfect and orderly and very sedated. Which takes me down the road in my walk with a safe and tame, neat and pretty Jesus. I would read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles and wonder why I read that as a good story and not as a present reality for today? My answer always went back to "Jesus could do those things because He was God in human flesh", "The Apostles did miracles because God gave them a special anointing to help start the early church". All the while wishing my walk with Jesus had that same power and faith. Why don't we see what we read about in the New Testament today in the Church?

Fast forward to the summer of 2013 when I started teaching through the book of Philippians and come across something I had heard about but misunderstood all this time...The Doctrine of Kenosis. Now you are probably thinking that this sounds really deep...and it is. The Greek word Kenoo, for which we get Kenosis, means "to empty". Kenosis is the act of self-empting. We all know that Jesus emptied himself when he came to earth, but what was he emptied of? We know that he was 100% God and a 100% man when he walked the Galilee region. So what did he leave behind when he came here 2000 years ago? Would you believe his power and authority? The very things that made what he did in the Gospels so amazing...were the very things he set aside. Now you might be asking, was he still God then...Yes! Picture a cup filled with water. The water represents the power and authority, and the cup represents Jesus (who was and always will be the Son of God). Now pour the contents of the cup out...Jesus is still Jesus, the Son of God, but his divine power and authority are no longer in him. So what does this all mean for us and why was I so excited when I came across this teaching of Paul?

Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-11 to have the same mind as Christ. Who didn't think that his authority and power was something that he had to hold on tight to. He emptied himself of all his Divine power, became a servant and took on human form. So what made me get so excited you ask? In order for Jesus to do all the miracles, to heal all the people, and to teach the multitudes...he had to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit and operate under the authority of the Father. You see, if Jesus did all those things with his own power and authority then we could say as I have said..."He could do them because he is God, but I can't". However, Jesus is our example for us to live by and imitate. That is why he made statements like these to his followers:

By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgement is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. --John 5:30

 I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. --John 5:19

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these, because I am going to the Father. --John 14:12

Jesus' life here on earth was totally submitted to the Father. He had an intimacy with the Father in prayer that allowed for Him to see all that the Father was wanting him to do. Jesus knew that the level of his authority from the Father was equal to His level of intimacy with the Father. So too is our authority as children of God...adoptive heirs of his glory. You and I can walk in the same authority as Jesus; you and I can have that same intimacy with the Father. You and I can have eyes to see where He is wanting to work and the ears to hear His still small voice instructing us. But wait there's more!

When Jesus was baptized by the Holy Spirit He received power. Not His power (because He left that in Heaven) but the Holy Spirit's power. This is the same power that He told His followers to wait for. It is that same power that was poured out on the Day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts that you and I can have today. What Jesus modeled and the Disciples experienced didn't end with them, but was intended for you and I today!

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you. --Acts 1:8

Jesus had to go back and take his rightful place at the right hand of the Father, but he didn't leave us absence...He left us with the same comforter that comforted Him and empowered Him to heal the sick, raise the dead, bring sight to the blind, multiply loaves and fish, walk on water, cause the lame to walk, cast out demons, and cause the mutes to praise God!

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! --Luke 11:13

May we as followers of the risen Lord, no longer be content to follow a "flannel graph jesus"...but to daily be submitted to the Father and filled with the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus who is our example.