Hiding Jesus in Evangelical Robes

I recently attended a neighbor's Greek orthodox funeral. When alive, my neighbor would always say to me, "You have no tradition. We have a tradition," meaning their church proclaims to go all the way back to the Apostle Peter. Over the years tradition after tradition were piled up until we have the Greek Orthodox Church of today (which they would say is of yesterday). Intense incense, veneration of Mary, repetitious chanting, icons, priestly garb, original Greek, and very specific rules of worship, like the direction the casket faced, were obvious marks of this service.

The thing that struck me was Christ was hidden beneath all of the tradition. It almost seems that they go out of their way to make it difficult to see Jesus. After the funeral a friend responded with the typical "what a beautiful funeral." I wanted to laugh. Beautiful? It was the most depressing and hopeless funeral I have ever attended.

But is it that far from modern evangelicalism . . . really? Don't we hide Jesus under own contrived garb of religiosity? Like the Pharisees before us, we cover over the hurts and pains of failure to produce a righteousness of our own (failure to be holy as God requires) and try to mask the ceaseless, tireless, positive production of sin in our lives which hounds us that we cannot be holy. Our music gets louder, our productions bigger, our church activity greater. Are we not also covering up Jesus with our modern trinkets?

In my own life it is a constant struggle to rightly apprehend the fact of Christ's life and work on behalf. It is difficult for me to fathom that Christ both accounted to Himself my sin and the wrath I deserve for my sin, and accounted to me His own perfect righteousness. It is hard for me to grasp that I stand a free man condemned no longer. I still feel I need to pay the price for my sins. But what a farse. What kind of salvation is it that requires of me a maintenance of my own salvation? That's not a free gospel. In reality I know that I fail miserably to maintain any semblance of morality or spirituality that measures up to perfection. My most religious moments are filled with mixed motives. My most elegant prayers are tinged with the pride and greed of what they will fetch from God.

What I need is gospel taught that shows me that I must live today, not attempting to correct my own account, but believing that Christ has truly and fully already paid that price for me. I need a church that teaches that kind of gospel (good news) over and over again. I don't need the prevalent moralism, or behavior modification of today's evangelicalism. That message hides Jesus behind my own works. I need a Jesus at the forefront of my salvation who is clear and concise and really accomplished my full salvation. I don't need a half Jesus who got me into heaven and now I have to work hard to clean up my act by doing good things, dressing the part, and keeping my nose clean with a cheezy smile on my face. I need a Jesus who is both the Author and Perfector of my faith. And on Him, fully revealed not covered over, is where I need to fix my eyes. And I need a church who will clearly, fully, and simply present Him and Him alone every single week.