Halter Hugh - Flesh : bringing the incarnation down to Earth : learning to be human like Jesus

Travel Guide

Foreword

I suppose when you boil all of lifes wins and losses down to the real issues, youll run into theology. I know that sounds weird, but its true. Life is about God. Everything is about God. It can be said that the most important thing about each and every one of us is what we believe about Godand more specifically, what we are convinced about regarding Jesus. If He remains a historical figure who came to pay for our sins, then we may put a cross around our neck, we may go to church on occasion to thank Him for what He did for us, but we may not look much different from the guy or gal next door. But if you become convinced that Jesus had other reasons for coming to earthnamely to teach humans how to be humanthen well, you might just become a different human.

Flesh brings Jesus down to earth in ways that may help you finally understand who Jesus wasand even more importantly, what His life can be like in your life. As Hugh says in this book, Jesus didnt come just to die for your sins. He came to teach you how to live a full, earthy, gritty, and marvelous life.

Lets talk a bit about Hugh. Hes my friend. My husband and Hugh are Harley buddies; my oldest son shot Hugh in the back with a high-powered air rifle, dropping him to the ground; weve shared hundreds of glasses of wine together (not all at one time), spoken on the same stages together, and even cruised around Italy together with our spouses. And Hugh not only helps me and thousands of others understand the beauty of the life of Jesus but shows me Jesus in the way he lives.

Heres some stuff this book says that no other book does: You need to pick more fights in public. Stop trying to be godly, and instead try to be more human in the way of Jesus. Working a job or caring for your family is more spiritually important than doing a book study of Romans. And every home can be a pub. (Hugh has some big feelings about things, and youll just have to read more to decode all of this.)

Hugh helps us read between the lines of theology and find the real man, the real God who lives next doorand as we do this, well discover a new way of living, a new way of being loved. This isnt a narrative on how to be more righteous or how to please God or how to get more things right. God never asked us to be right; He asked us to be real. I suspect Jesus is the good news most of us are starving for. Its just that He has been hijacked by rules and structures and humans afraid of grace.

If I could get a few books into the hands of every Christ followerbooks that could change the entire paradigm of who a Christian is and what Christianity could be Flesh would be in that short stack. This book could change everything, but perhaps more importantly, it can change you. May you discover the God of flesh who came to earth, saved our lives, and set us free forever.

Jen Hatmaker

Introduction

A Tattoo into the World

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. (John 1:14 ESV )

I never thought I would be here with her doing this.

Its 11:00 a.m., and Im sitting in the lobby of Seans Tattoo Parlor. Its a rather classy joint, but a tattoo joint nonetheless. No, its not the way I usually spend family time, but today is different. Im chaperoning my daughter McKenna as she gets inked for the first time. I dont want to get into the perplexities of parenting and permanent body art, but I felt compelled to support her decision. See, Ive got a little color myselfa rendering of the earliest Celtic cross surrounded by the story of Isaiah 61 is etched on my right shoulder.

While Sean is working on McKenna, I voice my fear that she will want more tattoos and then ask, So why do you think people tend to get so many tattoos, Sean? And why is the art of tattooing growing exponentially around the world? Sean stops the vibrating needle, looks up at me, and says, Because its something permanent etched on someones flesh that cant be stolen, taken away, or corrupted. Its unique to them, deeply irrevocably theirs, and represents a story that has formed them or at least means something to them. When someone lets me etch something meaningful into their dermis, that means a lot to me and should mean even more to them. Skin matters a lot.

Seans words are more true than even he knows. What happens to our flesh stays on our flesh. If its a scar, it stays. If its our natural color, it stays. Our skin is us to others. Its what they see, and since our skin is able to bend and move, tighten and loosen, it is able to communicate hundreds of unique emotions, feelings, and thoughts. You cant hide your skin. Most of our nerve endings are in our skin, so what happens to our flesh is usually obvious to someone watching us. We feel the world through our skin, and our flesh is the front door to our emotions. Our flesh is the most vulnerable part of our bodies and oftentimes the reason we get judged, abused, enslaved, or stereotyped. Flesh matters!

Therefore, to have skin is to be human, and thats why flesh becomes the single most important theological, cosmological, and practical essence of our faith. Heres why.

God as Spirit intentionally put on skin for us.

This is called the incarnation a word that means to take on flesh.

Doctrine that Makes Sense

Just a few weeks ago, I was curious about this topic and dug through some old boxes of theology books and journals from my seminary days. I found a huge black notebook that held all my writings and thoughts regarding doctrinethe doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election, the doctrine of end times, just to name a few. I was taught that these were the central issues of faith and therefore that I was required to know the concepts and supporting scriptures intimately. Back then I remember thinking, Really these are the biggies? These doctrines that we fight about, leave churches over, judge one another for, and really cant figure out anyway?

Today, after twenty-five years of pastoring and training leaders from over a hundred denominations that split off or started new denominations because they couldnt see eye to eye on some of these critical doctrines, I still feel the same way. Those doctrines are important but not central. They can help us know Jesus, but they can also hinder us from knowing Him. Jesus is what is to be central, and He is the person people are really looking for.

Heres the deal. People are not looking for doctrine. Theyre looking for a God with skin on, a God they can know, speak with, learn from, struggle with, be honest with, get straight answers from, and connect their lives to. Some of my closest friends are ex-churchgoers or nominal Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, and Muslims, and I can tell you for certain that they arent looking for greater clarity on theology unless that theology really tells them who God is, what He is like, what He thinks of them, who they are, and what their lives can become. People want to find God with skin in the game!

This is why Im writing this book. People need to know what the incarnation of God is. This one doctrine must become central because it not only tells you exactly what God is like but also shows you how big a life you get to live. As you understand the incarnation of Jesus, all the false notions about what Christianity is will become clear. You may even find that the incarnated Jesus isnt a big fan of any organized religion and that your life lived in His life doesnt have to have any relics of religion at all. The incarnation will teach you how to parent your children, how to love your spouse, what to focus your lifes efforts on, and how to follow God without all the crap. The incarnation is what those inside and outside the Christian faith are looking for, and if every Jesus follower truly got it, it would fix every negative stereotype people have about Christians, Christianity, and the church. The incarnation of Jesus will give you proof that God understands how hard it is to be human, and it will help you see how to be human to the fullest. This new fleshy faith will help you be the least judgmental person your friends will meet and will guide you into the street-level kingdom life youve always wanted to live. Its a big deal!