Tullian Tchividjian, grandson of Billy Graham, is the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.He joined the Pastor's Circle to discuss his latest book, Jesus + Nothing = Everything. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.What inspired this book?
2009 ended up being the most painful year of my life. In retrospect, because of that, it was also the best year of my life becausee of the things that God taught me.
2009 was the year that the church I had planted in Fort Lauderdale merged with Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. It was a long process to get to that point. After a long process of evaluating and investigating that possibility, we believed that God wanted to do it.
It was a remarkable celebration for about 10 minutes. And then all of the fireworks we anticipated started going off. We knew it was going to be tough, because merging churches is never easy.
I felt like the father of a blended family. It was really, really tough. For the most part everyone was on board and excited, but there was a small, very vocal group that opposed us at every turn. There were articles in the paper, anonymous letters, anonymous blogs. It was a full-blown attack on me and the rest of the leadership.
But it was at that time that God rescued me from me. I found myself very frustrated and angry and honest with God. I felt like the older brother in the story of the prodigal son, saying I've done everything You asked me to do, and I don't get a party?How do we "add to the Gospel"?
But God basically told me straight from the book of Colossians that it wasn't my old life I wanted back, it was my old idols, and He loved me too much to give them to me. That's when God helped me discover the now-power of the Gospel by showing me that all of the approval and validation that I was looking for in people was already mine in Jesus.
It changed me forever. I'm a different man because of it. It was incredibly painful, but also extremely liberating
There's a variety of ways that we do that.The more subtle ones are the more dangerous.Where does the Holy Spirit come in?
Most of us tend to say that we believe with our minds that Jesus + Nothing = Everything, but in reality, it's Jesus + something else. Jesus + the safety of my children. Jesus + a good marriage.
According to the Bible, an idol is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be a good thing that we start worshiping. The moment that my kids or my marriage defines me more than Jesus, I've turned my wife or children into idols.
What I have to ask is what is the one thing that if God were to take away, I would stop wanting to live? For me, I hit that low point in 2009. It was Jesus + people liking me that made me feel good.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, fully God just as much as Jesus. Jesus said very clearly that the Spirit would come to testify about him.
There is no conflict in that it is the Holy Spirit who overcomes our unbelieving hearts that Jesus + Nothing = Everything.
That is the sin underneath every sin: the sin of unbelief.
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