The Jesus of Suburbia Quotes

“Throughout the Scriptures, God gives us constant reminders of his vastness and majesty. He reveals and invites us into relationship, but he never allows us to forget how big he is. In the Old Testament, his name served that purpose. So did the fact that he appeared to people without form. But the Israelites couldn’t handle a God that awesome, and they set about, time and again, to reduce him to a more manageable size. This has always been the temptation of the people of God—to tame him. He increases mystery; we desire to remove it. He introduces paradox; we seek to solve it. We, like the Israelites before us, want a God who is understandable and predictable and safe. We want a God who makes sense and operates according to generally accepted accounting principles. But instead, we meet YHWH and his son, Ye’shua, who don’t play by our rules.3”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“How do we redeem culture? We observe it and engage it on its terms and then demonstrate the message of Jesus through service and love.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The main issue with the traditional understanding of evangelism and apologetics is that they are too narrowly construed. The Bible teaches that evangelism is life (we are salt and light) and that the greatest apologetic is a life lived in obedience to God.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Throughout the Scriptures, the people of God continually succumb to the temptation to draw the boundary lines of faith more narrowly than what God has commanded. God's boundaries are simply broader and wider and higher and deeper than ours, so he calls his followers to be marked by the center--their faith in Jesus Christ--rather than by their boundaries.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“This is what it means to engage culture: take it on its own terms. Claim truth wherever you find it and use it to lead others to Jesus--the source of all that is good, true, and beautiful.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Christ followers need not be threatened by truth outside the Bible, for all truth is a reflection of the Holy Creator God.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Every time you are obedient to Jesus in faith, you war against the dragon and demonstrate the power and love of God. Loving your enemies, blessing people who insult you--this is not a passive, wishy-washy kind of love; it is violent resistance to the powers that govern this world.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus calls his churches to overcome--to engage and redeem and be victorious over the culture around them--and then shows them what this looks like. This is one of the paradoxes of our faith--that Jesus conquered and overcame through suffering and sacrificial love.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“How does God grow people? Often by reminding them how big he is and how small we are. By introducing mystery and tension and difficulty into life so that we might be forced to move beyond trusting our faith and religious systems to actually trusting him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Many of us are religious precisely to keep us from trusting God. We go to church, we give money, and we do all the right things--in the hope that God will never puts us in a position where we actually have to trust him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“This has always been the temptation of the people of God--to tame him. He increases mystery; we desire to remove it. He introduces paradox; we seek to solve it. We, like the Israelites before us, want a God who is understandable and predictable and safe.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Walking with Jesus (otherwise known as discipleship) becomes not a matter of learning to do a bunch of new religious things; rather, it means doing the things I have always done but doing them differently.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Scripture teaches and assumes that all issues are spiritual issues and all disciplines are spiritual disciplines. This is the key to spiritual growth: the recognition that all aspects of my everyday life can be done for the glory of God and used by him to shape me more and more into the image of God.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus never called us to be believers--he calls us to be followers who believe. It was so easy for me to be a Christian early on because I thought the whole thing was an exercise in believing. But following Jesus is an exercise in living--because we believe.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“So much of our teaching on what it means to follow Jesus depends on getting people to do 'spiritual' disciplines: Bible reading, solitude, fasting, service, prayer--these are all necessary and vitally important disciplines. But they are not the only ways we express spirituality, nor are they the only disciplines that are spiritual in nature.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The followers of Jesus weren't immediately known as 'Christians.' Instead they were known as followers of the Way--a way of life instituted by Jesus. Following Jesus was understood not as an act of believing but primarily as a way of living.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Trust always reveals itself in behavior. Trust in Jesus is no exception; it involves much more than just mentally agreeing with information about him. Trusting Jesus, like trusting other things, should show up in how we actually live.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“What you believe and what you trust are always revealed in how you live and act.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Saying you believe in something is one thing but living like you believe is often another. If your words and actions disagree, which will more loudly declare your beliefs?”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The circle of those whom God loves has always been bigger than the circle the church has drawn. That is the scandal of grace.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus's summary of the whole law is simply this: love God and love each other. Focusing on externals will never make that happen. Religion can help us act lovingly, but it can't turn us into loving people. Only the power of God can do that.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God is not looking for 'more and more' obedience but 'deeper and deeper' obedience. True obedience is of the heart. Externals matter only to the degree that they reflect (and affect) the heart.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Rules and rituals are given to God's people to remind them what God is like and what he's called them to. God's commands are for our good, but they (by themselves) do not make us right with him.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Actins, practices, and resources that are sometimes part of pursuing genuine faith are not bad things in themselves. In fact, I believe genuine faith leads to changes in outward behavior... But when the externals become substitutes for the real thing--an authentic relationship with God--they have fallen to the level of empty religion.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“We say to God, 'Show me and I'll believe.' Instead, God says to us, 'Believe, and I'll show you.' This is the life of following Jesus Christ. We say, 'God, show me your will and I'll obey you.' God says, 'Obey me, and I'll show you my will.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“If you passionately commit yourself to living out his purposes and advancing his kingdom, then God will make sure you live in his will. Trust him that if you are not going in the right direction, he will redirect you. But, I urge you, if you are paralyzed by the idea of the will of God, do something. Doing anything God-honoring is far better than doing nothing at all.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“God will guide those whose hearts are open to follow.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“Jesus is not vitally committed to our comfort and safety; he is committed to the advancing of his kingdom revolution in the hearts of people everywhere.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?

“The gospel of Christ wasn't just revolution "back then" (two thousand years ago) or isn't just revolution "someday" (in heaven). It is also right now, right where you are, with the people who surround you in your job, your life, your hobby, your home. Jesus is a threat to everything, for he turns all things upside down. Our job as the community of his followers is neither to add to nor to take away from the offense of Jesus and his message.”
― Mike Erre, The Jesus of Suburbia: Have We Tamed the Son of God to Fit Our Lifestyle?