Why You Might Watch The Chosen

Did this blog get hacked?  What’s happening here?  Is pastor Jay finally losing it?  Just last week there was a post about why Pastor Jay did not watch the show The Chosen, and now a post about watching it?  Do we need an intervention?

What’s happening here is a good opportunity to address something that will be a regular occurrence.  God’s people must always be ready to deal with differences.  After posting that article, I heard from different people who both agreed and disagreed.  And these were all people who loved the Lord and took his Word seriously.  The reality is, within the church and among God’s people who love his word and want to walk faithfully to it, there will be differences in how faithfulness is lived out.  This can become an occasion for arrogance, judgement and division, or it can become an occasion for grace and gospel unity.  All of this depends upon how we understand the conscience and how individuals in the corporate church live in light of conscience. 

I believe in the liberty of the conscience.  The only thing that has authority to bind the consciences of people is the Word of God.  Therefore, if the Word of God does not give direct and clear commands on a particular issue, then we have the liberty to live in a variety of ways.  In those situations the individual is bound in his own conscience as the Holy Spirit applies His Word to that individual.  This necessarily means that people will have different positions on different issues.  

Is this a sign of immaturity and a cause for division?  Not at all.  At least it doesn’t have to be.  Nor does it have to be an occasion for weak and vacillating positions.  In the Roman church, there was a deep difference on how to understand the implications of food.  In 14:2 Paul says “One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.”  What is so surprising is that the solution was not to weaken your position.  In fact, Paul calls for them to strengthen their own position.  He says in verse 5 “Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.”  

Therefore, we all must become convictional people with deeply held beliefs, and each conviction and belief must be rooted firmly in God’s Word. Yet those convictions and beliefs must be of two types.  The first type of convictions are that which arebinding upon all people in all places in all times.  The second type are convictions about applications, principles, and matters of wisdom that shape how an individual lives in all the other areas of life.  

With those two types of convictions in our view, I want to come back to the matter of the show The Chosen.  As I made clear, I have a conviction derived out of God’s word that it is unwise to try to depict Jesus with actors.  I have made an application of the 2nd commandment and of Hebrews 1:2.  The issue at play is worship because there is a concept of Jesus being implanted in your mind.  This is a wisdom issue and an application issue.    But as you can hear, a wisdom and application issue is not a binding feature upon every conscience.  

I sought to make this clear when I wrote about The Chosen.  I mentioned the argument that Jesus did have a form and could be touched and seen.  I then said the following.  

This is all certainly true, and that is not a bad argument.  That very fact is why I don’t think we are in jeopardy of being in dividing territory.  This isn’t something that we need to declare as grievous sin and call for repentance.Having said that, I do think depicting Jesus like this is quite unwise and that it should be avoided with great care.  

Looking back, there are two ways this should be adjusted.  First, I should have stated this again to make sure it wasn’t missed by the reader. Second, while I asserted actor depictions of Jesus were unwise, I also said that they should be avoided with great care.  That last line is where I went too far.  To state a “should” is to bind the conscience.  The only “should” that we should speak is the one that God’s word says.  I don’t think I should watch The Chosen because my conscience would be constantly bothered by what I see.  What should you do?  Well, if you are persuaded by my applications of Scripture then perhaps you shouldn’t either.  But what if you are not persuaded or you think the dangers are not applicable to you for some reasons?  Must you agree with me because I am a pastor?  Not at all. I preach the final authority and binding power of the Word of God alone.  You can make different decisions about this issue.  

Now, as a Pastor I would call you to beware of the potential problems.  That is what pastors do.  And every loving Christian will also share legitimate applications of God’s word out of care and concern for their neighbor.  We should be people with strong convictions and share them with passion, gentleness and grace.  But each Christian must prayerfully come to their own convictions as they apply God’s word to their own heart.  And I would call you to do that with diligence. Diligently let the Word of God shape your thinking, and nothing else; not the force of someone’s personality, not production qualities, not the peer pressure of societal acceptance or rejection, not your own flesh.  Stand on chapter and verse applied to your heart.  

And as you stand there, stand with grace.  People will make different applications.  Some of them will be truly wrong and love for neighbor calls us to speak to that for their good.  But there will be a variety of legitimate applications and they should be acknowledged as such.  Can there be dangers in them?  Yes, and those can be pointed out and discussed. In fact, they should be pointed out and discussed, because that is what love of neighbor calls for.  We are helping one another think deeply about what God has said and the implications of it. But graciousness should pervade in this as edification is sought after.  Romans 14 should have the last word here.  It is the definitive chapter on conscience matters and it gives us this goal in verse 19, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.”