The Carrot and the Stick

When it comes to motivation and discipline there are two tried and tested methods - the carrot or the stick. One promises a reward for the right behaviour, the other a punishment for the wrong behaviour.

In this short video we see the success of the carrot.



Today we looked at Hebrews 2 in which we are warned of the importance of paying very careful attention to what we have heard in regard to our faith, in order that we don't drift away. And although there are a few pointers as to what happens if we don't pay careful attention (e.g. not escaping judgement...), the motivation is much more carrot than stick.

The bulk of this chapter is again focused on Jesus. On the truth that he became fully human, that he died on the cross, that his death in some way means we can know forgiveness, that he knows what we are going through in our difficulties and that he is therefore able to help us.

It is important that we pay careful attention to what we have heard. That we spend time studying the Bible and in prayer, and that we put into practice what we learn to be the truth. But our motivation should not be out of fear of what we escape, but rather out of a desire to know better the Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us.

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The Good Man Jesus

How would you answer the question 'Who is Jesus?'

A myth? A good man? An influential teacher? A good example to follow?

What about Son of God? Miracle worker? Messiah?

Many people are happy to believe an option from the first set of answers, but not prepared to take a step further and believe that Jesus was anything other than a human being. And so the claims that Jesus was in some way God, that he performed miracles, that he rose from the dead... these all become later additions - creations of the church and the writers of the New Testament - and so, they claim, we have the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

Of course there is nothing new in these arguments. Opponents to the Christian faith have known for the past 2000 years that the person and work of Jesus are absolutely central to the Christian faith and therefore if you want to undermine Christianity your best line of attack is the person and work of Jesus. If you water down the claims of the Bible about Jesus you water down people's faith.

Many people will think there is something new, explosive, controversial and revolutionary in what Philip Pullman has done in his latest book 'The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ'. But this is just another re-hashing of an old argument - that has been around for centuries. An acknowledgment of someone in history called Jesus - and a claim that everything we read about Jesus being God, the miracles, the resurrection...these are nothing more than a literary creation of the early church.

Last Sunday we started a new series looking at the New Testament book of Hebrews. A book in which the truth about Jesus is central. Hebrews was written to Christians who were experiencing persecution for their faith, and the temptation to turn back to their old way of life. And if we don't actually believe that Jesus was God, or that his death on the cross has significance for us etc. then why would we continue to believe - especially if it meant hardship or even death?

Hebrews 1:1-4 makes a number of claims about Jesus - that he is God, that he is the creator of all things, and that he continues to be intimately involved in his creation, that he provides forgiveness for sin, and that he is now in heaven, alive and superior to whatever it is that we hold most important in our lives.

'Who is Jesus?' This is the most important question you will ever have to answer.

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