May 2011
The Church of the Good Shepherd
Are you a Ricky Gervais fan?
Gervais is the creator of the much loved British comedy ‘The Office’, which is now the most financially successful BBC British comedy ever.
There are now versions of ‘The Office’ in Brazil, Israel, Sweden, Quebec and the USA. I love the US version myself!
Recently Gervais wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal called ‘An (Atheist) Easter Message from Ricky Gervais: Why I am a Good Christian’.
In his article Gervais says that although he is an atheist he believes he is ‘a better Christian than most Christians’.
Gervais writes that he respects Jesus but says that most Christians don’t behave like Jesus.
Gervais then lists the 10 commandments and points out humorously how he has definitely obeyed each one.
He gives himself a 10 out of 10!
It’s good every now and then to clarify just what it means to be a follower of Jesus (a ‘Christian’). As a follower of Jesus myself, I agree with some of what Ricky Gervais says. Christians certainly don’t deserve to be saved by God because of our behaviour.
At times followers of Jesus can definitely not be very ‘Christ-like’ in our behaviour. Gervais points this out quite rightly.
But at the same time this is the very reason why Jesus came to Earth to be crucified – a point Ricky Gervais misses.
The good news of Jesus, to quote Mike Cosper, is this: “You’re an absolute mess,” it says, “and an innocent Saviour (the only one who ‘behaved’) was punished in your place so that you can belong (to God) regardless of how unpleasant you may be.”
This is what Gervais, and many others, don’t understand about what God says in the Bible. It’s not what you and I DO (i.e. behave at a high enough standard to be rewarded by God) to be right with God, it’s what God has already DONE (through Jesus’ death and resurrection) that makes us right with God, when we accept what Jesus has done for us.
This is called grace.
By the way - if you like ‘The Office’ (the US version), let me know!
Warm regards, Andrew Paterson