Making Jesus Beautiful: Stripping Away Ugliness to Reveal the Real Christ

Episode • Sep 14, 2016 • 46m

How the church can reclaim its true mission by removing the cultural, political, and institutional distortions that obscure the beauty of Jesus. Mike Erre and Andy unpack the heart of Voxology’s purpose—to make Jesus beautiful again by reflecting his love, humility, and upside-down kingdom. Leveraging Scripture, personal stories, and candid critiques of modern Christianity, this episode aims to remind followers of Jesus what it truly means to represent him to the world.

Key Takeaways: • Understanding the Core Mission – Why “making Jesus beautiful” doesn’t mean altering Jesus, but removing the human-made ugliness that keeps people from seeing him clearly. • Reclaiming a Counter-Cultural Faith – Exploring the contrast between the Jesus of the Gospels and the ways he's been misrepresented through political alliances, judgmentalism, and nationalism. • The Responsibility of the Church – How followers of Jesus are called not just to preach, but to embody love, humility, and grace with credibility and compassion. • The Power of Gospel-Centered Living – Why ordinary acts of kindness, hospitality, empathy, and forgiveness reflect the radical beauty of Jesus and invite others into the kingdom. • Deconstructing Christian Entitlement – A challenging discussion on how movements for religious freedom can actually make Jesus less visible when used to avoid serving others.

Notable Quotes: • “Jesus is already beautiful. Our job isn’t to make him more so—but to get out of the way so that beauty shines through.” • “Loving people who love you is easy—loving your enemies is beautiful.” • “Our main challenge isn’t secularism or persecution—it’s centuries of ugliness done in Jesus’ name.”

Guest Highlights: Features regular hosts Mike Erre and Andy, whose humor, honesty, and deep commitment to the mission of Jesus set the tone for this transformative episode.

Resources Mentioned: • John 12 – Jesus’ teaching on being “lifted up” to draw all people to himself • 2 Corinthians 5 – Paul’s appeal to be ambassadors of reconciliation • Ephesians 5:1-2 – Imitating God by walking in love • 1 Corinthians 13 – Love defined as the metric of Christlikeness • Acts 17 – Paul's address to the Athenians and contextual gospel invitation • Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John – Encouraged study for rediscovering Jesus • Bart Tarman’s “Mentor” story – A call to fall in love with the real Jesus again • Jude 1:24–25 – Closing benediction celebrating God’s goodness

Join us as we pursue a faith that reflects the true Jesus—not the distorted one built by cultural battles and political convenience. Let’s strip off the grime and shine his light with humility, empathy, and truth.

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Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

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We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.