and love which are found in Christ

For the last few months, been debating with other leaders over the wording of the church motto, with the focus of the arguments being who we state as the central recipient of our love. The default position was "Love God". I have been carrying the flag for the position that it should instead be "Love Christ". The God side of the argument has no credible argument save one: that as a Trinitarian faith, we can't focus exclusively on Christ; instead we are to love God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit -- condensed into simply God. Else we risk being modalistic, a theological position that believes there is only one God (not three) who appears in three separate forms.

I am willing to take that risk of false appearance.

No matter what position we choose, we risk some appearance. Any critic can find fault with whatever wording he wants. We should care less about how we are being perceived, and care more about stating our passion. And I will continue to carry the banner for the position that there is no more important statement of belief than loving Christ.

Christ is the difference-maker. The difference between us and a Unitarian church is that we love Christ not the generic term God. The difference between us and other theists is the existence of Jesus. You know who will get into Heaven? Not people who love God, but people who love Christ. God the Father even chooses to exalt Christ: He deferred Creation to Christ (John1, Col1) and is deferring Judgment to Christ. The NT is filled with very clear thoughts on whom we should be focusing on, and it is Christ. Paul says that to live is Christ. He says he counts all things as loss in view of the surpassing value in knowing Jesus Christ. Heb12:2 tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus. In John14, Jesus is letting His disciples know that when they follow and obey and love Him, they in turn love God. Acts4 tells us there is no other name under which men will be saved. We are taught to be more Christ-like not God-like. Christ is part of our main identity: we are to be CHRISTians not theists. More and more, serious disciples of Christ are distancing themselves from the label Christian, actually, and using the term "follower of Jesus." Our focus has to be, it has to be on Christ, not God, and I am unapologetic about that.