Why Does Jesus Matter?
Most of the world thinks that Christians are a bunch of fools to believe what we do. To tell you the truth, we pretty much agree with that. The thing is, we don't mind. In fact, we own it. It's OK with us.
We are OK with it because Christ teaches us, through the writings of the first Christians, that God purposely chose to fix the brokenness of this world by means that look like foolishness. What looks like foolishness from a human perspective is true wisdom. What looks like weakness is the true source of all strength. And death actually becomes the way to life. That is crazy.
And it is also wonderful, because it means that we don't have to make ourselves perfect to be acceptable to God.
We are OK with it because Christ teaches us, through the writings of the first Christians, that God purposely chose to fix the brokenness of this world by means that look like foolishness. What looks like foolishness from a human perspective is true wisdom. What looks like weakness is the true source of all strength. And death actually becomes the way to life. That is crazy.
And it is also wonderful, because it means that we don't have to make ourselves perfect to be acceptable to God.
The Problem
First, Christians think that the world is one messed up place. Don't get us wrong -- the world overflows with beauty and wonder and goodness. God made it that way. At the same time, however, you can see that at some fundamental level, everything is broken. Nothing works the way it should. Even good things go bad.
And even worse, it seems that all the brokenness, all that mess, starts with us. The scripture teaches that even when we know what is right, we often simply won't or can't do it. In spite of being made in the image of a loving God, we just can't help wanting to get away from him and do things on our own, in our own way. That addiction to ourselves has broken our connection with the God who made us.
The Christian Apostles teach us to call that problem "sin." And it ruins everything and kills us.
And even worse, it seems that all the brokenness, all that mess, starts with us. The scripture teaches that even when we know what is right, we often simply won't or can't do it. In spite of being made in the image of a loving God, we just can't help wanting to get away from him and do things on our own, in our own way. That addiction to ourselves has broken our connection with the God who made us.
The Christian Apostles teach us to call that problem "sin." And it ruins everything and kills us.
God's solution
Other religions are about what humans must do to find God and make ourselves acceptable to him (or it, depending on the religion). That might mean keeping some set of laws or moral precepts. It might mean letting go of your desires, or training yourself to achieve enlightenment. Even if you don't believe in God, you are still stuck forging your own meaning out of an accidental existence -- which is no small task. Either way, it's all about what you have to do to justify yourself before God, the world around you, or even to yourself.
Christians don't think we can actually pull that off all by ourselves. Our own experience, our observation of people around us and the teaching of our Savior all tell us that we need help from outside of us. We mean well (sometimes) but it's a bar we can't get over on our own.
So, Christians believe that God came searching to find us and save us right in the middle of our brokenness. God did that by taking on human flesh in Jesus Christ, who is both God and man at the same time. He lived as we do, suffered as we do, and died as we do. Then he rose again from the dead. In doing this he satisfied all the needs for righteousness and justice, he made up for all of our wrongs and shortcomings and he broke the power of death over us.
It's not a fairy tale. It wasn't something that one person saw in a dream. Hundreds of reliable witnesses observed what happened. A few wrote it down and passed it on. It truly is good news because it tells us that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The point is that we couldn't do it, so God did it for us in Jesus Christ. That's a whole different kettle of fish. All other approaches only offer good advice on how we should be doing it better. Jesus offers more than good advice. He is the Good News that we need.
Christians don't think we can actually pull that off all by ourselves. Our own experience, our observation of people around us and the teaching of our Savior all tell us that we need help from outside of us. We mean well (sometimes) but it's a bar we can't get over on our own.
So, Christians believe that God came searching to find us and save us right in the middle of our brokenness. God did that by taking on human flesh in Jesus Christ, who is both God and man at the same time. He lived as we do, suffered as we do, and died as we do. Then he rose again from the dead. In doing this he satisfied all the needs for righteousness and justice, he made up for all of our wrongs and shortcomings and he broke the power of death over us.
It's not a fairy tale. It wasn't something that one person saw in a dream. Hundreds of reliable witnesses observed what happened. A few wrote it down and passed it on. It truly is good news because it tells us that God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The point is that we couldn't do it, so God did it for us in Jesus Christ. That's a whole different kettle of fish. All other approaches only offer good advice on how we should be doing it better. Jesus offers more than good advice. He is the Good News that we need.
So what now?
You can receive God's gift by first admitting that you can't measure up to God's standards ( in religious language that sounds like "confess that you are a sinner" ) and then begin trusting that God has provided for your forgiveness and has justified you through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
Some people arrive at faith in Jesus through a crisis event that hits their life like an explosion. Others gradually grow from unbelief into faith until one day they realize that they have tipped from one side to the other. And there are all shades in between.
Once you place your trust in God through Jesus Christ, God promises to help your faith by giving you his Holy Spirit to strengthen, comfort, and guide you. His Spirit works in many ways, but most commonly through the messages given through the Bible, and through the fellowship of other believers. So if you are at the point of trusting Jesus, find a church to welcome you and help you begin down the path of faith in Christ.
Of course, if you are having trouble deciding, we might suggest that United Baptist would be a pretty good place to start. <shameless plug>
Even if you aren't ready to make that step, but you would like to know more about what faith in Jesus is about, we welcome you to contact us, or come to one of our Sunday services. We would love to meet you.
Some people arrive at faith in Jesus through a crisis event that hits their life like an explosion. Others gradually grow from unbelief into faith until one day they realize that they have tipped from one side to the other. And there are all shades in between.
Once you place your trust in God through Jesus Christ, God promises to help your faith by giving you his Holy Spirit to strengthen, comfort, and guide you. His Spirit works in many ways, but most commonly through the messages given through the Bible, and through the fellowship of other believers. So if you are at the point of trusting Jesus, find a church to welcome you and help you begin down the path of faith in Christ.
Of course, if you are having trouble deciding, we might suggest that United Baptist would be a pretty good place to start. <shameless plug>
Even if you aren't ready to make that step, but you would like to know more about what faith in Jesus is about, we welcome you to contact us, or come to one of our Sunday services. We would love to meet you.
image "broken cup" by Joanna Bourke (cc) some rights reserved