We Believe in Jesus Christ
Today we begin a new series called “We Believe: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters.” So, why does this series matter? First, it will appeal to the curious – those who are thinking about becoming a Christian and joining a church but want to be sure what they are getting into. It’s also for those who want clarity about what they really believe as they seek to become better followers of Jesus. In addition, this series is for those who desire to communicate what they believe to others but lack the confidence to do it. This series will help people in those categories and inspire everyone to go deeper in their journey with Jesus.
The beliefs of our faith are as relevant and essential today as they were in the days of the early church.
Today we begin with our belief in Jesus Christ. The majority of the Apostles’ Creed, one of the oldest creeds of the church, is dedicated to Jesus. But why do we as Christians seek to follow a poor homeless peasant from Nazareth who lived 2,000 years ago? Why do we follow a man who never wrote a book, never held a political office, never attended college, never visited a big city, never married and had a family, and died homeless and poor? Yet when many people cuss today they scream out his name! Have you ever heard a golfer miss a three foot putt and say, “Thomas Jefferson!?” Have you ever heard a plumber mash his thumb and scream, “Robert E. Lee!?” No, but many shout the name of a man who was born in a backwoods town to a poor unwed teenage mother. Many shout the name of a man who was shamefully executed as a criminal at the age of thirty.
Why? For some mysterious reason Jesus is the most famous figure in all of history. More songs have been written about him, more artwork has been created of him and more books have been written about him than any other person who ever lived. In fact, Jesus of Nazareth had such an influence on human history that we measure time by him. Our calendar is divided into the years before and after his birth – BC and AD.
Philip Yancey said, “This poor Galilean man spoke to fewer people than would fill just one of the many stadiums Billy Graham has filled. Yet he changed the world more than any other person. A third of all the people on earth claim to follow him.”
For years, TIME magazine has named a “Person of The Year” on its January cover. In 2013, the editors of Time decided to go for the doozie and name the most significant person in history. They did an exhaustive analysis ranking historical figures like Google ranks web pages. Guess who won? Jesus. And it wasn’t even close.
Jesus’ influence on the world is staggering.
Yet, do we really know who Jesus was? Do we really know? I remember the first time I saw a picture of Jesus. I was just a little boy in Sunday School drinking grape Kool Aid and eating graham crackers. On the wall of the classroom was a sweet picture of Jesus with children all around him. He was smiling and looked like the nicest man in the universe. He looked like a divine Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. He taught us to be kind to one another and love everyone. I was comforted by the picture.
Yet as I got older I began to wonder: Why would a man who taught others to be kind to one another get brutally executed? Who could bring themselves to crucify Mister Rogers or Captain Kangaroo?
Whenever my Sunday school teachers talked about Jesus they would also teach about being careful of the people you hang out with. They would talk about respecting those in authority. Yet Jesus befriended social misfits and outcasts. He hung out with people most of us would not be caught dead with. He was accused by the religious establishment of being a party animal and hanging out with riff raff. When Jesus got angry it was almost always at religious people. Jesus is usually associated with people who follow the rules and play it safe, yet he didn’t do either!
Do we really know Jesus? Do we really know who he was? Whether or not he existed is irrefutable. We know he did. There is more evidence that he existed than many of America’s fore fathers. The existence of the person of Jesus in history is easy to confirm from non-biblical sources. For example, the historians Josephus and Tacitus wrote significant pieces on Jesus of Nazareth especially as he related to Pontius Pilate. Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor, wrote about him as did Lucian, a second century Greek satirist.
Historian H.G. Wells was not a Christian but he said the picture of history centers around a man named Jesus. He said that the historian’s test of an individual’s greatness is ‘What did he leave to grow?” He said by this test Jesus stands first!
The brilliant scholar J.B. Phillips said that he read scores of myths in Greek and Latin. After he read the gospels he said that there is not one hint of myth in the story of Jesus. He said that what the gospel writers wrote about him was so artless, pedestrian and vulnerable that some real event must have transformed them.
Many of us here believe in Jesus, but what do we believe about him and why should it make any difference to the way we live our lives today? What difference should it make that a man lived two thousand years ago in a place called Galilee? Can’t we see him as just a great teacher and figure of history and be on our way? Or should he mean more than that? Well, according to the gospel writers and 2,000 years of Christian history and tradition Jesus should make all the difference in the world. He should make all the difference to our lives.
You see, what you are going to find in this series is that when you really study Jesus, who he was, what he taught, and what he did, you are faced with a question – a very profound and penetrating question. And how you answer this question will determine your destiny as a human being. Your answer to this question will determine how you live, how you work, how you relate to the people you love and the people you hate. Your answer to this question will determine the direction of your life and the quality of your life. Your answer to this question will determine whether or not your life counts for something. Your answer to this question will determine the way you see yourself, others and the world.
To get to this question I want us to take a hard look at what Jesus said about himself. If we want to get to the real truth about Jesus it would be a good idea to move away for a moment from what history and culture say about him and look at what he said about himself.
In John 10:30-33 Jesus makes an astonishing claim:
30 “The Father and I are one.” 31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?” 33 The Jews answered, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.”
Over and over again Jesus claimed he was God. No other religious figure in history claimed this. Buddha, Krishna, Gandhi and Mohammed never made that claim. Only Jesus claimed to be God. Any person who makes such a claim is either nuts or telling the truth!
Let’s look at another astonishing claim of Jesus in Luke 5:
20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
In addition to claiming he was God we see that Jesus claimed to forgive sins. He claimed to have the power to wipe away all those things in life that put us in the dark, that make us bitter and unable to experience joy. He claimed to have the power to set us free from those things in life that enslave us.
Have you ever known or heard of anyone who claimed to do that? I can make you more money… sure. I can get you a better job…sure. I can help you drive a better car… sure. But have you ever heard anyone tell you they can wipe away all your guilt and all your shame and all your sin, give you a fresh start and make you whole? Only Jesus made that claim.
Have you ever wanted a second chance? Have you ever wanted a new beginning? Have you ever wanted to turn your life around? Jesus claimed to have the power to give you a fresh start.
Let’s look at another astonishing claim from Jesus. Most of you know this one by heart – John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Jesus claimed that if we believe in him, surrender to him, put our trust him, give our life to him and follow him, he will give us eternal life – a quality of life with God that begins now and is eternal in its duration! Jesus claimed that he could give us power over death! Jesus claimed that he could give us power to live forever with him and there will be no more sin, pain, violence, tears, discouragement, depression, or disease.
Have you ever feared death? Have you ever wondered what is on the other side? Have you ever longed to live in a world that has been healed? Have you ever yearned to have a body that is no longer in pain? Jesus claimed that if we follow him we don’t have to fear death. It is simply the threshold to a glorious life with him forever.
Jesus claimed to be God, to forgive sins, and to give people eternal life. You see, when we truly see who Jesus claimed he was we are forced to make a decision about him. The life of Jesus demands a response. You can’t read about the life of Jesus and simply say he was a great teacher or a notable figure in history. You don’t have that choice. Great teachers of history don’t make the claims that Jesus made. Any person who claims what Jesus claimed is either a lunatic or they are telling the truth.
So the pivotal question for each one of us is “Who is Jesus to YOU?” Not who is Jesus to your grandmother or mother or father or friends, but who is Jesus to you? Is he insane or is he God? Is he crazy or is he Savior? Is he nuts or is he Lord of Lords? Those are the only two choices we have.
Who is Jesus to you? How you answer that question will determine your destiny, your choices, your purpose, the quality of your life and relationships, your joy and how you view death and dying. You see, the question is personal. Very personal. It’s about whether or not you want Jesus to forgive you and fill you with hope, life and joy. It’s about whether or not you want a relationship with Jesus that will strengthen, encourage and sustain you the rest of your life. Who is Jesus to you? Crazy or Savior?
But you see this question is not only personal, it is communal. It’s an essential question that the church needs to ask again. Because right now the American Church is in crisis because we have forgotten who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Walter Brueggeman said that “the crisis in the American church has almost nothing to with being liberal or conservative. It has everything to do with forgetting our identity as followers of Christ.”
Folks, it doesn’t matter if you are liberal or conservative, republican or democrat. It doesn’t matter if you voted for Trump or Biden. It doesn’t matter if you are a United Methodist, Baptist, or Roman Catholic. It doesn’t matter whether you read from the King James Bible or the Living Bible. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer 9am service or the 11am service. What matters is what you believe about Jesus Christ because Jesus is the great hope of the world!
This is why we spread the good news of Jesus Christ all over the world. This is why for 2,000 years the church has been devoted to its mission of inviting every living soul to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything the church does, every sermon that is preached, every hymn that is sung, every meeting that takes place is rooted in the belief that Jesus Christ is the great hope of the world!
If we put our hope in any other person or thing than Jesus, we are doomed. Jesus is our one and only hope. “Every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Jesus is Lord!” (Inspired by “…Wicked Idolatry…” by Benjamin Corey on patheos.com).
Who is Jesus to you? Is he your one and only hope?
Maybe you are saying, “Well, I believe in God.” That is not enough. What kind of God do you believe in? You see, this is why didn’t we begin this series with our belief in God. We must define and know the character of
the God we believe in. And we do that by understanding the person of Jesus Christ.
Colossians says that “Christ is the image of the invisible God.” John 1:14 proclaims, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Only the Christian faith makes that claim about God – God became one of us to save us and to be in relationship with us. On our own we could never understand who God is. On our own we could never save ourselves. This is why God came to us in Jesus. This is why we believe in Jesus Christ.
We must remember what Peter Kreeft told his class at Boston University, “Christ changed every human being he ever met.” If people claim to have met Jesus without being changed, they have not met Jesus. When you touch Jesus, you touch lightning.”
I read that the Greek word the Bible uses to describe every person’s reaction to Jesus in the gospels is “Thauma” – wonder. Kreeft also noted that every person, whether they be an enemy of Jesus, a follower of Jesus, or someone who had a hard time believing in him, was dumbfounded by Jesus, filled with wonder. Even those who weren’t sure of him knew they would eventually have to be for him or against him. The wonder and shock of experiencing Jesus will break your heart open and force you to decide if he is crazy or Savior.
Perhaps you feel your heart being opened today. You have tried everything else life has to offer and it has never satisfied. You’ve been there, done that and have thrown away the t-shirt! Maybe you are ready to put your hope in Christ.
Rick Lawrence is a Christian ministry guru. He has written bestselling books and travels the globe leading conferences, seminars and workshops on how to grow churches and do ministry effectively. In his book “A Jesus -Centered Life” Lawrence writes about a day when he was leading a workshop for ministry leaders and pastors. He felt depressed and worn out. The material and techniques he usually covered were not exciting to him anymore. So he decided to throw away his notes and ask those in the workshop to talk about how Jesus was active in their lives. He said that for the next two hours the room was electric with the presence of Jesus. He had never felt more passionate about a workshop before.
After the workshop Lawrence attended other workshops and became depressed again. He felt terrible and could not put his finger on it. He found a big comfy chair in the middle of the conference arena and as he sat there watching people walk by with their notes, books, and resources, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, why do I feel this way? Why do I feel so terrible?” Lawrence said that he heard Jesus’ voice almost audibly reply, “Because you are bored with everything but me now.”
There are not enough golf courses, football games and trips to the lake that can give you what Jesus Christ can give you. Only Jesus can truly satisfy and bring you home. So, who is Jesus to you? Your answer will make all the difference to your life.
If you desire to accept and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, simply pray, Lord, I surrender my life to you. Please forgive me of my sins, fill me with your Holy Spirit, and guide me by your grace to live a life that is pleasing to you. Amen.