WHY JESUS?
John 14:16-11, 20-21
Romans 8:1-4
So, you have a friend, a relative or a co-worker who calls him or herself a "spiritual" person but not in the organized religion kind of way. As long as one is a good person, heaven is a done deal. People don't need some mythilogical savior, and besides, there's too much negative baggage that goes with Jesus and Christianity. So, why should they believe in Jesus?
As imperfect human beings who are works in progress, we have to own the baggage that is ours to own, but that shouldn't stop us from sharing the Jesus we've come to know and love.
Like Father like Son. In no relationship across the eons does this expression has such a positive, life-changing meaning than in the description of God the Father and God the Son.
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.”
Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me." John 14:8-11 (CEB)
It is through Jesus, that the spirit of God's law of love and the extent of God's love for us is revealed. Jesus is the extreme expression of God's presence with us and how truly God is for us.
God the Son was born in very humble circumstances within the frail and fragile human body of a baby. Both fully divine and fully human, Jesus lived His life right along with us. Even though He was God, He chose not to exploit that to His advantage, but rather served humanity through His ministry of healing, hope and wholeness. He taught us what God's unconditional, all-inclusive, self-giving and self-sacrificing love looks like.
Christ came to save us all, not condemn us, and to that end, willingly died like a common thief, like the lowiliest of the low, a slave. Would a God who didn't care about us do that?
No, God so loved the world that He offered up God the Son as a sacrifice for our sake because God loves us too much to allow us to remain in a state of selfishness, self-destruction and separation from God, from others and even from the created order.
God laid down God's law of love to raise human beings to place where they would be in loving, healthy relationships with one another and with God and to a place of shalom -- a state of peace rooted in love, justice and compassion. I'd like to think that's the abundant life Jesus promised us -- shalom.
Love God with everything you are, and just as importantly, love your neighbor as yourself. So simple to remember. And yet ...
We're human beings. We're stubborn, hard-headed and self-centered. We like to do things our way, and we're really good at creating loopholes in laws. We will ignore what we don't want to do and follow the easiest, least demanding path, even if the path leads us into darkness, broken relationships and separation from God.
We managed to take the simple, yet powerful Law of Love and twist it, leaving God out of it, and making it a bunch of rules that no one on their own could ever live up to. They became a mill stone around the neck of humanity.
God wouldn't give up on us. God sent prophets and teachers to remind us what the Law was really about -- to do justice, to love mercy and compassion and to walk humbly with God. We wouldn't listen. The brokenness and darkness in the world spread, and the chasm between us and God grew.
Human being can't get across that chasm on their own, so God the Son, Jesus, did it for us. Jesus, through His life, death and resurrection, reconnects us with God and gives us the opportunity to life that abundent life of shalom with other people and even creation itself.
Because Christ died and rose again, we also have the promise of eternal life.
Before we even knew who God was, God said "yes." Yes, I claim you as my own; yes, I'm always with you; yes, you are worth dying for. He said, "yes," and sent Jesus, God with us, to die on a cross for us.
Why Jesus? Because Jesus is the epitome of God's grace, God's love in action in our lives, who came in love and humbleness to free us and raise us up to where we belong, with God and to shalom. There's nothing we can do to earn this gift of grace. All we have to do is to say "Yes" to Jesus.
God the Son was born in very humble circumstances within the frail and fragile human body of a baby. Both fully divine and fully human, Jesus lived His life right along with us. Even though He was God, He chose not to exploit that to His advantage, but rather served humanity through His ministry of healing, hope and wholeness. He taught us what God's unconditional, all-inclusive, self-giving and self-sacrificing love looks like.
Christ came to save us all, not condemn us, and to that end, willingly died like a common thief, like the lowiliest of the low, a slave. Would a God who didn't care about us do that?
No, God so loved the world that He offered up God the Son as a sacrifice for our sake because God loves us too much to allow us to remain in a state of selfishness, self-destruction and separation from God, from others and even from the created order.
God laid down God's law of love to raise human beings to place where they would be in loving, healthy relationships with one another and with God and to a place of shalom -- a state of peace rooted in love, justice and compassion. I'd like to think that's the abundant life Jesus promised us -- shalom.
Love God with everything you are, and just as importantly, love your neighbor as yourself. So simple to remember. And yet ...
We're human beings. We're stubborn, hard-headed and self-centered. We like to do things our way, and we're really good at creating loopholes in laws. We will ignore what we don't want to do and follow the easiest, least demanding path, even if the path leads us into darkness, broken relationships and separation from God.
We managed to take the simple, yet powerful Law of Love and twist it, leaving God out of it, and making it a bunch of rules that no one on their own could ever live up to. They became a mill stone around the neck of humanity.
God wouldn't give up on us. God sent prophets and teachers to remind us what the Law was really about -- to do justice, to love mercy and compassion and to walk humbly with God. We wouldn't listen. The brokenness and darkness in the world spread, and the chasm between us and God grew.
Human being can't get across that chasm on their own, so God the Son, Jesus, did it for us. Jesus, through His life, death and resurrection, reconnects us with God and gives us the opportunity to life that abundent life of shalom with other people and even creation itself.
Because Christ died and rose again, we also have the promise of eternal life.
Before we even knew who God was, God said "yes." Yes, I claim you as my own; yes, I'm always with you; yes, you are worth dying for. He said, "yes," and sent Jesus, God with us, to die on a cross for us.
Why Jesus? Because Jesus is the epitome of God's grace, God's love in action in our lives, who came in love and humbleness to free us and raise us up to where we belong, with God and to shalom. There's nothing we can do to earn this gift of grace. All we have to do is to say "Yes" to Jesus.
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