Why Jesus?

Why Jesus?  Titus 1.1-4; Colossians 1.15-18  “at just the right time he has revealed this message, which we announce to everyone…” vs. 3

Not too long ago, I went to lunch with two soccer moms—one who was born and raised in Japan.  When she learned a little about me, she quietly said, ‘I am a good candidate to be a Christian.’  ‘Oh, why is that?’ I casually asked, taking a bite of one very great taco.  ‘Well because I went all of my school years to a Catholic school, and I know a lot about Jesus.’  ‘Well then, why don’t you believe in him?’ I asked.  ‘Oh I do, but I don’t want to abandon my other gods.  See in my country, we have the Shinto religion, and we believe in many gods.  We pray to different gods for individual things such as fertility, weddings, and at the time of death—things like that.  I don’t want to miss out on those things,’ and then she lowered her eyelids and rather demurely chuckled. 

To most Western Christians, the idea of many gods seems foreign at the outset, but in practice, I think our culture has become rather polytheistic, whether we know or recognize the reality.   Oh, we don’t want to offend, and we must be open-minded(!), so we think that Jesus-plus-other things can’t be too harmful … right?   You know what I’m saying - Jesus + positive thinking . . . Jesus + some Buddhist principles . . . Jesus + New Age beliefs . . . etc., then, we’ve got all the bases covered too, just like my soccer mom friend.  ‘Of course, I believe Jesus was a great moral teacher!’

However, it does not work, because that kind of thinking is antithetical to a Holy God.  Have you read the Ten Commandments lately?  The first one reads: “You shall have no other gods before me.”  No idols, no bowing down, no worship of another god … period.  Why?  Because God said, I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God¹. And then of course, in Colossians, Paul explains the supreme position of the Son of God, in relation to God the Father~

“Now Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God. He existed before creation began, for it was through him that every thing was made, whether spiritual or material, seen or unseen. Through him, and for him, also, were created power and dominion, ownership and authority. In fact, every single thing was created through, and for him. He is both the first principle and the upholding principle of the whole scheme of creation.”    J.B. Phillips New Testament  Colossians 1.15-18

Hmmm . . . No other gods before him.  Ponder that a moment.  Jesus, Son of God, Creator of all things--external and internal, visible and invisible – he who has always been … equal with God the Father and the Holy Spirit … he who says, ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’  Jesus plus nothing. 

And Paul goes on to say that besides creating all things, Jesus also redeemed us—saved us from ourselves, from sin, from eternal separation from God: “For God in all his fullness
was pleased to live in Christ, and…now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless.”²                                      

And don’t miss this: Paul highlights that at just the right time, Jesus was born.  The timing and landscape into which Christ came was critical. God prepared it all, so that the good news of Jesus Christ had a means to spread. The Roman Empire, via the Pax Romana, had established a common language, preserved peace for an extended length of time, and made travel easy with its extensive roadways. Indeed, the way things came together in history made Christ’s birth in Bethlehem the ideal time for the Savior to be born. “When the right time had come, God sent his Son …”³  At just the right time, God~  God always comes at the right time.

Oh don’t you see, Friends, Jesus, who He is … well, he is fully God, God the Creator, God incarnate, and the perfect One given for us.  We must never add something to Jesus; it must never be Jesus – plus – anything else.  Nor can we ever say he was just a great teacher … realize, “You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.  But let us not come up with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.  He has not left that open to us.  He did not intend to.”⁴

May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you grace and peace~⁵      

Christine

Something to think about: