Pastor Jon:
God wants for you to get everything there is to get out of life. I
have simply found that a full, free and purposeful life is only
found in knowing Jesus Christ. I also know that this relationship
will last for all eternity.
What's some
of the background on this Jesus?
Pastor Jon:
First we need to know that Jesus is God. The Bible teaches that God
is one, but in three persons. There is the Father, the Son (Jesus),
and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I visualize this like one mighty tree
which we will call God, but we see the tree break into three mighty
branches, with each branch representing a different person of God.
So Jesus is God.
God is
without sin. He is holy. That means he is pure and will not tolerate
sin anymore than light can tolerate darkness. He is all powerful,
all knowing, eternal, incomprehensible. In many ways, God remains a
mystery to us.
God created
the world and put humanity into it. The special thing about humans
is that God put his likeness, or image, into us. We share many of
the same capacities as God, we think, we feel, we choose, we are
creative, we are social beings and we have a longing to worship God.
But, when the test couple, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God, all
of humanity became corrupted. The penalty for our sin was
destruction and death. We lost our holiness. We lost our intimacy
with God. We lost the most important and fulfilling relationship of
our lives.
Unfortunately, there was no way back to God. We can't ever be good
enough to be holy. We can't ever earn our way out of the pit. I'm
afraid we are all going to hell.
But God loved
us too much for that.
This is where
Jesus comes in. God decided to send Jesus into the world as a human
baby (hello, this is what Christmas is all about). And, after
teaching and healing and living among us for 33 years, he was
crucified on a cross. God did this so the innocent and holy Jesus
could pay the price of our sin. The father poured out all of God's
anger against sin on the Son. Jesus literally took our hell upon
himself. After paying that terrible price, he died. Then after three
days, he rose again (hello Easter). The power of death is broken.
The pathway to God is restored and it is Jesus. Now, if we accept
God's offer, our relationship to Him can be completely restored.
So here is
the deal. God simply wants us to acknowledge our sin before him. He
wants us to ask that Jesus' death count in our place. That's what it
means that Jesus us our Savior. He saves us from the penalty of sin.
And then he asks that he be allowed to live his life through us.
Does that sound strange? Of course it does. But God sends the Holy
Spirit into our spirit. He gives us new life. He gives us the life
of Jesus, and when we learn to walk in that Spirit, we are living
Christ's life.
Now let me
say a bit about why this is so cool. God no longer views me as a
sinner. He sees no sin in me. He calls me his son (or daughter). I
am a part of the family of the most powerful king of all time! And I
am promised that I will live with him forever.
All of a
sudden, I know I am loved like I never thought possible. I have a
friend who has already shown his love for me by giving up his own
life for mine. I want to love him back with my whole being. All of a
sudden my life has meaning and purpose! Because I want to serve my
Lord in everything I do. It sounds like bondage, but it is actually
freeing! I suppose you could say a train is in bondage to the
tracks, or a fish is in bondage to the water. But that's the way
they were meant to be. And we were meant to be in relationship with
the Most High God! It is exhilarating!
Well, I hope
this gives you some idea of why I think Jesus is so special. I want
you to know him too. All it takes is as I said. Talk to God. Tell
him you don't want to pay for your own sin. Tell him you accept
Jesus as your own Savior. I invite you to do it right now, even as
you read this by your computer. Stop and pray right now to ask Jesus
into your heart.
Once you come
to know Jesus, the Bible then tells us to be baptized. That is a
washing with water that symbolizes what Jesus did for you on the
cross. But it is also your initiation into the church. The church is
called the Bride of Christ in one place. Indicating how much Jesus
loves the church. In another place the church is called the body of
Christ. You could say, we are the hands and feet of Jesus.
The church is
the community that is called into existence because God loved us and
saved us, and we, in turn gather to love God and to love one
another. On Sundays we are primarily about loving God in worship.
During the week we are about loving one another and reaching out to
the world to also let them experience the love of God.
I don't want
the church to become something that takes over a person's whole
life. I want the church to be a community that enriches and enables
you to live the life of Christ at all times. I want to see our
church families having barbecues with their neighbors and playing on
community softball teams. I believe we will be taking people to
worship and small groups just because they are natural parts of our
lives.
