We don’t need Jesus
as much as our ancient forbears did.
That’s
not to say that we don’t need the forgiveness of our sins. Absolutely, we desperately need that. And we need a relationship with God. It is a wonderful feeling to know that, if we
ever need God, we can pray to him and He’s there for us. It’s good to have that security blanket, if
we ever need Him. And, of course, we
need Him everyday. That’s why we need to
pray daily. Because we need Him.
So why don’t we pray?
Well, sure, we prayed for Aunt
Marge just last week. She was going into
surgery. But she’s okay, because the
doctors fixed her right up. And we
prayed for Tim, from our church, because he was going to Africa
to visit some people who needed help. We
prayed for his protection. He got back
okay. Of course, we knew that air travel
is the safest way to go. And there
weren’t any wars where he was going. But
we’re glad we prayed, just in case.
And, of course, we worship
God. Some of us do it just on Sundays,
and some every day. But we recognize
that its our responsibility to worship Him because He gave us life and created
the world and provided us with the basics of every living thing. So we thank him for our food, although we
know that it came from stores after being processed after being grown in
farms. But somewhere back there, God did
something to get us the food, so we thank Him.
It’s only respectful.
It’s not like we believe that
God doesn’t work today. We certainly
recognize God’s power in our lives. It’s
not like God is just some clockworker who put in the rechargeable battery and
let it go. So why do we often practically act like deists? Why does it seem as if our lives wouldn’t
really be any different if we were just trying to be “good people”?
Isn’t Christianity supposed to
be something more intense? What are we
missing?
Honestly, what we are missing is
salvation.
“No, no,” you interrupt, “you
don’t understand. We HAVE
salvation. We have it in Jesus. Jesus died on the cross. We believe. So we have forgiveness and a relationship with
God. We already have it.”
The problem is that forgiveness
is only one part of salvation. It’s
important, that’s true, but its not the whole ball of wax. Jesus offered us a lot more than just
forgiveness. He offers us the kingdom of God.
That’s quite a package. It’s just
that so few people really know what it all entails.
When
Jesus offered us the kingdom, he offered us a nation of justice. He offered us a nation that acts on the
principle of caring for everyone, without exception, so that everyone will be
cared for. Justice is in Jesus’ hands,
and he offers it to us. All we have to do is
But we already have justice,
don’t we? That’s what we are told. We live in a great nation of equality, where
no one receives special treatment because of who they are. Everyone is treated the same, no matter what
their sex or their race or their social class or their wealth. Everyone receives the same justice, the same
opportunities… or, at least, that’s how it is supposed to work.
I guess perhaps we don’t all
have justice. I guess there is still
people of color who don’t receive equal treatment. There are still women and even men who are
refused jobs because of their sex. There
are immigrants and the homeless who aren’t treated with fairness. There are still the mentally ill who are not
given a fair shake. So maybe we still
need Jesus’ offer of justice after all.
When
Jesus offered the kingdom
of God, he was offering
the outcast and lowly the opportunity to be rulers over the world. He proclaimed good news to the poor, freedom
to the prisoners and a new start to sinners.
Anyone could have the opportunity to lead in Jesus’ kingdom—they didn’t
have to be rich or popular or part of a ruling class or a certain educational
level. Anyone could be powerful or have
authority through the Holy Spirit, and rule with Jesus.
But in our society, we already
have that, don’t we. After all, any kid
in America
could be whatever they want to be. If a
kid wants to be part of the police or an astronaut or even President of the
whole country all they have to do is work hard and nothing will stop them from
achieving their goal, right?
But, actually, I wanted to be an
astronaut until I found out that very few people could be in the few slots
available for the position. And I wasn’t
good enough at science anyway. Maybe,
they said, I could be a social worker.
And as far as president? When was
the last time a homeless person became president? Or a woman? When was
the last time an uneducated person become president? No, the presidency is for a very few. I guess we need Jesus’ salvation for the
outcast after all.
When Jesus offered us the kingdom of God, he offered us God’s knowledge and
wisdom in all things. He offered us the
opportunity to know God’s righteousness and to know the hidden things of
God. We can have the Holy Spirit who
will guide us in our lives and give us wisdom in every circumstance.
But maybe we don’t need that
knowledge anymore. After all, we have
great colleges and universities where we can learn anything of importance. We have the internet to pick up any other
kind of fact that we need. And we have
counselors and psychologists to offer us wisdom and counsel in our lives. Heck, we have search engines that will tell us whatever we know.
On the other hand, I never
really learned that much in college. I
mean it was helpful, but it really only pointed the way. And the ethics courses were pretty sketchy. And though I can get a lot of facts in our
society, I can’t tell the difference between Truth and the various forms of
untruth that are floating around out there.
It’s so hard to tell the difference.
And I’ve got a friend, who is at least as sane as me, and the counselor
keeps telling her that she’s got multiple personality disorder. How many of those counselors and
psychiatrists really understand us, who we really are, as individuals? Perhaps we need Jesus’ salvation for wisdom
after all.
When
Jesus offered us the kingdom
of God, he said that God
would provide everything we need. He said
that we wouldn’t need to worry about food and clothing—God has got us covered
(so to speak). He said that he would
heal our diseases and care for our wounds.
All of our basic needs would be provided for.
But we don’t need God for that
anymore. I’m sure that the ancients
needed God for their daily bread and health, but, frankly, us Americans are
doing pretty well. After all, I’ve never
missed a meal in my life. And I’ve eaten
pretty well, if I can judge by my waistline.
We’ve got clean water and hot water and running water and sanitary
water—that’s something! And we have a
better health system than ever seen in history.
More people are healed in a city hospital in one day than Jesus did in a
year of ministry.
Of course, people are mostly
healed. There is very little joy in
healing, like with Jesus. People
sometimes seem sicker after their “healing” than before. And I eat well and live well, it is
true. But why do I feel so guilty? Why is there no satisfaction, not even any
contentment, with my prosperity? And why
are there so many in the U.S.
that don’t experience that prosperity?
Why are there children who are hungry, families who are homeless and
strong men crippled by work? Perhaps we
need Jesus’ salvation of prosperity after all.
When
Jesus offered us the kingdom
of God, he promised us a
society of God. He said that we would
have a society which would be our family, and we would have tight-knit
bonds. If any person was in need, the
others would help them out. Everyone
would be supported and helped.
But our society seems fine. It offers a lot of variety, a lot of
opportunity. There are support groups
everywhere, for every kind of issue.
There are churches and clubs and societies. And if anyone is really in need, they could
ask for it. Or get welfare.
On the other hand, our society
seems full of violence. And full of
hatreds. And there isn’t much
forgiveness. And I don’t know if I remember
the name of anyone in my support group.
And I think I lied. There’s no
one who will really help us in need. And
welfare is humiliating.
When
Jesus offered us the kingdom
of God, he promised us a
secure future. We would be resurrected
from the dead, and we would have eternal life.
We would be completely defended by God and there would be no more
sorrows. All the future would be ours,
if only we would trust in Him.
But our future seems fine. We have the possibility of a comfortable
retirement. We have insurance to cover
the worst of disasters—fire, flood, death, disease. And we are secure in the hands of the U.S. military
and the local police. They keep things
pretty secure.
But, actually, we are pretty
nervous. We depended on Social Security,
and we aren’t confident in it anymore.
We depended on insurance, and they said they wouldn’t pay for our
disaster. We had to take them to court
to get the money we were promised. And I
would feel secure with the military and police, if only I could trust them. If only I wasn’t afraid of what they would
do. As well as all the criminals and terrorists
they miss. I suppose that we still need
Jesus salvation for the future.
When
Jesus offered the kingdom
of God, he was speaking
about God’s rule. God would be our Lord
and Master and King. No one would take
us from his hand. No one would rule over
us, only God through Jesus.
But, frankly, we don’t really
want to be ruled by anyone. I am the
master of my own destiny, and I don’t really want anyone telling me what to
do. I have my own principles to live
by. I have my own ambitions. It is enough for me to make my own
decisions. It is enough that I am in
charge of my own life and I am independent of all rule. Even God’s. I think I understand now why we
are practical deists. Because we are
content with what we already have. We
have made our own decisions and we have obtained the salvation the world
offers, and why do we need any thing else?
Except… that I made a mess of my
life already. I am depressed, sometimes
forsaken, often sick. My life is
miserable, and I can’t blame anyone but myself.
I don’t know if I want to be independent. I’m just not strong enough, not wise enough,
not secure enough, not happy enough.
Maybe—just maybe—I really need Jesus to take over my life.
There
is a salvation that America
offers us. It is often called the
American dream. We could fit into our
society and live out this dream. We
could be consumers, and have whatever material things we want. We could gain a high position socially. We could live in a society of mutual respect
and opportunity. We could have security
for our family and our children’s children.
That’s the promise. There’s only two problems with this promise.
First of all, it’s a lie. America cannot deliver it to
us. It never has, and it never
will. The government and society is inadequate
for what the American dream promises.
Also, Jesus’ offer is much
better. The kingdom
of God is a more complete version of
the salvation America
offers.
Some of our greatest heroes, we
have been told, offered us salvation.
George Washington. Thomas
Jefferson. Abraham Lincoln. Franklin Roosevelt. Martin Luther King, Jr. They offered us equality. They offered us prosperity. They offered us a glorious destiny. It was an empty promise. It was an offer without any substance.
Only Jesus’ promise is the real
thing. The real salvation.
