Jesusan introduction to the man who changes everything

Grace-Invader Productions

teacher socialreformer

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judge Godwith us

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the justice maker

JesusOne thing most people believe about Jesus is that he was at the very least a great teacher. Jesus’ teachings to “turn the other cheek” and to “do to others as you would have them do to you” are amongst the most in!uential in human history.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were so shocked by what Jesus’ taught that they ran a smear campaign to publically discredit him... But their attempts back"red and thousands of people would go days without food out in the wilderness just for the chance to hear Jesus speak.

He was never more popular than when getting stuck into the religious hypocrites of his day, exposing their arrogance and self righteousness. However not all Jesus’ teachings were popular in is own day...

the teacher

Jesus

Jesus taught that outward religious practices were useless! He taught that there is nothing that people can do to impress God in the slightest, and that knowledge of God and peace with God were impossible for any human to achieve on their own... full stop!

While all other religions focus on what WE MUST DO to gain God’s acceptance, Jesus taught that any method we might try will ultimately fail us. This is without doubt Jesus’ least popular teaching.

However, Jesus also taught that peace with God can be enjoyed as a free and undeserved GIFT. This unique teaching is known as “GRACE” - salvation is given as a gift to those who instead deserve to face judgement. Whether religious or non-religious, whether morally impressive or otherwise, Peace with God is on o#er to anyone who trusts Jesus and accepts his teaching.

the teacher

JesusWhile almost everyone can agree that Jesus was a great teacher, the idea of Jesus being our judge seriously turns us o#.

However, the fact that Jesus is Judge, is both a comfort and a challenge. when Jesus acts as a judge, he is not only judging human wickedness. As the worlds Judge, he also protects the weak and helpless. We wouldn’t really expect anything less from a good judge.

It is a COMFORT to know that someone will do something about the enormous injustices of our world. There is someone who will right the wrongs that we are powerless to completely deal with ourselves.

However, as Judge Jesus also CHALLENGES both religious hypocrites & non-religious types. As Judge, Jesus won’t be fooled by mere religious appearances & rituals of people trying impress God. Neither will he excuse those who may be sincerely friendly people, but who refuse to acknowledge his authority. Jesus described “Hell” as the place of God’s judgement for those who ignore him. As judge, Jesus is God’s fair and "nal answer to the evil and injustice both in ourselves & our world.

the justice maker

JesusJesus had an astounding willingness to embrace people that the rest of society shunned and excluded. This is something that almost everyone admires about Jesus. Jesus frequently partied with the non-religious. Those who threatened the decent values of society, Jesus considered to be his friends.

However Jesus compassionate treatment & acceptance of others, did more than just prove he was a good bloke. When Jesus spent time with these social outcasts, he was breaking the biggest religious taboo imaginable in his time.

It was public opinion that these people were forsaken by God, forever cut o# from enjoying God’s blessings. By spending time with these outcasts, Jesus was making a radical religious statement... one that had a huge social impact.

the social reformer

JesusThrough Jesus, God was showing his willingness to accept even the “worst” that human society had to o#er. This obviously didn’t go down well with the religious establishment, who thought that their respectable religious lives, gave them priority access to God.

Jesus’ willingness to accept all comers, didn’t mean he always approved of how they lived... as many of these social outsiders listened to Jesus, their way of living was often transformed in the most amazing ways. Jesus didn’t hesitate to call people to change things about their way of living....

However change is what happens as we accept Jesus, not what we have to do before Jesus will accept us.

Because Christians are welcomed by Jesus despite their own unworthiness, they will also welcome all people. This belief has been the driving force behind the greatest social changes our world has seen. Fighting for the dignity of women and children, accepting people of other races, and the abolishin of slavery are just three examples.

the social reformer

JesusIn its more optimistic moments, our world sometimes tries to put a positive spin on sickness and su#ering: Have you ever heard someone use the phrase “whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”?

Whatever truth there is in this saying, Jesus viewed sickness as a symptom that something was very wrong with our world... this is the conclusion most people come to, when its a loved one who is su#ering.

Jesus miraculous healings of the blind, lame, deaf and sick were reported by both christians and non-christians of his day. Initially Jesus faced great scepticism over his healings, being accused of trickery. However after intense investigations, even the authorities who killed Jesus conceded his healings were genuine.

Jesus’ healings were not just tricks done to draw a crowd (In fact Jesus often went to amazing lengths to avoid a public spectacle). Jesus healings were a preview of what God has compassionately promised to do on a UNIVERSAL scale in the future... both for people and the whole of creation. In Jesus we see that God’s concern for us and our world is fundamentally concrete and PHYSICAL, not just a vague spiritual concern.

the healer

Just three years after Jesus started his public ministry, he was executed by public demand and with the full support of the religious leaders. However Jesus death was not the end his ministry...

Quite the opposite!

long before Jesus was arrested and sentenced, he taught that his death would be the most important part of his work.

Far from the execution cutting short his ministry, Jesus said his death was actually the very reason he was born.

Jesus taught that his death replaced the need for the religious practice of animal sacri"ce...

Jesusthe sacrifice

the sacrificeJesus

In Jesus day people would sacri"ce animals because t h e y k n e w t h a t t h e i r d i s o b e d i e n c e d e s e r v e d punishment from a perfectly Holy God.

The sacri"ced animal would take the punishment in place of the guilty person. This religious system of sacri"ce was a clue, pointing to the mercy that God would eventually o#er people through Jesus.

Jesus taught that his own death would replace the need for the practice of sacri"ce. While sacri"ced animals symbolically died in the place of the guilty, Jesus became an actual substitute. Although Jesus himself was guiltless, he accepted responsibility and punishment for our disobedience and disrespect of God.

For those who trust and follow Jesus, his sacri"cial death is a guarantee that the rift between them and God has been perfectly healed!

JesusIn an attempt to lessen their fear of death, many people nowadays speak about death as a natural part of the so called “circle of life”.

Many funerals now “celebrate” rather than “mourn” the person who has passed away.

Jesus taught that death wasn’t a natural part of the world as God created it. Jesus recognised the brutal pain and grief which death creates. Death is described as an enemy, but not one that need be feared by those who trust Jesus.

the death defeater

Jesusthe death defeater

In the month after his cruci"ction, Jesus spent time with many of his followers, with one group of at least 500 people, with James (one of his brothers who before had refused to believe in him) and even with Paul who was an anti-Christian campaigner. From that meeting on Paul became one of Christianity’s chief spokesmen. Even large numbers of those who had supported Jesus’ cruci"ction decided they couldn’t maintain their doubts any longer, & committed themselves to Jesus.

During these meetings Jesus explained that his resurrection was just the "rst step in God reversing the ravages of death, both for humans and all of creation.

We need not fear death, because in Jesus, God has displayed power over death. Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus new life, is a preview of what will be experienced by all who trust him.

The fact that Jesus rose from the dead was a shock to his sceptical followers. They were "rmly convinced that Jesus death was where it all ended. It took several meetings with the risen Jesus before they could come to grips with the unbelievable.

Most people believe in the existence of a god. Even in western countries, most people believe that there is some power that is greater than what is seen.

However, for most people, that god is more of a mystery and gut instinct than anything else. This “vibe” people have of a god somewhere out there is a religious viewpoint called “Deism”.

Deism’s god, is basically a hidden & distant god... a “behind-the-scenes” kind of God.

What Deism keeps hidden behind the clouds of mystery, Christianity lays out in the open for everyone to see & decide on for themselves...

JesusGod with us

JesusGod with us

All Christians (from every tradition) believe that Jesus is God, born as man.

They believe that God the Son took on human nature in every respect. Jesus wasn’t a man who became God, rather He was fully God even from the moment He was conceived. In this Jesus claimed to be unique! Being both God and man is not something that can be said about any other human, either now or in the future.

In making this claim, Jesus presented himself as the true source of knowledge about God. In Jesus, God could be heard, seen, touched, argued with... even smelt ! This all means that we don’t have to guess what God thinks. If we had lived 2000 years ago, we could have seen and spoken with God ourselves. If that idea sparks your interest, then you can read in the Gospels about how hundreds of people found the experience. The books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John can be found in the Bible. They describe how people felt and thought as they met and spoke with Jesus, God with us!

Jesusthe revolutionary

When Jesus was born, angels announced that God would give him the throne of his anscestor King David, who was without doubt the greatest king Israel ever had.

The King of Israel felt so threatened by this prophesy, that he ordered the murder of every boy under two years age.

1. Jesus’ way of being King was radically di#erent to how most human rulers operate. Rather than expressing his Kingship by oppressing and mistreating others for his own ends, Jesus’ style of Kingship was to become a humble servant... an approach to exercising authority that is truly revolutionary in our world of self promotion. Jesus chose to die in the place of his disloyal subjects (see the comments under Jesus the sacri!ce).

When Jesus lived as a traveling preacher, a crowd of his followers decided to try and make him King of Israel (Jesus refused these plans).

When Jesus was cruci"ed, he had a mocking sign placed over his head which said “King of the Jews”. And yet... When Jesus was interrogated by those who would execute Him, he insisted that “my Kingdom is not of this world”.

What did he mean by this? He meant at least two things...

Jesusthe revolutionary

2. Secondly, Jesus claimed Kingship over far more than just a strip of land in the middle east, as many in his own day mistakenly believed. Jesus claimed authority over both the future of this world, and over the hearts and minds of all people, including those who govern us.

Jesus calls us to honour him with more than just a public holiday & taxes. Jesus’ authority extends into the spheres of our personal relationships, our sex lives, our "nancial arrangements, our career choices and our attitudes to all areas of life.

As we recognise Jesus’ authority in these areas, a revolution occurs. Not a revolution that depends on votes, or guns, or fear and intimidation.

This is a revolution that starts with God loving us & teaching us what it means to love him... and its a revolution that ends in people sacri"cially loving each other in imitation of Jesus. While not all people will notice that this revolution is underway around about them, the day is coming when it will be crystal clear to everyone.

JesusSo what do you think of Jesus as he presents himself?

The well known author C.S. Lewis concluded that there are really only three k inds of conclusion that we could come to about Jesus.

i) Jesus could be a liar. There have been plenty of in!uential people in history who have created a fake image for themselves to gain power and in!uence. These people are always exposed eventually. Why not read the Gospels and make your own mind up if Jesus seems to "t into this category of deceptive con-man.

i i ) J e s u s c o u l d b e a n u t t e r . T h e r e a r e unfortunately many people who are sincerely convinced they are right about all kinds of things. Jesus claimed to be God. You can’t get much more nutty than that. However the deluded type of person rarely has the long term in!uence of someone like Jesus. Nor do they come up with teaching that transforms the course of world history...

iii) but thirdly, if Jesus is who he says he is, then understanding him will change everything.

JESUS: Great teacher, Justice maker, social reformer, healer, sacri"ce, defeater of death, God with us and revolutionary. Does this all sound like the Jesus others have told you about?

Jesus

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