Heads Up
Does anybody ever come up to you, say, at work, or at the grocery store, or at a BBQ and ask you about Jesus? How does it make you feel? Nervous? Embarrassed? Angry? Have you noticed that the authentic Jesus causes this world's mind-set a lot of trouble? He claims that He's the only way, that He's the only God, that He is the ultimate Creator of the universe. He makes demands on us. Doesn’t that run contrary to everything else that we're hearing?
And when we try to do Jesus in this world that has so much trouble with the authentic Jesus, we may feel very intimidated. But do you know what frightens me even more? I sometimes see and hear a little cheating around the edges. "Let's not make the message so strong. Let's make it more palatable." And I understand when we don’t want to be unnecessarily offensive. We don’t want to be religious fanatics, do we? And I understand that in the bible, we are taught to listen to others. We can respect and learn from those who are outside the faith. And we don’t want to be nuisances, intruding into people’s private spaces.
I’m shy about these things, too. Let me tell you that I just cringe when I’m in the company of somebody who gets in my face about religion. Sometimes they really want to take me on because they’ve found out that I’m a minister. And I want to back down and trim my sails and placate them. Other times, they will really come on strong about religion and all of the other stuff, and I feel embarrassed and look for a place to hide.
But I can’t get away from this: in the early church, the message was strong. They were not intimidated. The early church never flinched from the fact that Jesus is the is the maker of everything there is. Not only that, Jesus keeps it going. We don't live in a random world of chance, and maybes, and survival of the fittest. I am accountable to God for my life and for taking care of the world in which I live. People in the early church had purpose and meaning. They had hope; they had belonging; they had identity. They were the children of the Creator of the universe. No wonder they didn't flinch.
More than that, they were convinced by Jesus that he is the returning One. To a group of very troubled disciples Jesus said this: "Trust Me. I'm leaving. But I'm going "to prepare a place for you. And since I’m going, . . . I will come again." I'll come again!
Did you hear that from Acts? "This same Jesus who left will come again." Does it trouble you that that was said two thousand years ago, and we’re still waiting? It troubled people then, too. So Peter warned that the day will come when people will mockingly say, "Where's the promise of His return?" And Peter reminds us that the timing is up to God. And God is not willing that any should perish, so he’s patiently waiting.
By the way, how many of you are really happy that Jesus waited long enough to get you into the family table? Maybe he's waiting long enough to get somebody else in. Don't let the delay blow your mind. It's all up to him. But the early church knew that he was coming again. That hope energized them to work in this world, because they knew that God meant what he said when he was going to make it brand new. They had confidence that there was a better world to which they would go. They were clear about that. They never flinched about that message.
Probably a lot of us don't remember that back in 1988 some dude wrote a book and did a video. Get a load of this- "88 Reasons Why Jesus Is Coming Back in 1988." He did all these tricks in the Old Testament, like this feast, that feast. He added up the numbers and subtracted something else, and he had it down to a day in September 1988. He had it down to the day. Maybe you weren’t dialed in, but there were people who read this pamphlet and saw the video and were saying, "You have to warn people that Jesus is coming back in September!"
My heart sank. I just groaned. Because I remembered that God said nobody knows the time, right? So I just set it aside and said, "That’s just off the wall! It’s an embarrassment!" But I remember our youngest son Jeff and his friend Wade sitting Sharon and me down to talk about it. They were really worried. Because they said to me, "Our lives are not right! How can we get ready for Jesus to come back in September?" Unfortunately, that false alarm undermined their confidence in the truth of the Bible.
The early church new better than to set a date. But for them, all of life is a preparation to see him. Without this hope, we blend into the landscape of a thousand different views about God and religion. Without this hope, we become just another number in the long line of the religiously curious. But with this hope, we have the power to love, to care for and to change the world in which we live.
But what about the religious grocery shelf that overflows with religious options? Isn’t that smorgasbord more frightening than encouraging? For what can guarantee that all these gods and goddesses and other supernatural forces would act in our favour? In the time of the earliest Christians, there were countless cults, countless mysteries, countless philosophies of life to choose from. You could pile one religious insurance policy on top of another yet not feel safe. Jesus, however, made a clean sweep. He lifted the burden of a wild array of fantasies and theories from the shoulders of the individual. Because Jesus, by his physical resurrection on a given hour of a specific day brought one choice, one irrevocable choice. In Jesus, the road to salvation is clear. That was the power of the early church. That’s why we are clear about Jesus.
This more than another trendy religious move. God never intended that the message about Jesus just be something to take up residence in my head. God wanted it to leak all the way down to my heart. God waits for us personally to embrace a Jesus who is Saviour, risen, God, Creator, Sustainer, coming again.
Once a month, we have Sunday night praise times. I hope you’ll come and enjoy them. One of the songs that people choose as a favourite goes: "I serve a risen Saviour; He's in the world today. I know that He is living no matter what man may say. I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer. And just the time I need Him, He's always near. He lives! He lives! You ask me how I know He lives-He lives within my heart." Actually, there’s more to it than that. He lives whether he is in my heart or not. But clarity about the reality of Jesus begins with a personal experience, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That personal relationship is the beginning of intellectual confidence. It’s also the spark that will light the flame of the good news of this un-compromised, no-spin Jesus in a world that so desperately needs him.
Jesus died and rose again to affirm that message. Would it be right for us to betray the needs of a world that desperately needs to hear about a no- spin Jesus? For where would you and I be, and where would the world be, if Jesus indeed hadn't been the only way, the risen, coming-again Jesus? If there's anything we the world needs from the church it is that we be clear about Jesus, regardless of the cost.
Art and Mabel passed on a story from our good friend Pastor Rob Daley in Nanaimo. The pilot of a large passenger ship was responsible for guiding the ship through treacherous shoals, to avoid the dangerous rocks. One of the worried passengers asked the pilot, "How do you know where the rocks are? "I don’t know where the rocks are," replied the pilot. "I only know where the channel is, and I stick to the channel."
Where would you and I be if someone hadn't been clear with us about where the channel is? That’s why in this service of Communion, we proclaim that he is Saviour and Lord, we proclaim his death and his resurrection until he comes back. Do you see what it means? It means that crushing disappointment in your life is not the last word. That great hole in your heart left at the death of that dear one is not the last word. That impossible burden of worry won’t be the last word. Your erring child, or those awful memories are not the last word. I hope that you’ll take great comfort, great courage and great hope in that promise. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.
3.4 Jesus is Saviour
