In Our Redemption Series

Well it is great to have you all here with us today. Jesus is kind of an interesting guy. Some of you may know the story of Jesus, some of you may not be as familiar with it. So let me recap to get us all on the same page.

We know that Jesus lived some 2000 years ago. He was born in a dumpy, rural hick town. We know that he was born to a teenage virgin mother. We know that Jesus lived a very simple life until he was about 30 years of age. He never traveled to a major city, he never wrote a book, he never held political office, he never made a great deal of money. He was a man that lived in relative obscurity in so far as we can tell. Working with his adoptive father Joseph, likely swinging a hammer working a blue collar job for most of his life.

We know that at about the age of 30, Jesus began his public ministry which included teaching and preaching and healing and service. We know that Jesus’ ministry spanned a few short years, roughly 3.

Yet, out of this simple, marginal Galilean peasant is a legacy that is absolutely astonishing. That literally no one has impacted human history to the degree that Jesus Christ has.

We denote our history and time around his life. B.C. before Christ. And Jesus Christ is the most famous person in all of human history. More songs have been sung about him, more paintings have been done of him, and more books have been written regarding him than anyone who has ever lived in the history of the world.

It is interesting that even today, Jesus remains to be hip and kind of in, in our world. Two of the top grossing movies in recent years have been about him in different ways, The Passion of the Christ and The Da Vinci Code. And Jesus remains as culturally hot as ever. Jesus is now the subject of pop culture. I will give you some examples.

He routinely shows up in the television show The Simpsons. For those of you have cable. If you don’t, repent. And you will see that Jesus is on the simpsons. And Jesus also shows up on south park, often fighting satan. And Jesus also shows up in the comedy sketches of Carlos Mencia on Comedy central. And a few years ago he appeared on the cover of popular mechanics and they were trying to discover the real face of Jesus. And the magazine decided that he wasn’t a guy who wore product in his hair, or wore a dress and that he didn’t look like a girl, which I was glad to find out. Because in my mind, it is hard to worship a guy on Sunday that you can beat up.

Additionally, we see that even rappers like Kanye West still talk about Jesus. His song, which was a huge hit called Jesus walks and if you saw the rolling stone cover about a year ago, it had Kanye West on it with a crown of thorns around his head and the title was the passion of Kanye West.

Jesus also appears on a hot air balloon that is 110 feet tall and 750 pounds. Jesus also appears on a monster truck for a redneck outreach. Which, I know we want all people in heaven, but I don’t know if we want a lot of those people. I’m kidding, that was a joke. But there is a monster truck for Jesus.

Lots of people have Jesus tattoos. I saw a guy once with an ultimate fighting jesus tattoo. How many of you saw Talladega nights, the legend of Ricky Bobby? You heard Will Ferrell pray to the 8 pound, 6 ounce baby Jesus in the golden fleece diaper. And he prays to that baby Jesus, thanking him for his hot wife. And he really likes to pray to the baby Jesus.

You may have noticed as well shirts that say Jesus is my homeboy that have been worn by Pamela Anderson, Madonna, Ben Affleck and Brad Pitt. Jesus seems to be cooler than ever now appearing in fashion statements for the rich and famous.

The most curious thing is that the symbol that is associated with Jesus, the cross is the most famous symbol in all of human history. Recently on the MTV music awards, old school rocker Axel Rose was wearing a cross. And so was the rapper 50 cent. That even the cross of Jesus has become a popular cultural icon.

I am sure most of you didn’t make it for Madonna’s confession tour last year, she should have confessed for having the tour. But anyway, on her confessions tour which grossed almost 200 million dollars. At the conclusion of each show they would have a large disco cross and she would be symbolically crucified before the crowd. And she ended her shows with a mock crucifixion.