“Imagine: Life With No Jesus”
Introduction:
Years ago John Lennon had a big hit song titled “Imagine”. In that song he said this: Imagine there’s no countries, It isn’t hard to do, Nothing to kill or die for, No religion too, Imagine all the people living life in peace...
I do not think that he understood what he was saying. Did you catch what he implied? He was saying that one of the reasons why there is no peace is the world is because of religion. I understand what he meant, in that many wars have been fought, and many people have been killed in the name of religion. I agree that is frustrating, and is certainly not ideal, but could you imagine a world without religion? Could you imagine a world that Jesus Christ never came to? What would life be like for us if Jesus Christ never came to the Earth?
I know that we live in a world where many people are critical of religion. I know that many people are intolerant of Christianity because of its stand for truth and unwillingness to compromise principal. I know that many people view Christianity as just another religion in a world with many religions. I know that many people attempt to find fault in flaws in what the Bible teaches. I know that we live in a world where being a Christian is more and more unpopular, and many people may think that life would be better off without Christianity. Many people in the world may even in their heads accept the fact that there was a man that was born 2,000 years ago named Jesus, and he was a good teacher. I want to tell you what life would be like today if Jesus would never have come. You see, John Lennon was badly mistaken; a life without Jesus would not bring about peace in the world, but rather would bring about chaos.
Some People Want a Word Without Jesus Because…
1. Some See Jesus is A Threat to Their Way of Life
2. Some Are Simply Evil and Despise Anything Good
3. Some See A Problem With the Hypocrisy of Some “Christians”
There are many things that have to do with this season of the year that I could do without. I could do without the busy shopping malls, I could do without the decorating and festivities that sometimes overshadow Jesus, I could do without the selfishness and materialism that is taught to kids, but there is one things I could not do without. By the way, when I see children around Christmas time I am disgusted by their selfishness. A note to parents, if your kids are not satisfied with what they have, they may be better off not getting anything. Sometimes it is better not to feed a child’s selfishness. I could do without Christmas songs and Christmas carols. I could do without a white Christmas, but I could not do without Jesus. If there were no birth of Christ to remember there would be know death for my sins, and there would be no resurrection from the dead. Life without Jesus wouldn’t be such a good thing. Even for non-Christians today, many of them benefit from the good deeds that some do in the name of Jesus. Could you imagine if the atheists, philosophers, liberals, and Hollywood stars were given what they wanted, a world in which Jesus never entered into.
Text: I Corinthians 1:18-25
I. Life Would Be Totally Different
I loved the Back to the Future movies starring Michael J. Fox. They have a really interesting lesson that we can learn. Whenever they would travel into the past, their goal was to fix something from happening, but the problem was when they messed with even a small event in the past it drastically changed the way things were.
We live in a world where people are trying to remove Christ from everything. Courts are trying to remove Jesus from schools, from courthouses, and from all public places. Companies are refusing to wish you a merry Christmas anymore, instead they tell you “Happy Holidays”. Could you imagine with me for a minute what life would be life if their wish were granted.
a. Holidays and Dating System
First of all their would be much fewer holiday seasons, because most of the holidays, such as Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and even Halloween began as Christian holidays. We wouldn’t be living in the year 2006, because our calendar and years are set up around the fact that Jesus came to this Earth.
b. America as a Nation and Laws
There probably wouldn’t be any America like we know it, because like it or not America was founded by people seeking to find religious freedom. Also, America was founded by people with a Christian perspective on life, and America was intended to be a Christian nation. If there were even an America our laws and government would be quite different because our early lawmakers patterned much of our laws off of Biblical principles.
c. Education
Sadly, education would be quite different too. Many of our school systems were established by Christian people, and most colleges and universities were founded as Christian colleges, which means sadly there would be no Duke University or college basketball. Can you imagine the things that would not have been accomplished because many people found motivation in their faith in Christ, and consequently they accomplished great things in society.
d. Hospitals and Compassion
If you were to look for a hospital you may have a hard time as well because Christians have established many hospitals. Not to mention, the compassion and love that would not have been shown. Where do people go when they really need something, when they are hurting? They don’t call up the mosques asking for help, people call churches because they know they can find help and because they know they will be shown love and compassion. The reason for that is what Jesus has done and the compassion that Christians show in the name of Jesus. Isn’t it interesting that our world is more afraid of Christians than they are Muslims? It is not Christians who are flying planes into building and bombing innocent people and vowing to destroy life. It is Christians who help the sick, feed the hungry, give back to the community, give generously to those in need, and seek to save innocent life, yet the world would rather do without all of that than to have Jesus in the world.
e. Morality
Could you imagine the immorality in a world without Christ? Many people have been changed and transformed because of Jesus. If there was no Jesus there would be lower standards of morals and less motivation for people to do what was right. There would be no absolutes only man made feeling and emotions. There would be no sure way to define right and wrong except based on what a person feels inside. Jesus provides absolutes to us, he provides objective truth to us, he provides us with standards with which to live. You can see without Jesus life as we know it would be totally different because like it or not Jesus has impacted the world in which we live in greatly.
II. Life Would Have No Meaning
On top of life being totally different without Jesus having come into our world we would live in a world with no meaning to life. Our lives would have no purpose or point. We would have no reason or motivation to live good lives. If we were to worship God we would be Jews still under the Old Testament Law. We would have a life that was pointless. We have a reason to live today because of what Jesus has done for us. There is a lot of talk in the world about what the meaning and purpose of this life is. Scholars and philosophers discuss that question and people come up with varying answers. Some say that being a good person is the purpose of this life. Some say that being close to your family is the purpose in life. Some say gaining more things and leading a happy life is the purpose in life. Some say positively affecting the world is the purpose in this life. I myself think all those are good things, but I would not accept them as the purpose in life. Solomon was a person who tried all sorts of things to find meaning, and in the end this was his conclusion as to where we find our meaning, purpose and value in life…
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
A Christless life is a life without any meaning or significance. There are many things in life that I hope to accomplish. I hope to be a good Father and husband, I hope to be a good influence in the community, but I do not find my meaning in those things. I find my meaning in Christ. If it was not for Jesus my life would be a wreck. I would be without hope, without direction, without ambition, without aim, without anything significant to live for, without meaning and without purpose in life.
For me to imagine a life without Jesus is difficult in some ways, because we all have always had some understanding and concept of Jesus, but on the other hand I know what a life without Christ is like, and I know the emptiness that is associated with that. Many other people are leading empty lives, but they just don’t realize how empty their lives are because they don’t know any different.
Ephesians 2:11-13
III. Life Would Have No Hope, Joy or Peace
I am a Christian today not because of what I am getting out of it, but because I love God with my whole heart, soul and mind. However, because I am a Christian there are many benefits that I receive because of my relationship to Christ. In Christ we have hope of Heaven, we have joy because of our salvation and we have peace in knowing that this life is not all that there is. Life without Jesus would remove all hope, joy and peace. There are times when that hope, joy and peace are all we have to cling onto, and if it were not for that I do not know where I would be and perhaps you know what I am saying. Without Jesus, could you imagine how depressing our lives could be? Could you imagine a life where we have to go through the same trials and difficulties only to have no hope of it all working out in the end? Could you imagine seeing and witnessing all the injustices that we see without the hope of one day all wrongs being made right? Could you imagine working day in and day out for something that has no real significance? If there were no Jesus why battle the desires within us to do wrong? Why strive so hard to be a good person and a person of integrity? Without Jesus there would be literally no reason to live, but there is a Jesus. He did come into the world 2,000 years ago. He did die on the cross. He did rise from the dead. He is at the right hand of God. He is going to come again one day for His Church.
a. We Would Have Nothing Beyond This Life
There are times this life can be rough. We don’t have a choice, but to encounter certain problems. Jesus said, “The rain falls on the righteous and the wicked”. We have Christian people among us and around the world who have encountered some great trials in their lives. They have endured suffering. They have resisted temptations. Could you that have gone through those times imagine doing it without the hope of something beyond this life? We have a lot of motivations to carry on and do what is right. I think most of the time we should be motivated purely out of a love for God to do what is right. That is fine sometimes, and many times I am motivated to do things because I love God, but sometimes, honestly, that isn’t enough. Sometimes I am motivated simply by a desire to be a good person. Sometimes I am motivated by a fear of judgment. Sometimes I am motivated because of my hope of a reward of Heaven. Could you imagine life without Jesus? Perhaps you listen to me and think as I do, that would be awful! A world without Jesus would be totally miserable. Perhaps we as Christians take for granted what we have. Perhaps we are so used to having Jesus that we don’t know what life apart from Him could be like, so like the old saying goes, “you can’t miss what you don’t know” and the reality is we don’t know a world without Jesus. Maybe we need some repentance for how we take the fact that we have Jesus for granted. You know what is sad though? Many people forfeit all they could have in Jesus by choice. Many people choose to live a life without Jesus. Maybe they do it because they refuse to believe. Maybe they do it ignorantly because they don’t realize what they can have in Christ. Maybe they do it because of overwhelming desires to sin. Maybe they do it consciously. Whatever the reasoning may be, there are people that live a Christless life and it is a sad life. There are some that are even in the Church that do it. They come to church, but because of sin in their lives they cannot experience the joys of being in Jesus.
The Taj Mahal is recognized as one of the seven wonders of the world and is the most frequently visited site in the country of India. It was built in the mid 17th century by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife as a tribute to their love. Constructed of beautiful white marble, it also glistens with the intricate inlay work of other semi-precious stones including jade, jasper, turquoise, agate, cornelian and many others. The passing of years has not diminished the grandeur of this expression of one man’s undying love for his wife. They irony of it all is that she never enjoyed it. She died giving birth to their 14th child and he built this grand structure as her permanent tomb. It took 22,000 men, 22 years to complete this mausoleum and while the world has enjoyed its beauty ever since, she never did.
Life without Jesus would mean there is nothing beyond this life. That presents no motivation to do good or even to do what is right. Could you imagine really believing that you are born, you live, and then you die and that is absolutely all there is. Most people don’t believing that. Most people have some concept of eternity or a life after death. That is because as Ecclesiastes says, “God has set eternity in our hearts”. Without Jesus though there would be nothing but a false hope, which is worse than no hope. There would be no way to God. There would be no promise of Heaven, only a scarce hope that maybe, just maybe you could be good enough to make it on your own. There would be no grace and no assurance of salvation.
b. We Would Still Be in Sin
One of the greatest concepts to me in Scripture is not just the concept of salvation, but it is the idea of being freed from sin. No longer am I a slave to my sin, but I am freed.
Romans 6:19-23
Not only would we continue on sinning because of a lack of a motivation to help and a lack of power to overcome, we would also remain in the consequences of sin, which is death. To put it simply, if Jesus had never come, we would all die in our sin and go to Hell for all eternity. Salvation is being saved from what we deserve and that is why it is good news that Jesus came, he died, he was buried and he rose again.
Therefore, the next time you hear someone say or imply that the world would be better off without Jesus, don’t forget what life would really be like if Jesus never came, it wouldn’t be a pretty picture for us, would it?
