Things That Make Christians Different From The World: Jesus Christ
Of all the things that make Christians different from the world NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING is more important than Jesus Christ. The main reason that we were created was to worship and praise God but since Adam and Eve messed that up for us long ago we all now need a Savior to get us back right with God and that Savior is Jesus Christ.
The Bible is more than plain in telling us not only about Jesus but exactly why He came to earth to begin with. He came to earth to be our personal Lord and Savior! In the Book of Acts chapter 4 verse 12 Luke wrote this to us: 12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."
Jesus Christ, the Holy One, The Messiah came to earth from glory to do something that only He could do and that thing was to take on the sin of all mankind once and for all. Now while Jesus was a great teacher as we see from His early childhood, in Luke chapter 2 verses 41-49 we read this about Jesus as a young boy.
41Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
42And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast;
43 and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it,
44 but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day's journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances.
45 When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him.
46 Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
47 And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers.
48 When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You."
49 And He said to them, "Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house?"
Even though Jesus was regarded as an amazing young man here the real reason that He was at the Temple was because He already knew that He was here on earth to do His Father’s business and that business was saving the world from its sin.
I have often talked with people who ask why is there so much evil, sickness, and suffering in the world? The world clearly recognizes that this world has major problems but as clear as the world is on this they can’t bring themselves to see that there is a perfect solution to all of these problems and His name is Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to this earth to bring truth and salvation to a lost and dying world. Unfortunately, the world is in darkness and just can’t see the Truth (who is Jesus Christ) or hear the truth.
In the Gospel of John chapter 1 verses 1-5 we read this:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Jesus Christ is life! The only life. Many people in the world want to believe that that this life is all that there is and that spending eternity with Jesus in heaven is just a myth and make believe. This passage of Scripture shows us plainly that Jesus is the light of the world and many in the world just can’t see Him because of their being in spiritual darkness and suffering from spiritual blindness!
This is where we come in. Since we are saved and born again believers in Jesus Christ, we are now the light of the world and we are to be in the world letting our lights shine for the kingdom every day and everywhere we go.
We have been given our marching orders through the Great Commission and those orders are to go into every nation preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to reach people and help them to realize that they need to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are to be the hands, feet and mouth of Jesus wherever we are or wherever we go.
In 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 20 we read this:
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
I believe that God is making an appeal to the lost of our community through us and we have to take this very seriously because God does and the Holy Spirit is always working on the hearts and minds of people and we don’t know who is ready to accept Jesus as their Savior so we have to act like everyone we meet needs Jesus because everyone we meet does need Jesus whether they are saved or not. The lost just need Him in a more immediate way because no one knows how long they have on this earth.
We have to be witnesses for Jesus Christ and for us as believers there is no greater or more urgent calling than this on our lives. Jesus gave us this command in Acts chapter 1 verses 8 and 9: 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
Notice that Jesus gave us this command just as He was going back to glory to be with His Father. Telling us to be witnesses for Him in the world were His last words to us while He was in His human form.
The world doesn’t see Jesus the same way that we see and know Jesus. Again, the world in general, may believe that He was a good man, a good teacher and some may even say He was a good philosopher but Jesus Christ is so much more than all of these notions combined and as the Creator of the world and everything in it, I find it humbling and amazing at the same time to be His witness to a lost and dying world! What about you today!?
And since we are called to be ambassadors for Christ, and since we are commanded to be His witnesses to a lost and dying world these things come with great responsibility.
We as believers bear His name and as we have already read today that His name is the only name given under heaven by which people must be saved we have to understand this responsibility and act like we love the One we are representing.
One of the leading causes of atheism in the world is Christians. Who acknowledge you with their lips but deny you by their lifestyles. (DC Talk)
We as Christians like to TELL others that we are Christians but a lot of us have trouble SHOWING people that we are Christians!
We do the world a great disservice when we behave this way. We tell lies just like they do. We engage in sexual immorality just like they do. We cheat just like they do. We gossip just like they do. We steal just like they do. I could go on but you get the idea. We are called to better than this. We are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to rise above the fleshly activities of the world. We are supposed to not be enamored by the things of this world and we are really supposed to be bringing people in the world out of their bondage to sin but how can we do that when a lot of Christians are doing the same things that the world does?
How our behaviors bring shame and reproach on the very name that we bear and are supposed to love? The very name that is on the banner that we are supposed to be carrying with us wherever we go. It is partly our fault that the world doesn’t just come running to the light because to the world the light has been dimmed and it has turned to gray.
We need to turn up the light and let it burn brightly just as it is designed to do by Jesus Christ and the only way that this can happen is if we as believers take serious stock of who we are in Christ, what we are doing as we represent Him in public, and what we are doing in private.
We as Christians need to get our lives right, get our spirits right with God and then and only then can we be ambassadors and witnesses for Jesus Christ as He has commanded us to be.
Because even though the world in general may not believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, we all know that He is and we had better be living like we know and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord!
As I said at the beginning of this message, Jesus Christ is the biggest difference we have with the world and I am extremely glad that I accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior fifteen years ago and even though I still mess up I still have an advocate with the Father and that advocate is the Man Jesus Christ!
The world needs to realize through us that they need a relationship with Jesus Christ and that the stakes are not just for the here and now but they are for eternity.
Also remember that when you leave the door of this church building that you are entering the mission field and there are people who are suffering, sick, hungry, and there are also those who are well fed, prosperous, and are doing very well and they all need Jesus Christ as their personal Savior!
What are we going to do about that!? This is your challenge not just for today or this week but for the rest of your lives! Now get to work! Amen!?
