Repeat the sermon title. Now let’s think about this before we answer.
Your answer may be simply; “There ain’t but one ya big dummy! And that’s the one I foller!”
But are you sure? If you really look around, you’ll see; if you will but open your eyes you’ll understand.
The problem is, however, that too many Christians are walking around with blinders on or those rose colored glasses that cause everything to look like Christ and they refuse to look at reality.
So before you answer my question I want to show you a few things about the Christ of the 21st century. Actually, these versions of Christ has been around for quite a few centuries.
[Col 1:15 NIV] “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
That one word “firstborn” may very well be the most controversial word in all the Bible.
People have been divided over this one word for centuries.
Even though you may believe with all your heart that only one Christ exists; if you simply look
around you will find that people follow several versions of Christ.
The question is; which Christ is the real Christ?
Way back in 1982, there was an ad that appeared in many newspapers that read;
“CHRIST IS NOW HERE.” Our Lord Maitreya, the long-awaited world ruler, had arrived.
Buried in the fine print of that article was the statement that this man was known by Christians as the Christ; Jews called him Messiah; Buddhist called him the fifth Buddha; Muslims called him Imam Mahdi; and Hindus called him Krishna.
Then the punch line: “these are all names for the same person.”
BUT IS IT? Is the Christ of all these religions the true Christ? Is He an all-inclusive, one-size-fits all Christ?
When we read the word “firstborn” what do we see? “ that’s easy preacher; it means the first one born.”
One of the problems is the wide range of interpretation for the word, which has caused many to translate it falsely.
By making Jesus a “mighty lesser god” the Jehovah Witnesses minimizes the supremacy of Jesus as the “Only Begotten” Son of God.
They teach that He is created and not begotten. So Christ then becomes nothing more than another man who just happened to be the very first creation of Jehovah. According to their teaching, He was nothing more than God’s first creation.
You may say; “Well that’s not hard to accept or I can handle that”…BUT you’re falling for a lie straight out of hell… BECAUSE GOD DID NOT CREATE JESUS.*
In John 8:58 NKJV Jesus Himself said; "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
When the JW say He is the “only-begotten Son.” They are saying, according to their belief, that Jesus is the only one directly created by God.
God was a one hit wonder.
After He created Jesus He had to rely on Jesus to create everything else.
The Mormons place Christ in the front of a long line of children born to the “Father” in that God or “Father” literally came down to earth and had sexual relations with Mary. There was no divine intervention!
According to Brigham Young: "The man Joseph, the husband of Mary, did not, that we know of, have more than one wife, but Mary the wife of Joseph had another husband.”
He says, “[The babe in] the manger was begotten not by Joseph, the husband of Mary, but by another Being. Do you inquire by whom? He was begotten by God our heavenly Father" (The Journal of Discoureses Volume 12 n.d., 268).
Joseph F. Smith, sixth Mormon prophet (speaking to young children): ""You all know that your fathers are indeed your fathers and that your mothers are indeed your mothers. . . . You cannot deny it. Now, we are told in Scripture that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God in the flesh. Well, for the benefit of the older ones, how are children begotten? I answer: just as Jesus Christ was begotten of his father" (Family Home Evening, 1972, 125).
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon apostle and theologian: “Christ was begotten by an immortal Father in the SAME WAY that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers” (Mormon Doctrine, 546-547).
So are you beginning to get the picture? Now do you see why I said be sure you know which Christ you follow?
Now, one might say that the word “firstborn” means exactly what it sounds like it means in Luke 2: 7 [Luke 2:7 NIV] “and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger,…”
However, this does not say that Jesus is the first of many children born to Mary and Joseph. It does reflect His position to God and His preeminence over creation (Vine, Unger and White 1996).
The transliteration prototokos [Firstborn] comes from two words; (protos meaning “first” and tikto meaning “to beget”) (Vine, Unger and White 1996, 240)
C.S. Lewis says what God begets is God and what God creates is not God and that is why we, humans are not sons of God in the same way as Christ. We may be like God in some ways but Christ is God in every way. We are more like pictures of God, whereas Jesus is the very image of the invisible God (Lewis 2002)
To create means to make something…
Erwin Lutzer, author of The Doctrines that Divide said that he found himself seated next to a famous female pastor who skillfully blends Christianity with the New Age movement. He asked her if she believed that Christ is the only way to God, to which she answers; “of course I believe Christ is the only way to God.” He then asked if she believed that all the religions of the world are equally valid and her answer was yes.
Lutzer then asked “How does this fit with the view that Christ is the only way to God?”
Here is her answer; “When I speak about Christ, I am not talking about Jesus of Nazareth.”
You see why I am making such a big deal out of this?
For this pastor, as well as many Christians today, Christ was and is simply generic.
The Christ that many follow, because of wrong teaching, is not the Jesus of the Bible. They believe in a Christ who is unable and unqualified to save them and that’s what scares me.
Many will meet their doom because they have been following the wrong Christ!
Let me ask you once more: Which Christ do you follow?
Albert Schweitzer, the humanitarian, believed in a Christ who was insane.
Rudolf Bultmann, the German theologian, believed in a mythological Christ.
Immanuel Kant, the German philosopher and atheist, whose first name means “God with us” believed in a human Christ.
Many modern cultists believe in a created Christ. A just add water Christ, if you will…
The New Age movement has been, for years, gaining ground in the Church and the number one thing New Age teaches is that all religions are essentially the same.
They teach that the power of unity lies within the power of your mind.
This power, according to some, should be called Christ.
Even Mother Teresa once said that conversion is coming face to face with God as you accept him in your lives. “We become better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better whatever we are…
What God is, in your mind, you must accept.”
In other words, whatever you conjure up in your mind as God is your God!
I don’t know about you but that sounds, to me, an awful lot like Jesus of Nazareth is not necessary for salvation.
Even the French priest Teilhard de Cardin, drew up a new theology that declared the driving force of evolution was the soul and that man is emerging into a new being exalted by this universal spirit of the cosmic Christ.
In other words, Christ is nothing more than a rung on the ladder of evolution.
So now do you understand why I said let’s think about it before you answer; which Christ do you follow?
There is only one who is qualified and able to save. Unless we follow the TRUE Jesus of the Bible we follow the wrong one.
Mat 24:4-5 NIV - 4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many.”
Belief in any other Christ than the Jesus of Scripture is believing a Christ who is unable to save. They may be easier to deal with but are you willing to put your eternity in their hands?
Only an incarnate Christ who is fully God qualifies to be a Savior.
Next week I want to examine one other view of this verse and that is the Gnostic view. Gnosticism, says that matter is evil. They came to the conclusion that there was one supreme God who dwells alone, but there are many lesser gods who do God’s work.
