I’ve heard so many people give me opinions of what Jesus was like who have obviously never studied the Bible.  They say silly things like he was a great teacher and he loved everybody and taught tolerance.  But you usually don’t see people clamoring to execute nice teachers who teach tolerance.  Jesus was a hard man.  He was full of compassion and kindness, but his teachings were not soft and tolerant in the slightest.  He said things that made people want to kill him.  And they did kill him.  And he told his disciples to expect it.  And he told them if they were going to follow him they should expect the same kind of treatment from people.

I think too many church people think that being a Christian is about putting on a happy face and singing songs and getting along with everybody.  But Jesus said that his teachings would cause people to hate your guts—even your own family members sometimes.  And he said if you’re not ready to be hated by your own family, if you don’t love me enough to give up everything else you love and prepare yourself for death, you’re not ready to be my follower!  That doesn’t sound like the friendly tolerant Jesus that a lot of people talk about does it?  But I dare you to read through the Gospels and then prove me wrong.

One of the things Jesus said over and over is “Take up your cross and follow me.”  In other words prepare yourself for extreme difficulty.  Before it became a popular piece of jewelry, the cross was an implement of bloody, humiliating, painful, horrible death.  It wasn’t pretty.  And when people came to follow Jesus he said you’re not ready to follow me until you’re ready to die for me.  Until you’re ready to sacrifice yourself for the cause of saving other people from Hell, you’re no good to me.

Jesus never deserved to die.  He never did anything wrong.  But he condemned sin and hypocrisy, and people don’t like it when you do that to them.  And the crazy thing is, he died to offer even his executioners a way to find forgiveness and new life.  He died to save people—including everybody who wanted him dead at first.

How about you?  Are you ready to die to save anybody—much less somebody who hates your guts.  Are you ready to love your enemy and try to bring him salvation.  Because if not, Jesus said, “If you refuse to take up your cross and follow me, you are not worthy of being mine.  If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”  Check it out in Matthew, chapter 10.

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It’s amazing to think about just what Jesus came to Earth to do.  We like to sing the songs and share the presents and enjoy the decorations and festivities.  But Jesus didn’t come to have fun and to celebrate.  He came to die.  And if you stop to think about what he gave up in Heaven and all the sorrow and pain he suffered during his life on Earth, it can put an entirely different feeling to the Christmas season.  But the great thing is that Jesus was willing to go through all that.  His mission was a volunteer one, and he did it for the joy of the results of giving people a way out of evil and death and into goodness and life.  Christmas is definitely a time worth celebrating.  It’s worth celebrating all year long!.  But don’t miss exactly why it’s worth celebrating.

This continuation goes into some of the prophesy that foretold the coming of Jesus (his birth, life, death, and even resurrection).  As if it wasn’t enough proof to have eyewitness accounts of his life and the things he said and did and how he rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, God gave us prophesy about it all before it ever happened to make sure there was no mistake exactly who the Messiah was.  I just think that’s so cool!

What do you think?

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So lots of churches celebrate the Season of Advent.  It’s kind of a traditional thing.  And there are lots of traditions that go with it.  Sometimes they hang Christmas decorations and greenery.  They usually have different colored candles that are lit on different Sundays during the season.  And it’s all very churchy and Christmassy.  And then outside of church we have all sorts of traditions that go along with the Christmas season.  People hang lights on their houses and put up Christmas trees and stockings and eat lots of food.  And I often see a few decorations or cards that say “Jesus is the reason for the season.”  But you don’t see much Jesus amongst the decorations.  Where is Jesus in all those traditions—at church and at home?  Would anybody be willing to throw out all the traditions, the candles, the lights, the presents, the food, the music, and simply spend the season in prayerful thankfulness for the birth of our Savior?  What would really have to happen to take our focus off of the stuff we buy and decorate and eat for Christmas and instead put that attention on the miracle of God sacrificing the glory and honor and joy of Heaven’s throne to be born a human being and offer himself up as a sacrifice to save the world?  Because there will be a second advent of Jesus Christ.  And depending on how much you pay attention to Jesus now will affect how he feels about you when he comes again.

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Jesus made a lot of claims about himself, and backed up his words with his actions.  On top of that a lot of the things we know about Jesus come through the prophesies that were fulfilled by him–how and where he was born, how he lived, how he died, and even coming back to life.  So the Bible is pretty clear about who Jesus is.

Now, thinking about all the different people who claim to believe in Jesus or to be his followers, can you really believe in Jesus if you don’t believe all the things that he said about himself or if your opinions about who you claim to follow don’t match up with the facts of Scripture?

In Matthew 7, Jesus said that on Judgment Day many people will claim to know him and will claim to have done great works in his name, but Jesus will say “Go away, I never knew you.”  The sad thing is it’s obviously religious people who will be making that claim because they will be telling of all the things they did for Jesus.  So just claiming to know Jesus and doing religious stuff won’t get you into Heaven.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a big motivator for me to make sure I know Jesus for real, for who he claims to be, and to focus on doing what he wants me to do and not just various religious acts.  Lots of people talk about having a relationship with Jesus.  Clearly having a relationship is more than just knowing somebody’s name or doing things in someones name.  So common sense would say, if you want a relationship with Jesus, don’t repeat some empty prayer and expect that will save you, but learn about who he is from what he said.  Then if you’re really willing to invest your life in a real relationship and maintain ongoing communication and caring (like you would for any other real life, love relationship), when Judgment Day comes, Jesus will recognize you and not have to say “Go away, I never knew you.”

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Jesus.  There’s something about that name.  To some it’s a name to be honored and respected.  To others, it’s fodder for cursing.  Lots of people claim to know who Jesus is, but there are tons of different opinions about him.  So how do you figure out who’s right?  How do you filter through all the opinions and get to the real Jesus?  And when you do, what difference does it make to you?  Does knowing the real Jesus make any difference to your everyday, real life?

PS. This talk is, kind of, a response to another talk that I had already come up with.  But I shared this talk (the second talk) first.  That’s why it’s labeled “part 2 – kind of.”  And I’ll post the first talk that I came up with next time.

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Plenty of people go to church on Sundays and sit in a pew and think that pretty much covers their religious quota for the week.  But Jesus had some pretty strong ideas about religion and what kind of impact it ought to have in real life.  This talk explores some of those ideas and how they might affect life today.

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