The Truth About Jesus

Now in our world, we're surrounded by religion.
 
People say, "It doesn't matter what you believe. You do you. Whatever makes you happy. All the paths are going to lead to God. Eventually, it was His grand idea to create religion so we'll just believe that it's all going to get us there. Love wins in the end. All religions are basically the same."

There's this feel-good theology that people are spouting in our world.

It says things like this: "I'm a good person just trying to make it to a better place so that one day I can sit on a cloud with a little harp and look down on all my people doing their things," but that's not a theology that makes sense because being a good person is not a place of comfort when life is falling apart.

Being a good person is not a place of hope and restoration when your marriage is in shambles.

Being a good person isn't just enough when your kids are struggling and call you crying because they can't figure out what decision to make next. Being a good person is not enough.

That's why when we come to church, we want to know the truth. We need to know the truth.

Think about this. Everybody has their version of Jesus.

Muslims believe in Jesus. I don't know if you're aware of this. He's in the Quran. They call Him Isa and say He was the greatest prophet that God ever sent to mankind.

Jews believe that Jesus was a historical fact. They're not denying that Jesus was an actual person, a factual human, and teacher.

Did you know Hindus believe in Jesus? They have a bajillion gods so it's easy for them, but they believe in Jesus. They believe that He was the incarnation of Vishnu, which periodically shows up.

Atheists and agnostics, their whole principle is they don't believe, but they do believe because they believe that he was a factual historical person. That he was either a good teacher or at least lived a life to be emulated.

See, everybody has a version. You can't deny the actual person that is Jesus.

I think about our culture. There's very little controversy about God or spirituality or the idea of Jesus. Almost no one debates his existence detractors acknowledge that He's real.

Everybody likes when we talk about the stuff Jesus said where he helped the poor and told people to love one another and bless one another and serve one another and forgive one another.

Then here's when things get real, because the question is: do you really believe in Jesus as the truth?

In John 14:6 it says, "...and Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"

Jesus drew a line in the sand and said, "It's not good enough to think that I'm a good guy. You have to believe in me and the sacrifice that I'm going to make in my rising again for your sins to be healed and for your life to be redeemed. There is no other way."

Let me tell you, keep your eyes on the right things. Don't be distracted or detracted from things that don't make sense.

For instance, please keep your eyes on Jesus as the truth, not our church. I love Pipeline.Church. I bleed Pipeline blue. (Apparently, there's a pipeline blue. I didn't know there's a pipeline blue until recently.)  I'll tell you what: it's not about our church.

Don't look at religion of Christianity. Jesus didn't come to start a religion. I want you to know this. It's not like He showed up and He is like, "Finally I get to start my own religion and have my own people." That wasn't what it was all about.

Don't follow the life of so-called Christians. The attitudes and the behaviors, the people that you see on TV are the people that always, why do they always pick the weirdest version of us with the signs and the bullhorns and all the stuff. Some of it is okay but the other side of it is we see a lot, the big magnification of Christ followers tends to be people who are out of touch, who are narrow, who are judgmental, who are extremists.

I want to be your pastor but don't follow me. I'll let you down.

The truth is, we got to follow Jesus. We got to keep our eyes on Jesus because He is the truth. Remember why Jesus is so important. Why it's so important is because He did things and set the pace differently than anybody expected He would.

Here's my challenge to us today: Just keep your eyes on Jesus. He's the truth. There's nothing else in this world that gives us absolute no-question truth.

The truth of the gospel of Jesus is the message of freedom. Romans 3:22, it says, "We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ."

 This is true for everyone who believes, no matter who you are. The truth is, Christ plus nothing equals real life. There's a pastor that I like and he always says, "When you find Christ, you find life."

That's the truth that we speak of today.

See, we're surrounded by religion, rules and rewards. Do this and you'll get this, do this and you'll get this, and do this and smack your hand. Had to wake someone up. Religion is about me. It's self-centered, self-focused, self-seeking. "If I obey God, then he's going to love me." 

We sing songs when we're in Sunday school when we were little. "Read your Bible, pray every day. Pray every day, pray." The number of people that tell me, "Pastor Jeff, I love Jesus. I just don't read my Bible enough."

I know, no one does. It's okay.

This is not the point. Whether you read your Bible or not, you realize Jesus died for your sin and He gave you eternal life before there was a Bible.

I want to declare that Jesus is Lord. He gave us life and He rose against so that you could know salvation.

There's something different. We said from the very beginning, we want truth. We need truth.

What you need to know is that He did the work. You don't have to be right enough, strong enough, important enough.

You just have to be His and declare that He is Lord. It's Christ alone for His glory and our good. That's the truth.