THE RELEVANCE OF JESUS

“The question about Christianity is not whether it is true or false, but that it seems irrelevant to life today.” These words haunted me years ago when I first entered the ministry. By day, I was the director of an Alzheimer’s disease care center, meeting with families and patients who had been diagnosed with the disease. I could offer them little hope and assurance. In the evenings, I was teaching Bible studies to men with long histories of addictive lifestyles. I was supposedly offering them the “life-changing” Word of God, but instead I drew blank stares and arguments. Often, I was in the throes of professional despair because it appeared I was doing little to help anyone. Nothing in my years of seminary training prepared me for these ministries.

The humanity and the sacrifice of Christ gave me an opening of hope. I could somehow emulate Him when I sought to help others! I began suggesting to my Christian co-workers that we needed to see ourselves as the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus. The only way the patients and their families could sense God’s love for them was somehow through our compassionate intervention. The men whom I was teaching needed a male role model of relational commitment and personal responsibility, not just words. I began to sense the meaning of Christ’s incarnation as a Man. He came to show that He truly cares, understands, will be with us through every situation.

THE FALSE CLAIMS

The biblical teaching about Jesus, or the doctrine of Christology, is at the core of evangelical Christianity. I hope to highlight the awesome uniqueness and relevance of this doctrine for today. There is a quagmire of misconceptions and myths about Jesus. Any discussion about God must be based on His Word, where He has revealed Himself. Without God’s Word, human beings will end up with futile speculations and fabrications about Jesus. However, we need to deal with the false beliefs dating back many centuries that still impact any discussion on this topic.

1. The myth of the heavenly spirit

In the first century A.D., there was a heretical movement later known as Gnosticism. The Gnostics believed that Jesus was not Christ all the time. To them “the Christ” was a heavenly spirit that supposedly descended upon Jesus during His baptism. Then, on the eve of the crucifixion, the Christ left Jesus alone, since, as a spirit, the Christ could not possibly suffer on the cross. This distorted opinion, which distinguishes Jesus from Christ, persists in variant forms today. Among the cults, the reasoning is that the Christ could come again as another person. Thus, there have been several claims of the reincarnation of Christ. Even within Christian circles, people are being misled. Sometime ago, when visiting an evangelical seminary in California, I was startled to hear a guest speaker say: “You can find Christ in any religion!”

2. The myth of the phantom god

Also in the first century, a group of people wrongly claimed that Jesus was a phantom and did not have a body. These were the Docetics and they taught that the divine nature of God could not possibly be mingled with a human life. Thus, the events of His life and His humanity were considered an illusion.

However, in the Bible, the apostle John argues against the first two myths pointedly: “Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He who denies the Father and the Son is antichrist” (1 John 2:22). John was Jesus’ disciple. He knew from first hand experience that Christ was human, and that Jesus was the only Christ.

3. The myth of the mutant god

In the fourth century A.D., the Christian Church rejected a heresy called Arianism. This was the belief that Jesus was not truly God and man, but a strange crossing of species making Him half God and half man. Today, we would call this the mutant or the mermaid religion. It was inconceivable in Arianism that Jesus could be fully human and fully divine at the same time. In the same way, some groups today perpetuate stories of mutant gods. Once in downtown Vancouver, I saw a cult magazine cover showing a creature with an animal’s face and a man’s body. To me, one would need an extreme imagination to worship that thing, yet it was being passed on as a deity.

THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST: IN HIS PERSON

We turn now to what the Bible says about Jesus. In summary, we can pick out the following distinctive statements:

1. Jesus was truly a Man. As a Man who had never sinned, He alone is qualified to bear the sin of humanity.The severe penalty of sin had to be cast upon a human being, who also had to be perfect and sinless. Simply put, if Jesus were not human, perfect and sinless, He could not be able to bear our sins. He would have to deal with his own problems first.

The Bible consistently teaches that Christ would come as a man. In the Old Testament, Isaiah prophesied His physical suffering graphically: “His appearance was marred more than any man. He was pierced through for our transgressions...by His scourging, we are healed” (Isaiah 52:14; 53: 5). The New Testament recognized that Jesus was a descendant of David “according to the flesh” (Roman 1:3). The accounts of Jesus’ birth, which we celebrate at Christmas, tell of His humanity. He had a physical body and lived among human beings, but He was without sin. Martin Luther, the German Reformer put it graphically: “He did not flutter about like a spirit... His mother nursed Him as any other child is nursed.” Consider also one event after the Resurrection. Jesus’ disciples were in a closed room and He suddenly appeared before them, but He was not a ghostly apparition. He asked the doubting disciple Thomas to feel His physical scars from the crucifixion (John 20:24-30).

2. Jesus is truly God. Only God Himself could accept the punishment for human sin. He Himself became our substitute on the cross. It would be totally unjust if God asked a good person or an angel to take on the punishment for sin.

In His human nature, we noted that He was a real person during His time on earth. In His divine nature, Jesus possesses all the characteristics of Almighty God fully. The Gospel of John begins with the declaration that Jesus was God “in the beginning” (John 1:1-4). He created the world. He is the “image of the invisible God...all things have been created by Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:15,16). To His disciples, Jesus made it clear that “he who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

3. Jesus had two natures: Perfect Man and Almighty God. Almighty God became a Man to identify Himself with us. This biblical teaching about Jesus is unique and radically different from any other claim. He was completely a human being and God, two natures fully existing in one being at the same time. The theological term for this is the “hypostatic union.” Logically speaking, no one can have two natures fully. This is possible only with God who is not limited by any physical or natural dimensions.

Jesus showed that the true God really cares about us. He came to identify with us in every dimension of our experience in this world. God is not some aloof spirit hiding in the remote heavens, as some people think. Through the most difficult circumstances, such as facing long term illness, death, fears of war, emotional pain, and relationship problems, we can be comforted by this thought: Christ became a human being. He is not one “who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4:15). By His own design, He was born into a lowly family and lived among the poor, the “sinners,” and those who were despised.

THE UNIQUENESS OF CHRIST’S ACTIONS: ONCE FOR ALL

Equally important, Jesus’ life and actions had the following consequences:

1. In His mission, Jesus had the greatest purpose. He took our place on the cross. He knew the real seriousness of the sin problem in humanity and He knew His mission. By its nature, sin is so gross and repulsive to the Holy and Righteous God that He cannot have anything to do with humanity. To bring about reconciliation, Jesus had to endure the full punishment for sin. He condescended to a public humiliation and a most painful execution at the cross befitting a criminal.

2. In His accomplishment, Jesus did it once for all. In one grand action at the cross, God removed the curse of sin, death, and evil, and lovingly freed the human race to be at peace with Him: “Through one act of righteousness, there resulted justification of life to all men” (Romans 5: 18). Bible teachers speak of the glory of the Cross. Jesus died and rose again to demonstrate the matchless power of God. No other man or “god” has ever stepped up to the plate to duplicate this sacrificial act of dying for the world. They knew they did not have the power to rise again.

3. In God’s plan, Jesus’ coming as a Man will not be repeated. The Birth, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Jesus stand out as one-time historical events. This distinguishes God’s plan of salvation from stories of endless reincarnations and myths of heavenly spirits, phantoms, and mutant gods. The Almighty God is the author of human history. Even through all the most horrendous events of life, whether on a personal or global scale, the message of the Good News comes down to that well-known and profound verse in John 3:16: “God truly loves us and He has already given His Son to save us” (my paraphrase). On the cross, Jesus uttered “It is finished.” God’s plan has been completed. This is our hope, our guarantee and our proof that God truly knows us and will sustain us through life.

WHAT REALLY MATTERS: OUR RESPONSE

Here are several responses to Jesus that each person should consider seriously:

1. Life acceptance: This is an acceptance of the heart, mind, and soul. If we clearly understand who Jesus is, and what He has done for us, we cannot but acknowledge Him as Master, Savior, and King of our lives. Out of His initiative and great love He reaches out to us. We must respond with a total rejection of sin and an acceptance of Him into our life. This is the beginning of an inward change leading to an external lifestyle based on God’s principles. The marvelous truths in the Bible have a compelling power to bring us into a right relationship with God: “the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12).

2. Personal holiness. It is God’s plan that we are to be holy and blameless, bear fruit in our spiritual life, and become increasingly like Christ. Those who truly know Jesus also love Him and have a desire to please Him. The pursuit of personal holiness or sanctification requires that we spend time with the Lord and persistently yield our lives to Him. Spiritual disciplines, such as prayer, reflection, and Bible reading are essential activities for Christians.

3. A Daily hope. The love of God that draws us towards Him in the first place will also sustain us through life. Our hope through struggles, difficulties, and pain must be in the God who loved us enough to have lived as one of us.

4. Faithful service. Through His Holy Spirit, Jesus equips us with power and with spiritual abilities (gifts) to serve Him. We ought to live in obedience to Him and serve Him within the church where we have fellowship with others. We are to build up one another, and we ought to share His truth with those who do not yet know Him.

In the Bible studies I taught, I began seeing results in the recovering addicts when I offered them a compelling relationship with Christ. He had to become the center of their lives without reservation. I urged the men to seek a new lifestyle of completely following Christ, and took the time to befriend them on a long-term basis. Amazingly, some of the changes I saw demonstrated the power of Jesus in mending broken lives. I saw the men as my friends and brothers who were on the same journey of life, struggling against humanity’s common addiction to sin. They were capable of love and responsible relationships, when previously they were compelled to addictions.

I received much more in return from the Bible studies, because these men were serious about making good. They had been through rehabilitation and detoxification programs, the court system, counselors of all sorts, and Christ was their only hope. They knew the stakes, not only their souls and their lives, but a chance for dignity and victory. Over the years, some of the men matured in their faith and personal growth so that they were able to counsel others. And once, when I needed help for some church renovations, these men offered their help and did an excellent job. That day, one of the men said, “God has certainly put love in my heart.”

CONCLUSION: PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

Christ came to show us God’s marvelous plan for salvation and a new life. Is all this relevant today? Yes! But perhaps it can be so only if those who follow Him are willing to make Him relevant to others.

(David Wu [Ph.D.] teaches Leadership and Philosophy of Ministry courses at China Bible Seminary in Hong Kong. His ministry focus is spiritual formation and the application of Christian truth to daily life. His e-mail address is dynwu@yahoo.com.)