It sounds like a religious cliche. A cop-out. A nice sounding phrase thrown out by pious Christians who don’t know what else to say.
The world needs Jesus.
What difference can Jesus make?
Our world is broken…angry…divided…crying out for justice…looking for answers…longing for change…struggling to find peace.
The world needs Jesus.
We run to political solutions…new policies…more reforms…better laws.
We run to economic solutions…better jobs…more opportunities…new hiring practices.
Good things. Needed changes. But something is still missing.
Something has to change the human heart.
The world needs Jesus.
The world may mock. It sounds silly. How can a religious individual 2000 years ago have any bearing on the complicated, divided, politicized, polarized situation in our nation today?
Yet Jesus entered such a world 2000 years ago. A world perhaps more complicated, divided, politicized and polarized than our own.
The human heart hasn’t changed much in 2000 years. The problems of the ancient world still plague our modern one today.
The world needs Jesus.
It is the message of Jesus that confronts us with four undeniable realities…four truths…that provide the answer to the problems that we encounter today…and that connect us together even in our differences.
We are all made in the image of God.
We all bear infinite value…divine worth…unspeakable glory…because we are made in the image of God.
His creation. His handiwork. His design.
Every person…every color…every tribe…every tongue…every ethnicity…every nation.
And [God] has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth… (Acts 17:26a).
All of us…made from one blood…with one blood…bleeding the same blood.
There should be no racist thought in the heart of any one who truly knows the God of creation.
We are all sinners.
We all bear the image of God…but one marred…distorted…corrupted…even denied and rejected.
We all have infinite dignity…and internal depravity.
Self-centered. Self-gratifying. Self-justifying. Self-righteous. Self-hating.
For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:22b-23).
Where do hatred, slander, resentment, racism, conflict, cruelty, abandonment, betrayal, arrogance, hubris, immorality, malice, strife, division, and destruction come from?
They flow out of a heart distorted…turned self-ward…fighting for our own way…unwilling to yield…rebelling against God.
There is no room for pride or superiority in any person.
We are all dysfunctional…all broken…all victims…all victimizers.
To break the world cleanly into victims and violators ignores the depths of each person’s participation in cultural sin. There simply are no innocents. (Miroslav Volf)
We all need grace.
We have all played a part in the depravity of this world. We are all complicit. We have all hurt others by our attitudes…our words…our actions…our inactions.
We are all guilty.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
The cross of Christ speaks to us all.
God’s justice and His grace met on a Roman cross…borne by the King of the Jews…given as a sacrifice for us all.
It is the cross that confronts our sin and demonstrates God’s love.
It is the cross that rains down justice and offers a flood of grace.
At the cross, God did something unthinkable…unfathomable…the Just One bore our injustice in order to freely offer us His mercy.
When we acknowledge our own sin…bend our own will…and humbly kneel at the foot of the cross…we find life…discover love…and receive a new heart.
It is the cross that melts our cold hearts…softens our hardened hearts…breaks the will of our stubborn hearts…replaces the fear and hatred of my angry heart with love.
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
It is only in receiving forgiveness that we can extend forgiveness.
It is only in receiving forgiveness that we can truly pursue justice.
Every act of forgiveness enthrones justice; it draws attention to its violation precisely by offering to forego its claims. Moreover, forgiveness provides the framework in which the quest for properly understood justice can be fruitfully pursued. …Only those who are forgiven and who are willing to forgive will be capable of relentlessly pursuing justice without falling into the temptation to pervert it into injustice. (Miroslav Volf)
We all need hope.
We long for peace…we long for justice…we long for love.
We long for a world where the daily news does not highlight sin, war, racial division, relational conflict, death, destruction.
We long for a world made right.
Every injustice reversed.
Every wrong redeemed.
Every relationship restored.
Every part of creation renewed.
We do not have the power to bring in such a world.
Yes, we should work toward this end…we should strive to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.
It is because we live in a world designed for justice…destined for justice…that we should desire justice in the here and now…and work for it, knowing that our labor is not in vain.
But on our own we simply cannot make it happen.
We need someone with power over sin…power over sickness…power over disease…power over the destructive forces of this world…power over death.
Power to transform our selfish hearts.
We need someone who sees the whole picture…the beginning and the end…who can rule justly because He sees clearly…who can rule graciously because He loves unconditionally…who can rule eternally because He lives forever.
This is why we need Jesus.
This is why He came.
This is Who He is.
This is who we need to be.
This is who I need to be.
This is who you need to be.
And this is why I can say…
With utmost confidence…and hope…
The world needs Jesus.
