Why I Am A Christian

Why Believe in Jesus?

1. Because He is the only solution to the problem of evil

Christmas is about the appearance of the Son of God…we sing this every Christmas…. “till He appeared and the soul felt it’s worth…”

The Bible tells us why Jesus appeared..

“The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

(1 John 3:8)

John Stott has said that "the fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the single greatest challenge to the Christian faith." It is unquestionably true that there is no greater obstacle to faith than that of the reality of evil and suffering in the world. Indeed, even for the believing Christian, there is no greater test of faith than this--that the God who loves him permits him to suffer, at times in excruciating ways. And the disillusionment is intensified in our day when unrealistic expectations of health and prosperity are fed by the teachings of a multitude of Christian teachers. Why does a good God allow his creatures, and even his children to suffer?

The logical challenge is usually posed in the form of a statement such as this:

1. A good God would destroy evil.

2. An all powerful God could destroy evil.

3. Evil is not destroyed.

4. Therefore, there cannot possibly be such a good and powerful God.

Directly related to the problem of evil is the problem of sin….Jesus, provides the only answer to the problem of sin.

And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this happened to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)."

(Matthew 1:21-23)

His name is Jesus – or Yehoshua – or Joshua – meaning Yehovah is our Salvation.

The idea is simple but profound – a Savior must be someone who is with us – to fully understand and deal with the problem of our sin.

But the depth of the problem is such that the Savior can only be God – so He must come as Emmanuel. God with us.

The atheists and the agnostics can rant on about how God isn’t needed and that He a construct of the human mind, but at the end of the day, they have a huge problem to solve – SIN!

Sin that they have to deal with, sin that hurts them – that destroys peace and freedom.

Some are saying that religion is the problem – I would agree in part…explain…

But if you take away every Christian from the face of the planet you are still left with a huge problem - SIN! If you don’t believe me – see Apocalypto.

In fact, I recommend everyone should watch it to see a perfect example of humanity going to the ends of its natural godlessness.

I remember my anthropology professor at the University of California – visiting heavy duty anthropologist.

Asked for a show of hands - “how many are Christians here?”

Me and one other in a class of over 200 raised our hands…

Tried to argue how the early British missionaries had come and corrupted these pristine native indigenous tribes.

I marveled later at how he forgot to mention the seedier side of their “peaceful” tribalism….cannibalism, rampant homicide,

It probes that everyone is ultimately religious – everyone worships something.

In the absence of God – idolatry takes over, naturally and destructively.

Go to Romans 1.

How does Jesus save?

By His life and example

By His death and resurrection.

A man, on day through a series of circumstances involved himself in an extramarital affair that tormented his conscience. He could live with himself no longer and finally, looking into the eyes of his devoted wife, he told her the heart rending story of his betrayal.

The hours and the days of anguish and pain became weeks of heaviness in her heart.

Yet, as she weathered the early shock, she confessed to him not only her deep sense of hurt but also the promise of her undying devotion, commitment, and love.

Suddenly, almost like a flash of lightning illuminating the night, he found himself muttering; “Now I know what it means to see love crucified by sin.”

He bent his knee in repentance to the Christ went to the cross for him, binding his heart with a new commitment to his Lord and to his wife.

Only the Cross of Jesus can transform a heart like this…

If there is one description that captures the purpose of the Cross , it is this: forgiveness that has been just and merciful at the same time. Christ did not die just as an example or as a martyr.

He died so that they very ones who crucified him cold have a way provided for their forgiveness. The cross conveys a message that is unique.

It stands in stark contrast to everyone other human power and human solution.

This cross defines what love means…

It was illustrated by those who remained near the Cross throughout the 6 hour ordeal….

Best described by the words of the Roman centurion…”surely this was that Son of God.”

The Cross reconciles us to God – because the love displayed on the Cross is not just an emotional thing – it ultimately flows into worship.

And this leads to my final point this Christmas Eve morning….

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

(Matthew 2:1-2)

Jesus saves because His life and sacrifice evokes love that leads to worship…

2. Because He is the answer to the deepest desire of the human heart

D.H. Lawrence was right when he said that the deepest hunger of the heart goes way beyond love.

Thomas Wolfe wrote that there is a sense of deep, cosmic loneliness apart from God.

In Christ that loneliness is conquered as the deepest hunger of the human heart are met and the struggles of the intellect are answered.

How does this happen?

Archbishop William Temple defined worship in these terms:

“Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness, nourishment of mind by his truth, purifying of imagination by His beauty, opening of the heart to His love, and submission of will to His purpose. All this gathered up in adoration is the greatest of all expressions of which we are capable.”

"Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."

(Matthew 2:1-2)

Now some might say, Christianity isn’t the only faith system that offers worship

Is there a difference between Christian worship, the adoration of Jesus Christ and worship in other religions.

In a word…yes.

Hinduism, at its heart and in its goals teaches us that we are to seek union with the divine.

Why union? Because the Hindu claims that we are part of this divine universe. So for a Hindu the goal is to discover that unity and live it out.

So this is the heart of Hinduism…self deification – making oneself into a god.

One of India’s premier philosophers put it this way, “Man is God in a temporary state of self-forgetfulness.”

This is the “reason” why, in Hinduism, you have to disappear…so we can lose our individuality and merge with this impersonal absolute universe.

Jesus is God with Us – not that we become God, but that He condescends to live in Us.

Hinduism is at one extreme – the deification of the self – Islam is at the other. In Islam the distance between God and humanity with so vast that the “US” never gets close to the “him” in God.

It is not “God with US” but God way, way, outside of us.

There is an unbreachable separation.

And because this distance between the tow is impossible to cross, worship takes on an incredible clutter of activity, designed to bring the worshiper closer. So it’s full of repetition and submission to take the place of warmth and of a relationship.

Despite all the rules, and regulations of Islam – it never leads to a certainty of salvation.

This is what happens in Islamic nations, when relationship is swallowed up by a bunch of rules, political power and terror become a means of containment.