Saturday, January 05, 2008

Why do so many people reject Christ?

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar--when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene--during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. As is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the desert, `Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all mankind will see God's salvation.' " (Luke 3:1-6)

Think of every person that is in your life—all your relatives, all your neighbors, everyone at work, the people that you meet as you go shopping. How many of these people believe in Jesus? How many of them are Jews, Muslims, or Hindus? How many of them believe that there is some divine power in the universe, but they have no name for that mysterious force? How many of them don’t believe in any kind of god or afterlife at all? And of those who do claim to be Christian, how many of them take their faith seriously? How many of them read a Bible or attend church on a regular basis? How many of them are concerned about angering God and routinely ask Jesus for forgiveness? How many people do you know that just don’t give much thought to spiritual matters until someone that they love is dying?

There are billions of people in the world today who don’t believe in the promised Messiah of God. Things were no better in the time of John the Baptist. You know how small the country of Israel is today. In John’s time, Israel was even smaller, and with a much lower population. The majority of the people who knew the Old Testament and believed in the promise of a Savior from heaven lived in that one little country. One estimate suggests that at the time of Christ, only 2% of the world’s population were Jews; only 2% of the world had knowledge of the true God!

The fact of the matter is that unbelievers have always outnumbered we believers by a large margin. This should not surprise us, because Jesus said: Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Matthew 7:13-14). The fact that so many Christians exist today is a testimony to the persistence of the Holy Spirit, who plants faith wherever Christians live and worship and take pride in the God who has forgiven them and given them a reason to live. The fact that so many people dismiss Christianity as undesirable is a testimony to how unwilling men and women are to take responsibility for the evil impulses that seek to drive their every decision.

With most of the world gleefully wallowing in sin, how can the Bible tell us that all mankind will see God's salvation? Does this mean that whether or not you believe in Jesus, God will take you to heaven anyway? Certainly not! Scripture tells us repeatedly that faith in Jesus is essential for entering heaven. Jesus Himself said, God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son (John 3:16-18). Faith in Jesus is essential, because Jesus is the only one authorized by God to represent us to the heavenly Father. In 1st Timothy 2:5, Paul writes there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. In Romans 8:34, Paul tells us Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Jesus is allowed to represent us because He paid the penalty for our sins. Sin can only be forgiven by the spilling of blood; in Leviticus 17:11 God said it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. This is why Jesus was born in a human body on the first Christmas; Jesus, the eternal Son of God, put on a human body so that He could give His blood as the offering that makes forgiveness possible for us. None of us have enough blood to pay for every selfish thought, every cruel word, every misspent hour that fill our lives; we could spend eternity in hell and never suffer enough to pay for all our crimes against God and each other. But Jesus was different. By being a man, Jesus could shed blood for us, and by being God, Jesus’ blood had the power to do what your blood and mine cannot do—atone for every sin of every person in all of human history! Of all God’s incredible miracles, none is greater than the miracle of one death redeeming billions of lives.

Regrettably, even though Jesus won forgiveness for everyone, most do not know about this gift or do not want it. There is a string attached to Jesus’ offer—we are called to reject sin as a lifestyle and embrace Jesus and His teachings instead. Paul issues this challenge in Romans 6 verse 2: We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? John writes No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God (1 John 3:9). Let's be clear--neither of these apostles are telling us that we can lead perfect lives as Christians; in Romans 3:23-24 Paul explains that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. John writes, If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9). A Christian is not called to lead a perfect life, because that is impossible. But a Christian is called to reject a sinful lifestyle as something that is repugnant to God. Christians are expected to call upon Jesus every day to help them in resisting the temptation to do wrong, not to spend their lives gratifying every lust and desire. Believers are to have a different attitude towards sin than unbelievers.

And that is what makes Christianity unappealing to so many people. There is a saying that goes "the only way to get rid of temptation is to give in to it." That is the teaching of the devil. That is the desire of your body. No one likes to struggle. No one likes to suffer. But resisting the desire to commit a sin is a struggle, we do suffer when we fight temptation. And because of this, many people want no part of Christianity. We struggle with temptation and suffer because of it, because we love Jesus and are grateful for His suffering and death to spare us from the suffering of hell. Because of our love and our gratitude, we do not want to keep on committing the sins that cost Jesus His life. But those who don’t know Jesus, those who don’t love Him, those who don’t appreciate the sacrifice He made for them, those people see no reason to make a change in their lives.

Today’s Gospel lesson assures us that all mankind will see God’s salvation. Since we know that unbelievers will go to everlasting punishment, while believers are welcomed to everlasting joy, what is this sentence referring to? In several places, the Bible tells us that everyone will indeed see God’s salvation; in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus said: At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. Jesus also said, a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned (John 5:28-29). In Revelation chapter one we read: Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him.

This is the meaning of the sentence all mankind will see God’s salvation. On the Last Day, every person who ever lived will be raised to life to stand before God and give an accounting of their life. For we who are believers this will be a wonderful time, because our sins have been forgiven; Jesus’ word to us will be Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world (Matthew 25:34). But for the unbelievers this will be a terrible time, because every unforgiven sin will condemn them; Jesus’ word to them will be, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). And as terrible as condemnation to hell will be, the worst part of it will be the knowledge that God had offered them mercy in life but they had dismissed it. They could have joined us in heaven, but they were too busy enjoying themselves to re-evaluate their lives. On the Last Day all mankind will see the undeniable truth of God’s salvation, but for those who died in unbelief it will be a truth realized too late, and their foolish rejection of that truth will haunt them for eternity.

John the Baptist preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus was soon to come with an offer that would have eternal ramifications: repent and be forgiven, or ignore Jesus’ offer and end up condemned. John taught that facing Jesus is the defining moment in every person’s life. To accept Him is to trade ignorance for unchanging truth, uncertainty for reassurance, guilt for forgiveness, broken relationships for reconciliation, eternal despair for eternal happiness. Jesus offers the opportunity to trade eternal slavery to sin for a brief mortal struggle with temptation, followed by an eternal rest from suffering. This offer has been made to everyone—to all mankind. It is offered to everyone through the words of Christ, words preserved for each of us in the Bible so that we can share the invitation with everyone in our lives.

We are in Epiphany--the days following Christmas when Jesus began to reveal God's marvelous light to a world darkened by sin. Can there be anything more appropriate than sharing the gift of Christ with others? What better gift can we give Jesus than to fill His church with guests? What better gift can we give the unbelievers in our lives than the offer of Jesus’ forgiveness and peace? Jesus has given you the gift of eternal life; please, offer that gift to those who are dying in this winter darkness. Involve an unbeliever in your celebration of God’s great gift of salvation through Christ. It is His gift for all mankind.

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