June 2, 2012

• A Christ they despise – A Jesus the World Hates

  I don’t think we really give thought to this much: The world HATES Jesus.  They despise Him.

  Oh, they might claim that He’s a wonderful teacher.  They might claim that the Christian has Christ all wrong, that Paul (and the rest of the boys) merely created fanciful whims and whimsical magical fairy tales to help suppress women and keep (the boys) in charge. They might assume that Jesus was some political rebel out to smash the establishment.  They might even claim that Jesus was a great moral example of what all men should aspire to.

  In truth, though, they HATE Jesus.

  I lived through a robbery.  I was 21 at the time, working at night and in walks a guy asking for change for the phone cause his car broke down.  It was 2 AM, my slow time.  Being the helpful sort that I am, I said sure, no problem.

  Now, to understand what happens next you need to know this.  I was sitting on a 3-legged stool.  Around the bottom of that stool was a metal ring for support.  It was my habit to sit on the stool and stand on the ring when I needed to get up, thus giving myself about another 5 inches of height — and helping me see everything going on in my store.

  I stood up, now taller than the guy, and opened the register.  As soon as I did, his hand went into his pocket and he pointed a gun at me.  He calmly and forcefully said “Give me the money in the register”.

  Without thinking, I slammed the register drawer so hard it knocked the register back an inch, grabbed the key and twisted it to get it out, pulled the key out of the register, and threw it as hard as I could at…. but beyond… the guy.

  I said with equal force and calmness and looking him square in the eye, “If you want the money, give me the key“.

  He freaked because my pulling the key out and slamming the drawer unexpectedly made the register go spastic and make a high pitched noise almost like an alarm.  Score one for me.

  He booked…. and didn’t get one dime.  In fact, he left the dollar he gave me. 

  There’s a reason I told you this story.  I was 21.  In 3 days I turn 48.  That event was 27 years ago…. but I was an eye witness to the event and I have it burned into my memory even today.   Every detail is there.  I even remember the flannel coat (red, black, white checkered pattern) that he was wearing.  I don’t have to embellish the story — it is true and that in itself is remarkable.  I survived a robbery by freaking the robber out to the point where he ran from me.  Obviously, God protects fools. (meaning myself)

  27 years.  And I can paint you a perfect picture of that night still to this day.

  Jesus did things that were remarkable.  Amazing.  No one….. NO ONE…. sees a true miracle (I’m not talking the fake “Healing Crusades” that Benny Hinn or Kathryn Khulman orchestrates for mere money.  Mark this people — if they’re charging you money for your healing — their motivation is their greed, not God, regardless of how loudly they shout his name.)  No one sees a true miracle and forgets.  Even years later.

  If my account of that robbery attempt is still vivid and down to the details — why question the testimonies of eye-witnesses to Jesus life?  John clearly understood that people would doubt when he wrote 1 John — consider the opening few verses carefully.

  That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched —this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.  (1 John  1:1-4)

  but…. Evidence is only as valid as the skepticism behind which it is viewed.

  Do I need to repeat that?

  The skeptic (and the lawyer) serve to call question and doubt upon even the clearest of evidence.  A courtroom full of people knew that O J Simpson was guilty — but the lawyer took the evidence and cast his magic spell of skepticism upon the jury.  If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!  And so OJ gets away with murder.   Often this occurs because we simply do not WANT to believe it actually could happen.  Our hero, accused of murder.  Our role model, our mentor, our friend.  Thus we ditch the evidence in favor of our passions, our emotions, our skepticism.

  Jesus said this —

  “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.  At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

  “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.  In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

  “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.  And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

  “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

  “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

  “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

  “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”   (Luke 16:19-31)

  Even if they have evidence — they will reject it in favor of their own opinions.  Even though they had the Scriptures — they still wouldn’t listen.  Even if they see a full blown, undeniable miracle — they still won’t believe.   In John 9

  (SIDE NOTE: My favorite chapter in scripture — I broke the whole thing down in 3 posts a few years back to show it’s beauty and depth. Here’s the links: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3)

  there was a blind man healed.  This man was clearly recognized, and clearly understood to have been healed — and yet his neighbors, his family and the temple elite all rejected what he had to say …. because it didn’t fit what they wanted as “Truth”.   Jesus couldn’t possibly be the Messiah… damn the evidence, full speed ahead to the crucifixion.

  Is it any wonder that Jesus likewise said….

  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.  Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  (John 3:19-20)

  Here’s where we start to get to the crux of my thoughts.

  Today in modern Evangelicalism we play-act like witnessing is merely a presentation of the right INFORMATION.  Today in modern Charismatic circles we pretend that if we can strike the right EMOTIONAL chord in someone’s “heart”, we can win them over.  Today, in the “modern Emergent / Seeker-Friendly church” we’re told that “if I can find the person’s felt needs” I can win that person over to Jesus.

  But all of this misses the basic point — the world despises Jesus.

  • It’s not about proper or right information, though that does help.
  • It’s not about connecting emotionally, though that does play a part.
  • It’s not about discerning felt-needs and then manipulating the person in to seeing Jesus as the answer to that need.

  No.  People have a twisted view of Christ to begin with and they need to see this clearly first — Jesus didn’t say “SOME OF the world would hate you…”

  If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  (John 15:18-19)

  He said the whole world would hate you…. because THE WHOLE WORLD HATED HIM.

  When I say “the whole world would hate you” here, I am not saying that they might not be nice to you.  I’m not saying that they might not help you out.  A gambler gave Oral Roberts 2 million dollars “to help him out” (though that money bought him nothing in eternity) back in 1987.  What I am saying is that the message of the cross is offensive to them and if you honestly present it the way it is meant to be presented… you will offend them.  Why, because the message of the cross is foolishness to the world!

  People don’t want Jesus to be God.  They don’t want to be accountable for their EVERY action and deed.  Their every lie and lustful thought.  They hated Jesus back 2000 years ago because Jesus condemned men of their sins — Not just the Pharisees, but ALL MEN.  It was the whole crowd that cried out “Crucify Him!” and “Give us Barabbas – Away with this man.” (Luke 23:18)

  People don’t want Jesus to be a moral standard they have to measure up against.  They prefer him to be a preacher of “Love” who came to shake up the religious majority and be a backwater rebel out to shake up the system.  They prefer him to be a good role model.  They prefer to see him as misunderstood.

  In short — people still prefer to create idols, only now they do it in the name of “Jesus”.   They want a Jesus they can buddy up to — and the church is not helping by simply giving them what they want.  We present Jesus today as though all you have to do is sign on the dotted line and your saved.

  Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.  And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

  “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

  “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?  If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.  In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25:33)
  

  I don’t think we completely grasp, today, in the modern Christian movement, the totality of what this means — “They hated me.”   And I don’t think we understand that this must be our starting point for evangelism.

  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
  

  The starting point of our reaching the lost is to show them that they are a sinner before a Holy God.  That they cannot — though given eternity — repay the debt they owe to God.  Wasn’t that one of the main points of the parable of the Unmerciful Servant?  (Matthew 18:21-35)

  Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.  As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.  Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. (Matthew 18:23-25)
  

  They must see themselves as sinful — if they are to see their need of a savior.  They need to see that they have broken not merely the moral law of God’s Ten Commandments, but that they actually and honestly offend God by their idolatry — of trying to make false mental idols of who God is…. when in point of fact God is nothing near what they believe.

  They cannot get to God’s love until they understand God’s Justice.  That is why the Law came first, before Grace.  Have you never wondered why Jesus didn’t just come and die for all mankind in the beginning….. without having to give us a law that obviously condemns us?  Mankind needs to see it’s utter depravity — if it’s to understand it’s helplessness before a absolutely Holy God.  Mankind needs to comprehend —

  The heart (RE: The rational thinking process of a man, not merely his emotions.  The link is to a bible study on the scriptural use of “Heart”.) is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, who can know it?  (Jeremiah 17:9)

  If you, though you are evil, still know how to give good gifts to your children…  (Jesus, Matthew 7:11)

  For if, when we were God’s enemies….  (Romans 5:10)

  If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  (Hebrews 10:26-27)
  

  …the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.  (Romans 8:7-8)

  …..you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  (Ephesians 4:17-19)

  There are more verses I wanted to give, but that last one from Ephesians kind of makes me want to pull back and say “This is the whole point!”  

  • Our Understanding is darkened
  • we are separated from the life of God
  • we are ignorant
  • we have hardened our hearts
  • we have lost ALL sensitivity to sinful things
  • we have given ourselves over to sensuality
  • we indulge in every manner of impurity (RE: all things UN-holy)
  • and lastly, we continually lust for more.

  This is how mankind is without Christ.  This is how they need to see themselves if they are to be honestly and actually saved.  This is what they need to know — that they despise God and are headed for His Eternal wrath (Romans 2:5; Hebrews 10:27,31) unless they repent.

  And what does repent mean?

  (1) To turn from sin and rededicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life
  (2) To feel regret or contrition
  (3) To change one’s mind.

  So in essence we are calling all men to change their minds, to understand that they honestly hate God for his calling them to a holy standard.  That unless they do change their minds (Repent) Heaven will never be their home.  Why….

  Because they hate God.  They Despise Jesus.  They have created an idol and until they smash it and come to know the real God, there is no hope for them.

  ---

  BTW: The robbery had an interesting ending.

  2 weeks later the guy showed up at my work again.  I immediately called the cops and he was arrested on the spot. 

  He was wearing the exact same clothes he had on the night he tried to rob me.  How dumb was that?  I had given the cops such a perfect description that there was no contest in court.  He served 5 years for attempted robbery.

  And I got scolded by the boss for taking risks.  Go figure.

  • 12:30 am
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