Why Jesus Is My Hero #39 of 52

Things rarely remain the same for very long in this world: favourite restaurants come under new management who callously change the menu; favourite beauty spots in the countryside get bought up by property developers who turn them into housing estates; friends and family members drift apart, and we lose touch with people who were once close companions.

But there is one person who remains unchangeable: Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:8 reminds us:

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.”

In his sinless perfection, Jesus’ nature and character aren’t liable to change. The Jesus we can relate to today as Christians is the same Jesus who walked the earth 2,000 years ago. Certainly his situation has changed: he’s now seated at the Father’s side in heaven, ascended and glorified in a way that he never experienced during his time on earth. But it hasn’t changed his loving character. If it were you and I who were given such honour and authority, I’m pretty sure it would have gone to our heads and turned us into ruthless monsters on the ultimate power trip. But Jesus is the same meek, humble, servant-hearted, loving Lord he was when he walked to his death on the cross.

Some people accuse Christians of being out-of-date and out-of-touch with the modern world – times have changed, they say, and we need to revise our views and our ethics in the light of it. But if Christianity is first and foremost a relationship with a person, Jesus, then the more important question isn’t whether the times have changed, but whether that person has changed – has he revised his views on what he loves and what he hates, what pleases him and grieves him? But Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever – there is no shifting or changing with him – and so Christians seek to please him in the same way today that they did long before the Internet and the 60s and vanilla ice cream came along.

The writer to the Hebrews applies his truth in this way: “Jesus Christ is the same… Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings”. If Jesus hasn’t changed, nor should our views on right and wrong, on the nature of the world and of who God is.

But it also means we can have huge confidence for the future – Jesus will always love those who trust in him, he will always be interceding for us at the Father’s side, he will surely fulfill his promises and return one day to bring us to be with him. None of his fundamental characteristics like his trustworthiness or his faithfulness to his word are ever going to change. Hurrah!

Why Jesus is My Hero #37 of 52

The heart of the Christian message is the message of forgiveness. There are plenty of religions and philosophies of life out there for good people – people who think they’re good might get on well with Buddhism or Islam. Say your prayers, do your meditations, try to be nice to people and generally feel a bit better about yourself when you see other people royally stuffing up their lives – “at least I’m not that bad”. Even vegetarianism or a strict diet can be a good opportunity to look down our noses at other people who don’t have as much will power as us. There are plenty of religions out there for good people.

But what if you’re not a good person? What if you’re a failure, or a loser? What if you’ve stuffed up and you know you’ve stuffed up? What if you’re the kind of person that would never fit in in a club full of good people? The kind of person that people would stare at in disbelief if you dared to show your face in a prayer meeting?

Well that’s exactly the kind of person that Jesus came for. Christianity is a message of forgiveness for bad people – it’s good news for rotten sinners who know they could never be good enough to please God by their own efforts. Jesus is a saviour for bad people who are honest enough to admit they’re bad.

We meet just such a woman in Luke 7:36-50. She’s a notorious “sinner” by reputation – everybody knows what kind of woman she is, and it’s clear to all that she doesn’t stand a chance in the religious rankings. And yet when she has an encounter with Jesus, she discovers that he came to forgive people exactly like her. The joy of being forgiven a debt that she could never possibly hope to pay back overflows from her in an embarrassingly lavish expression of love towards Jesus:

“when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.”

Jesus explains her behaviour like this: “her sins, which are many, have been forgiven–for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little”. It’s not that her love earnt her forgiveness – that much is clear from the rest of the passage. Rather, it is evident how much she has been forgiven – and how much she knows she’s been forgiven – from just how thankful towards Jesus she is. By contrast, Simon the Pharisee, who clearly considers himself to be in a much better place before God, shows very little affection towards Jesus, being barely aware of how much he needs to be forgiven.

Christianity is a message of forgiveness for bad people. The life of a Christian is all about thankfulness for what Jesus has done for us, about rejoicing in what he’s done, and looking forward to a future with the One who’s saved us. Life goes so much better when we remember that – when we keep reminding ourselves of what we deserve, and how merciful and gracious God has been to us. Thankfulness, thankfulness, thankfulness – more and more I’m beginning to see that thankfulness is the key to our contentment. May we never forget how much we’ve been forgiven.

Why Jesus is My Hero #35 of 52

Another new year begins, and yet we’re still the same old us. Yet another Christmas reminds us once again how sinful and selfish we are, as family tensions rise to the surface and arguments break out up and down the land.

January 1st is often a good opportunity to take stock and reflect on the year gone by and think and pray about what lies ahead. But such reflections often take place in the context of a renewed awareness of our own sin and our need for God’s forgiveness. It’s both encouraging and challenging, therefore, to be reminded of Christ’s example to us:

“For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, ‘The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me'” (Romans 15:3)

How many of those Christmas arguments could have been avoided if we’d all taken the same attitude – seeking not to please ourselves and have our own way, but to lay aside our rights and put the needs of others first. If we’d sought first and foremost to please our Father in heaven and act in a way that honoured him, rather than seeking to preserve our own misplaced sense of honour.

Jesus’ desire to please God rather than himself can be seen in all manner of ways right throughout his life – from his willingness to leave the glory of heaven and be born in a mangy stable, to his life of selfless sacrificial love, through to his struggles in the garden of Gethsemane as he contemplated the anguish of the cross. At any moment he could have turned back from the path that lay before him and decided to put his own interests first. Yet he persevered, knowing exactly what it would cost him.

So this New Year, who are you going to seek to please? In whatever decisions you face this year, whose interests will come first? And every time we fail, when we end up aiming to please ourselves rather than to please God, may we come back to the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus on our behalf, and find the forgiveness that we so desperately need.

Why Jesus is My Hero #33 of 52

Salvation through Jesus Christ will cost you nothing, and it will cost you everything. It will cost you nothing, because for those who’ll cling to the cross of Christ, God graciously rescues us from sin completely free of charge – there is nothing we can do to earn or contribute towards our salvation. Yet it will also cost you everything, because once we receive salvation we are called to die to ourselves and follow the pattern of life left for us by our crucified saviour:

“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, Jesus said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.'” (Mark 8:34-38)

This isn’t about giving up the occasional piece of chocolate during lent – this is about a radical, life-long commitment to a whole new way of living that no longer puts myself first – my wants, my ambitions, my rights – but instead puts God’s will first and resolves to repeatedly put my own desires to death in pursuit of serving Him. Jesus’ own life – a life marked by suffering and sorrow before his eventual glorification through his resurrection from the dead – sets the pattern for those who will follow him. If we seek for satisfaction and glory now here in this life we risk forfeiting the riches that really count in the life to come. But if we’re willing to die to ourselves here on earth, Jesus promises a place with him in his kingdom – a kingdom which will never end, and where our enjoyment will never be spoilt or brought to an end by the curse of sin and death.

Doing what’s right here on Earth can often feel painful and frustrating – it’s often accompanied by a sense of wishing things were easier. But it will be so worth it on that when Jesus returns in his glory. “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Why Jesus Is My Hero #31 of 52

Jesus was the master storyteller. He knew exactly how to get under people’s radar, and his stories frequently shocked and deeply challenged his hearers, as indeed they still do today. One such parable that contains a glorious surprise is that of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector:

“[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

The Pharisee looks like exactly the sort of person you would imagine to be right with God: he’s a morally upright man who seems to be deeply religious, giving generously of his resources. It’s understandable that he should approach God with a sense of confidence. The Tax Collector, on the other hand, is utterly empty-handed before God: as a traitor to his country and his people, a collaborator with the Romans, he was no doubt precisely the kind of “unjust extortioner” that the Pharisee was so quick to distance himself from. He has no assurance at all as he feebly approaches God – not even daring to lift his head towards heaven. It’s all he can do to utter a few simple words begging for mercy.

Yet look what Jesus says of this ungodly tax collector: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other“.

What a glorious gospel message of hope! The death of Jesus in the place of needy sinners means that the way of salvation is entirely opposite to what we would expect. People like the Pharisee who “trust in themselves that they were righteous” fail to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, whilst the most unlikely of candidates get right with God, because they are the ones who recognise their need and cry for mercy.

Hurrah!

Why Jesus is My Hero #30 of 52

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” (John 10:11-16)

We are dirty, mangy, stupid sheep. But Jesus is a kind and gentle shepherd. He always leads us and cares for us for our good. Sometimes he leads us places we don’t really want to go, but only because he knows more fully than we do. We make silly choices and settle for second best because in our sinfulness and idolatry we cannot conceive of the fulness God has in store for us. But mercifully, our shepherd Jesus loves us too much just to let us wander off- in his grace he leads us to find good pasture, even when we’re not really looking for it. Many a time does he spare his sheep from the misery of getting what they want. He graciously restrains sin and stirs up our hearts to love him when by nature they are cold and dead. Supremely, he demonstrated his love for his sheep by laying down his life at the cross, throwing himself in harm’s way so that we might escape the clutches of death. The life of a wonderful shepherd for the life of a few mangy sheep.

Utterly glorious.

Why Jesus Is My Hero #27 of 52

In a messed up world, it’s good to know that someone’s in control. In recent centuries, the idea of a “meta-narrative” has somewhat gone out of fashion – the idea that there is some bigger story that everything is building towards. People today say everything “just happens”, that there’s no use looking for meaning or purpose in events, because there is none. We’re bumped around by blind chance like little pollen seeds moving about by Brownian motion.

Thankfully that’s far from my experience, and it’s certainly not what the Bible teaches. This weekend I’ve been so encouraged by various answers to prayer that have reminded me that there is someone in control of the world, orchestrating events according to his master plan for his own purposes. Things may look chaotic at times, and often we can’t understand how things fit into his plan, but the Christian is called to trust and have faith that they do.

We see this glorious truth presented in Daniel 7:13-14:

“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.”

The Creator God has crowned his son, Jesus Christ, as the ruler of the universe – the one with all power and dominion and authority. He rules. Not like some slightly incompetent British politician who does his best but whose hands are tied by the opposition party and his own unwillingness to upset the electorate. He rules with absolute sovereignty, which is glorious news because this king is good – supremely good. It is a rule that no tyrant can ever thwart or destroy, a rule that shall never be brought to an end by death.

The universe is in the hands of a mighty Saviour, and everything is working to further his plans. Hurrah.

Why Jesus is My Hero #22 of 52

I’m on camp this week, so I don’t have time to write a proper blog post. Here’s a copy and paste job of the talk I’m doing tonight.

How can we know that what Jesus said is true? How can we know that his life wasn’t just a waste?

Jesus makes some pretty big claims:

• He’s said that we’ve all turned away from our heavenly Father and said to God “I wish you were dead”
• And what could be bigger than his claim to be God? HUGE
• And we saw this morning about how Jesus can forgive our sins – that we can have a restored relationship with God by trusting in the cross – that the no entry sign is torn in two

And I wonder how all that leaves you feeling about Jesus? Maybe you’re a bit doubtful – it sounds like a lot of big talk about some guy who lived a long time ago a long way away.

• It really matters whether this is real or whether this is just make-believe, and perhaps to you right now it feels like it’s all just make believe?
• If he died, how do we know his claims are true? How can we trust anything he said?
• Maybe he was just a weak silly man who died on a cross

Well this evening I want to introduce someone who can help us answer all this. Let me introduce you to Mary from that passage we’ve just read – she’s a close friend of Jesus

• She’d heard Jesus making these incredible claims up close
• She’d really started to pin her hopes on him – he holds out the offer of restoring her broken relationship with God

And yet have a look down at v11: v11 “Mary stood outside the tomb crying.”

• When we meet Mary, she’s in floods of tears

What’s gone wrong? Why is she crying?

• Well, it’s been a traumatic weekend for Mary
• She’s seen her dear friend Jesus – the one she’s invested so much of her hope in – she’s watched him be executed on a Roman cross and his body laid to rest in a cold tomb, and a great big stone rolled across the entrance.
• He’d done and promised so many amazing things that it really seemed like he was God come to Earth. And now he was gone, just like any normal human being.
• No doubt about it: Jesus was definitely dead.

Mary went to the tomb that day to try and pour special burial oils on Jesus’ body, but when she got there she didn’t find what she expected at all. Mary discovered that day three surprising facts.

1. The Tomb Was Empty

• Mary had seen Jesus buried, she knew which tomb she should go to
• And now when she shows up at the tomb on the Sunday morning, the huge stone has somehow been rolled away, and the body is gone. Jesus’ body isn’t there.

An already traumatic weekend just became even more emotional for Mary, so we can hardly blame her for weeping outside the tomb. Where has the body gone?

Well Mary wasn’t alone outside the tomb. Have a look with me at v11:

“As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.” – you know something pretty unusual is going on when you meet two angels!

It carries on, “They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where the have put him.”

And then she meets a third man who she doesn’t immediately recognise.

Read with me from v15: “‘Woman’, he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.'”

Poor Mary – she’s clearly utterly overwhelmed with grief at this point. “I’ll go and fetch him” she says – You can just picture this image of her going and finding Jesus’ body and trying to pick it up and carry it all by herself – she’s utterly overcome with grief because Jesus’ body is missing, the tomb is empty.

But then the gardener speaks one word which changes everything forever:

v16 “Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.'”

• Suddenly there is instant recognition – this is no gardener, this is Jesus, her friend Jesus who was dead is now alive again and standing before her, talking to her.

And that’s the second surprising fact that Mary discovered that day:

1. Jesus Was Alive Again

Her friend Jesus is standing in front of her alive and well.

• She turns towards him and cries out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” which means Teacher.
• From Jesus’ words in v17, it seems she throws her arms around him and clings on to him as though she never wants to let go ever again.

Just as Jesus was definitely dead a few hours previously, now he is definitely alive again

• As Mary puts it in v18, as she runs off to tell the disciples the good news: “I have seen the Lord!” She’s seen it with her own eyes

There’s no doubt that a miracle has taken place unlike anything that’s been seen before:

• Even in the unlikely event that Jesus had somehow managed to cling on to life after being crucified and having a spear thrust into his side, he’d not have had an ounce of strength left in him
• Who knows how on earth he’d have managed to roll away the huge boulder blocking the mouth of the tomb – and bear in mind that by this point he’d not have eaten a thing since the Thursday night
• But when he appears, there’s something glorious and powerful about this risen Jesus that people find utterly compelling and awe-inspiring. This isn’t some bruised and battered man who’s just crawled out from a grave where he’s wrongly been buried alive. 

No, Jesus was definitely dead – too many people saw that and testified to that for there to be any doubt.

And now Jesus is definitely alive again.

* He is risen – resurrected.

And this isn’t just some fairy story or a metaphor. The people writing this down for us want us to understand this as historical fact – something that really happened

• Like we heard in the interview, he was seen by many many people after his resurrection
• There were too many of them to just be imagining it. And it wasn’t just wishful thinking – Mary and the disciples were as sceptical as anybody
• The man Jesus who lived in human history was definitely dead, and the many, many eye witnesses assure us that a few days later he was definitely alive again.

• This is utterly unique
• There’s never been anything like it either before or since
• A few people claim to have had near-death experiences – but they all died eventually
• Jesus’ resurrection was unlike anything else – it’s way more significant than the Pirates of the Caribbean and their Fountain of Youth – Jesus didn’t just get an extra 50 years added to his life:
• Jesus defeated death – he rose from the dead, never to die again

We know all too well that dead people don’t come back to life

• That’s what makes death so painful – its permanence
• And for every other religion in the world, the person who founded it has long since passed away
• A Muslim can’t have a relationship with Muhammed – he’s dead
• A Buddhist can’t have a relationship with Bhudda – he’s dead
• The fact that Mary met Jesus alive again, risen from the dead – it sets him completely apart from everyone else – he’s in another league altogether. He’s unlike anyone who’s ever come before or since
• All the facts, all the eye witnesses, point to the fact that Jesus is alive – death was not the end for Jesus. He’s not dead – he’s ALIVE

And if this is true, then it’s a fact that has profound implications

The fact that dead people don’t come alive again is precisely what makes Jesus’ resurrection so important:

3. Jesus Is Everything He Says He Is – that’s the final thing Mary discovered that day

Jesus defeated death and proved that everything he said about himself was true.

[Illustration: Captain Barbosa actor in another film, Shine, about pianist who has a mental breakdown.

Looks all shabby in his raincoat, muttering under his breath, cigarette hanging from his mouth.

Fantastic scene where he wanders into a posh restaurant clutching piles of sheet music, sits down at the piano – says he knows how to play. Everything laughs – he’s clearly mentally ill, looks like a weak silly man.

Then he breaks out into this amazing virtuoso performance of the Flight of the Bumblebee, hands running up and down the keys, an incredible performance – and everyone is utterly speechless, jaws hanging open. He’s everything he said he was – nobody could believe it until they saw it with their own eyes.]

It means his death on the cross really was enough for us to be forgiven.

• Look down at v17 again, and see how Jesus calls the disciples now his “brothers”: “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father.'”
• Jesus’ death has broken down the barriers between them and God now, so now they have the amazing privilege of being able to call God their Father. “my Father and YOUR Father.” – we can be accepted because he was rejected
• They’re Jesus’ brothers now.

Do you see how incredible this is?

• If we trust in him, we don’t need to fear being shut out from the presence of God like we deserve for turning our backs on God.
• It means we can be friends with our Father again because of what Jesus has done

It doesn’t mean we won’t still die one day.

• But Jesus’ resurrection means we can know for certain that the cross worked – the no entry sign is gone
• It’s not all make believe after all – we can be with God

What could be more wonderful news than that? There’s hope even in the face of death!

This is the most amazing moment in history, that proves that sinners like the disciples, like you and me, can be brought into God’s family.

Do you see that Jesus’ death and resurrection means that we can be part of God’s family now?

• What an amazing promise, and one that we can be absolutely confident of

So how can we know that what Jesus said is true? How can we know that his life wasn’t just a waste?

• Jesus was really dead, and now Jesus is really alive – nothing can stand in his way.
• Jesus is Everything he says he is