Sonny’s July article:

Jesus Today?

Our lessons this summer are focused on people in Scripture experiencing Jesus for the first time

and thinking about their reactions to Him. Some are surprised. Some doubt. Some follow

without questioning Him. This month let’s consider how we might experience Jesus today and

think about our reactions to His impact on our lives.

I submit to you that faith is built block by block with experiences from Jesus in our lives. Faith is

not something passed down from generation to generation. Your parents or grandparents

cannot give you their faith. Yes, we teach our kids and grandkids about Jesus and what we

believe, but as many of you have seen, that does mean they will have faith. I believe that every

follower of Jesus must have a personal epiphany, if you will, that leads them to put their trust in

an eternal God and His human Son, Jesus. The challenge for us today is to open our eyes and

see Jesus at work in the world. These are the faith building elements that we need to share

with others.

Kayla and I will be out on the 20th this month, and we have something different planned for that

day. Three of our men have volunteered to talk about what God has done in their lives. Some

might call this a “testimony Sunday,” but I prefer to call it people talking about Jesus working in

their lives. These Christians have faith because of what they have experienced. I believe this is

exactly what each of us needs to see: Jesus working in our lives.

So, how does God work in our lives today? I will use my favorite verses from Ephesians to think

about our service to God. In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul is trying to help us understand the dynamic

between us, God, and grace. He starts in verse 8 by telling us “God saved you by his grace

when you believed.” This tells me that, no matter what each Christian denomination may say,

God brings us into His family when we believe in Him and what Jesus has done for us. He goes

on to say that “Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done.” (vs 9) Paul is telling

us here that we cannot earn salvation by being good enough for God. Yes, we want to do good,

but that is not what saves us. Verse10 sums up the relationship between us and God regarding

who we are as Christians and what we need to do because we are saved. Here, Paul writes,

“we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good

things he planned for us long ago.”

I bring these verses up so that we can think about what our faith in God and Jesus leads to.

First, our faith should lead to salvation. Salvation is not a reward for doing “good.” Think about

Christians throughout history who may have been told they have to be “good” enough to go to

heaven. Their whole lives are spent worrying about if they are “good” enough. No one is “good”

enough for God so imagine the constant worry and stress brought on by trying to be something

you can never achieve. Verse 10 is the keystone that should help us understand how our faith

enables us to fully experience Jesus today.

Paul tells us that Christians are recreated in Jesus Christ as God’s masterpiece. I love this

translation as it should help us see the need to give ourselves over to God so He can “transform

you into a new person by changing the way you think.” (Romans 12:2) So our first take away

from verse 10 is that we not only have to experience Jesus in our world, we must give up

ourselves to Him. I believe this is a step by step process that does not happen overnight.

Remember that the new Christian Paul tells us he spent three years in Arabia and Damascus

before he went to Jerusalem to talk with the other apostles (Galatians 1:17-20). I submit to you

that Paul was building his faith in Jesus before he became the great writer, missionary, and

example of the first century. Faith does not happen overnight.

Of course, this very example of conversion might be considered the ultimate overnight

conversion (see Acts 9). This however makes my point that people can become believers in

Jesus without having the requisite faith to “do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Faith

takes time to develop and build in our lives. Remember the definition we have from Hebrews

11:1: “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.”

What do we hope for? What is the evidence of the invisible?

This is where Jesus, our eternal “stairway between heaven and earth” (John 1:51), becomes

important to us in our faith. Jesus is our link to the eternal Kingdom of God. So, how do we

experience Jesus today and how do we respond to that meeting? You and I meet Jesus

everyday in every way. My contention is that we just need to open our eyes and see Jesus in

our daily lives. Jesus enters our lives through other people, in nature, and via Scripture to name

just three ways. As we close, let's consider these three ways we meet Jesus today.

First, Scripture gives us a historical record of the history leading to Jesus and who He was here

on earth. I remember John 1 where we are told Jesus is an eternal figure who is essentially

God incarnate. So, most of us initially meet the Jesus of Scripture first in our lives. Next, Jesus

speaks to us through His creation. John 1 again tells us that nothing was created without the

power of Jesus (vs 3), so creation continues to speak of the glory of God and the power of

Jesus to create. Many in our world are called to God through what He has made. Finally,

people speak to others for Jesus. Part of the good works we are called to do is spread the good

news of salvation to the world. Every Christian speaks for Jesus as the “masterpiece” of God

whether through words or actions of love (remember June’s Newsletter?).

I confess I am proud not to have mentioned Chad and Lori Daybell so far, but this last portion is

a warning that is confirmed by Jesus Himself. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns us

about “false prophets.” (Matthew 7:15) He tells us here that we can tell these wolves in sheep’s

clothing by “their actions.” (vs 20) Chad and Lori claimed to be prophets from God, but they

decided to label people who disagreed with them dark and killed them. My point is simply that

often people are not speaking for Jesus when they tell us things we want to hear as opposed to

what we need to hear. The challenge is to discern who is speaking for Jesus and who is

masquerading as a disciple of Christ. We will meet both types in our journey. Jesus will not

surprise us with hate or evil. In my experience with Jesus, He continually surprises me with

love. How about you?