Before reading this blog post it is highly recommended that you read the previous two posts.
Part I
Part II
It is clear that Jesus Christ has changed the world ever since his earthly life, death and resurrection. Every sphere of human life has been influenced by this man who treaded the sands of Israel thousands of years ago. Thanks to this Galilean there is a new morality in human minds.
Now that Christ has been established as the single most influential personality in the world, should he be dismissed as being just that? Isn't he so much more than just that?
When we read the words of Christ found in the New Testament, we read Christ's demand for us to follow him.
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24 NASB)
Deny himself? Even Jesus' brothers thought he was out of his mind to make demands like these (Mark 3:21).James and Jude were both brothers of Jesus, they thought he was crazy and utterly delusional (John 7:5). But something happened later on in their lives. Both James and Jude had written letters to churches, and in both their letters look at how they were describing themselves.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. (James 1:1 NIV)
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James... (Jude 1:1 NIV)
Servants of Jesus! What happened? What could have caused these two brothers, brothers of the Lord, from being utterly in denial to being bond-servants of the Lord Jesus?
Christ taught a new morality, yes. He was also himself the new morality, the new Adam, the firstborn from the dead. He fed the hungry (Matt. 14), he healed the sick (Luke 17), he preached the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18), he gave sight to the blind (John 9), he raised the dead (John 11), and finally, he died for our sins - bridging the great gulf between man and God - and he rose from the dead. He is now alive and still in control.
Christ beckons us to him so that our lives may be transformed, our perceptions may be altered, and we become a new creation altogether. His transforming nature is itself evident in the story of mankind, and his influence on mankind is nothing but a sample to the greater influence that is in him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:11 NIV)
Part I
Part II
It is clear that Jesus Christ has changed the world ever since his earthly life, death and resurrection. Every sphere of human life has been influenced by this man who treaded the sands of Israel thousands of years ago. Thanks to this Galilean there is a new morality in human minds.
Now that Christ has been established as the single most influential personality in the world, should he be dismissed as being just that? Isn't he so much more than just that?
When we read the words of Christ found in the New Testament, we read Christ's demand for us to follow him.
"If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me." (Matthew 16:24 NASB)
Deny himself? Even Jesus' brothers thought he was out of his mind to make demands like these (Mark 3:21).James and Jude were both brothers of Jesus, they thought he was crazy and utterly delusional (John 7:5). But something happened later on in their lives. Both James and Jude had written letters to churches, and in both their letters look at how they were describing themselves.
James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. (James 1:1 NIV)
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James... (Jude 1:1 NIV)
Servants of Jesus! What happened? What could have caused these two brothers, brothers of the Lord, from being utterly in denial to being bond-servants of the Lord Jesus?
Christ taught a new morality, yes. He was also himself the new morality, the new Adam, the firstborn from the dead. He fed the hungry (Matt. 14), he healed the sick (Luke 17), he preached the gospel to the poor (Luke 4:18), he gave sight to the blind (John 9), he raised the dead (John 11), and finally, he died for our sins - bridging the great gulf between man and God - and he rose from the dead. He is now alive and still in control.
Christ beckons us to him so that our lives may be transformed, our perceptions may be altered, and we become a new creation altogether. His transforming nature is itself evident in the story of mankind, and his influence on mankind is nothing but a sample to the greater influence that is in him.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV)
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:11 NIV)
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