WHAT JESUS IS NOT

There is an old saying that is often true:  “Familiarity breeds contempt.”  It simply means that when people become familiar with something, they tend to start losing their appreciation or respect for it and begin taking it for granted.  It becomes common.  Jesus alluded to this same principle when He said that a prophet is not without honor except in his own home town (Mark 6:4).

But today, not only is there a growing (and disturbing) loss of appreciation and loss of respect toward Jesus Himself in the world, this same lack of respect for Him is even in the church.  In the modern church’s fervent quest to use absolutely anything at all to attract the youth of today, many churches are resorting to the use of street language to make Jesus seem more common and mundane, perhaps more approachable.

    

Many in the church (including pastors) are trying to force Jesus into today’s common “street image” to bring Him down to our own level.  The intent is to present Him as more of a friend than a judgmental King.  You’ll hear some say that Jesus is their ‘‘homeboy.”  But would any sane person dare to address a judge, or a governor, or the president as “homeboy”?  Not likely.  So how much greater and more deserving of respect is Jesus Christ than any mere man?

Sorry people, but Jesus Christ is not your “homie,” your “best bud,” or your “pal.”  He sits on the throne at the right hand of the Father in Heaven.  He’s not your “BFF” or your “bro.”  He is grander than that.  He is holy.  His name is above all other names (Philippians 2:9), He is Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), and He is the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25).  But the titles that even churches use of Him today are irreverent, cheesy, and worldly, at best… and crude and blasphemous, at worst.  By the use of these names His true nature is casually watered down and dishonored.

Using these kinds of worldly titles makes Him “just one of us.”  But don’t expect Him to greet you at the pearly gates with a high-five, like teammates in a locker room.  He’s not going to be “rappin’ with His homies” or “throwing signs” with you in Heaven. 

 

Why are we being so “intolerant” and making such a big deal of this?  Because the apostle John, one of the closest friends of Jesus, tells what happened when he saw Jesus in His glory:

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man…” (Revelation 1:17)

Think about that.  Let it sink in.  This is the same John who traveled, lived, and ate with Jesus every day for at least three years; but when he saw a vision of Him in His glorified form, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move, nor could he do anything else.  He was utterly stunned.  He was overwhelmed by His majesty.  John was never to view his friend, Jesus, in any “common” way again.  Yes, He is approachable, but we must be careful how we approach the King of kings.

So, is this “common,” “hipster,” “cool daddy-o” Jesus in the modern church another Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4)?  It certainly is not the One we find in Scripture.

It’s acceptable to call Him your friend (John 15:14), but He is not your “homeboy.”  He is Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5), but He is not your “best bud,” or your “pal,” and He is not to be called “dude” or “J.C.”  He is the Creator of the universe, the First and the Last, but He is not your “boyfriend” (there is actually a “Christian” song titled, “Jesus is my boyfriend”).

 

If you think that you can address Him so flippantly when you meet Him face to face, you just may be shocked to find out that you DIDN’T know Him after all (Matthew 7:21-23), and that you’ve been serving the wrong “Jesus.”  God help the church to use discernment.

 

RECOGNIZING THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES

What’s with all the crazy things happening in our world today?  What does the future hold, or one could ask, is there a future at all for mankind?  Bad things are happening all around us and our world often seems to be spinning out of control.  Dangerous drugs, murder, rape and terrorist attacks are becoming more and more common.   Such things used to be done only in secret, but now occur in broad daylight.  Criminals used to try and hide their evil deeds, but not so much today.  Added to that are outbreaks of new diseases, significant changes in weather patterns, threats of war and nuclear attack, dramatic increase in immorality, the structure of the family under attack like never before, etc., etc. There appears to be something major brewing in this unstable world we live in.  But all these things are signs that are telling us something about our society.  

The Necessity of Discernment

In the gospel of Matthew we see Jesus Christ rebuking the spiritual leaders of His time:  

And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him asked Him to show them a sign from Heaven.  But He answered and said to them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’  And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16:1-3 - NASV)

Jesus held the people of His day accountable and expected them to discern the signs of the times and to understand that the Scriptures pointed to Him as the Messiah.  But through their unbelief and their hard hearts, many missed the signs and missed the “time of [their] visitation” (Luke 19:44) and rejected the Messiah!  So, if THEY were expected to recognize the signs of the times in their own day, why would the same not be expected from US today?  In fact, it is said that there are far more Bible verses pointing to Jesus’ second coming than His first coming.  So, how much more accountable are we today to recognize the signs of His return?

Indifference

These signs of our day should be obvious to Christians.  But there is so much indifference, such a great lack of concern for the gospel, even in the church today.   And because of this lukewarm attitude, many Christians don’t study the Bible and are spiritually weak and vulnerable.  They are in a state of spiritual sleep, rather than a state of alertness (Mark 13:35-37; 1 Thessalonians 5:6) and, with no discernment, they are so easily deceived.  Being deprived of personal study of Scripture makes it easier to miss the signs altogether.

Early Warning System

In our advanced society today, we want, even demand, the security of early warning systems.  We have equipment failure alarms, smoke alarms, fire alarms, hurricane and tornado warning systems, railroad crossing warning lights, and even engine warning lights on our vehicles to let us know when there is a problem coming up.  Many of these things are required by law and are meant to protect us from great harm or expense.

 

And God, in His mercy, has given mankind the ultimate “early warning system.”  It is the most important (and dependable) early warning system of all time – Bible prophecy.  And these signs that we are seeing today (that even unbelievers can hardly miss), do confirm the truth of God’s promises.  They point to a cataclysmic time period, known as “the Day of the Lord.”  It will be a time on earth of destruction, chaos, confusion, terror, and trouble such as the world has never seen.  It will be a time of judgment, and it is on the horizon.  For more details on that topic, see here:

http://theresurrectionstillspeaks.blogspot.com/2014_09_01_archive.html

Birth Pangs

Jesus said that the signs that lead up to the Day of the Lord would be like “birth pangs” (Matthew 24:8; Mark 13:8), i.e., the labor pains a woman has before giving birth.  This means that they would increase in frequency and intensity as that time approaches.  And that’s exactly what’s happening today. 

  

The purpose of these signs is not just to have something to talk about, but to put the fear of God in us and to cause us to conform to His will.  It should cause every Christian to want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as possible before that “great and terrible Day of the Lord” arrives (Joel 2:31).

The purpose of this article is to alert everyone to the signs around us, and to show that it is by God’s grace that we are allowed to see where the world is headed.   Our intention is to offer hope in these troubling times and to warn the church to wake up.  We urge all Christians to pray for discernment.

 

Note that it is not our purpose in this article to list every specific sign.  There are many very good articles out there that detail these signs.  Here are just a few of those articles:

http://www.lamblion.com/articles/articles_signs3.php

http://www.end-times-bible-prophecy.com/signs-of-the-times.html

http://www.end-times-bible-prophecy.com/signs-of-the-end-times.html

http://laymanswatch.com/LaymansWatch_files/Overviews/TheCrucialPerspectiveTheTimesoftheSigns.htm

“I Don’t Believe It!”

Many are saying, “This world is not that bad.  We can make it.  I have faith in mankind.”  Sorry to say, but man is NOT getting better and better, as “evolution” might try to suggest.  There may be great advances in technology, but the heart of man is still wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).   As a whole, our thoughts and intentions are not getting better, but worse… and the signs of our time prove it.

And many will say, “I don’t believe in all that religious hype used by Christians and their Bible-based scare tactics.”  But why does no one ever call fire alarms and railroad crossing lights “scare tactics”?  Don’t these things also warn us in case of trouble, just as the Bible does?  Getting caught in a fire is a possibility, and colliding with a train is a possibility, but rest assured that the Day of the Lord is not a mere possibility.  There is no “in case it happens.”  According to Scripture, it WILL happen.

The Bible speaks of those who will mock and say, “Where is the coming of the Lord?  They’ve been talking about that day for centuries; it ain’t happened yet, and it ain’t gonna happen!” (2 Peter 3:4)  But whenever it does happen, some of those very same people will be saying, “But why didn’t anyone tell us this was going to happen?!!!”  Well, we’re telling you now…  The signs are everywhere.  One need only look at the daily headlines.  What will YOU do about the signs of our time?

   

Will you be ready?  Study the Bible and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in HIS work on the cross (and that alone) for your salvation, and let Him change your life.  This is the only escape from the Day of the Lord.

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)