WHICH ONE IS YOUR JESUS?

Jesus never taught or believed in compromise. But many people are satisfied with a lukewarm, human Jesus who doesn't challenge them too much.

So that begs the question, which one is your Jesus?

Is your Jesus one that is not about to compromise or is he the one who gives you a warm fuzzy feeling and leaves you in your comfort zone?

And your answer is, if you are honest, the second one.

Does your Jesus require you to tell religious leaders that they are a generation of vipers, or is he someone who says, there, there, I understand that life is difficult so you mustn’t get too carried away?”

Is he a Jesus that says I will look after you but you have to accept it will come with a lot of suffering, or is he a Jesus who says throw your lot in with me and I will make you rich and comfortable.

Is he the Jesus who said if you want to follow me you will have to take up you cross and…suffer, or one that says if you believe in me you are on the road to nirvana and everything will be hunky dory?

Is he the Jesus who constantly challenges you and sends you off the end of the radar into danger and unpredictability or one that will provide you with a religious experience that doesn’t change in a 100 years to maintain stability.

Is he the Jesus that says if you want to be my disciple you have to do as I tell you or is he the one that says, look, I have got all these demands but if you don’t feel comfortable about any of them give them a miss.

Is he the Jesus who said that he would build his church or is he the one who said it is all up to you so you have to get serious about building an organization if you want credibility?

Is he the Jesus who said that he would send the Holy Spirit who would lead you into all truth, or is he the Jesus who said that you can make whatever you like of the truth and whatever you come up with is OK by me?

Is he the Jesus who said that he had died so that you can have life or is he the Jesus who said that he died that you might live but if you want to get there in your own strength is just as effective.

As I look at the church today, I see mainly the second Jesus, someone who compromises at every turn, primarily because the religious leaders have taken it over and prevented the first Jesus from being part of its life.

For too many churches, despite the rhetoric, it is about the leaders, not about Jesus. Jesus said that if he was lifted up he would draw all men to him. The fact that all men are not drawn to him suggests that he is not being lifted up. If that is the case, then someone else must be.

If it is the religious leaders who are doing the lifting up you can be sure that what is in effect being lifted up is religion, and that has been condemned by both Jesus and the scriptures.