What do we see when we look at Jesus. The gospels tell us of a man filled with compassion, love, integrity someone uncompromising in his beliefs. Isaiah the prophet tells of us a man who has nothing desirable about him, someone who causes people to turn away, someone numbered among the transgressors. How can both these statements be true. This Good Friday we explore who we see when we look at Jesus.
When Jesus said, you believe in God; believe also in me (John 14:1) he was asking us what god do you believe in?
Where is our hope? Is our hope of heaven found in Jesus. Why do we believe we are going to heaven? Is it because we have believed in Jesus. If we believe in Jesus then our hope is not for something that comes after death, our hope is lived out today. If we believe in Jesus, then we will live for him today. He will be the centre of our lives today.
The Good Shepherd isn’t asking to do things, we don’t have to try and find him, he comes to us. We don’t have to atone for our sin, he does that for us. We don’t have to clean our act up, he does that by declaring we are a new creation. We simply allow the shepherd to lead us. We listen to his voice and follow him.
When our goal is the church, we are robbing people of something incredibly important. Jesus. Jesus is the gate; Jesus is the one we must bring people to if we want them to become part of the church. Everything we do is about pointing people to Jesus.
Is God taking away our position in society, is he taking away our security, our ability to survive and function as we always have done, is it so incredibly difficult to get leaders to ensure the church will function, because our hope has been in the things God gave us, rather than in God himself?
Sometimes I wonder if we think the Christian life is a bit like rubbing Aladin’s lamp. We utter a quick prayer in the expectation that our wishes will be granted. This is not how Daniel approached prayer – he struggled, he wrestled, he tried to understand by studying and learning. Daniel worked at his relationship and his understanding of God. The more he studied, the more he realised he needed God’s revelation, and so he asked, help me Lord, explain to me Lord; God answered.
God is not someone to be played with. Worship is not something we can take lightly. We may not set up idols in church, we may not stop people from coming through the door on a Sunday – but do we set things in place that detract from God? Do we allow our focus to be shifted from God and onto something else?