There is no modern cultural Jesus

There is a plague that is found within many lukewarm churches and lukewarm Christians.  This plague is the degrading of the person of Jesus Christ into a modern cultural figure.  To listen to many of their messages or sermons in today’s time would imply that Jesus is part of the culture of modern society and that the standard of living as prescribed by the Bible is no longer required.  Or that Jesus allows culture to dictate how a person lives no matter if they are a Christian or not. 

One lie is His relevance and acceptance of everyone’s sinful lifestyles are the keys to making Christian life easy.  This could not be further from the truth because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  Jesus lived a life that reflected the culture of Heaven as He witnessed God do things and not according to how mankind dictated things to be in the culture of His time while on earth.  Many make Jesus relevant, trendy, or cultural, but Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6; John 17:17; John 8:31-32).  He is the Word of God (John 1:1-14; Matthew 4:17-25; Revelation 19:13).  Neither the truth of God nor His Word changes (Malachi 3:6; Isaiah 40:8; 1 Peter 1:25; Matthew 24:35; James 1:17).

God is the same God since the beginning, and Jesus Christ is the same since the beginning.  To change Jesus to fit modern culture is heresy.  Jesus healed the sick (Matthew 4:23; Matthew 9:35; Acts 10:38; Matthew 8:16-17; Matthew 14:14), cast out demons (Mark 3:11-12; Matthew 12:22,43-45; Mark 5:1-20; Mark 1:23-24),  rebuked religious people (Matthew 23:27,33; Mark 7:6-7; Luke 11:39-40,42; John 8:44), convicted sinners to repent (Luke 5:29-32; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15), and obeyed God (Luke 11:28; John 6:38-40).  The Bible does not state Jesus committed the same acts that sinners committed or condoned their way of living that opposed God.  With so many characteristics of Jesus Christ from the Bible, why do people choose to ignore Who Jesus is and make Him culturally relevant?  The answer is personal gain.  Personal gain can be from desiring money, being popular, or other means of gain in the natural realm.  When someone views their product as not of the highest quality then gimmicks, scams, and trends must be used to sell it.  Jesus was sold in the Bible by Judas, so anyone who does the same thing in today’s time is no different than Judas Iscariot (Matthew 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6; Mark 14:10-11).  Anyone who feels the need or desire to sell Jesus Christ does not know Him personally.  Christians do not need to sell Jesus; He should be followed and preached about to bring freedom, liberty, forgiveness, and healing to others (Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 10:14-15; 1 Corinthians 1:17-18; 2 Timothy 4:2).

 Jesus is not a product; He is the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14), God in bodily form (Colossians 2:9; John 10:30; Philippians 2:6-7), and the Supreme sacrifice for all mankind (Hebrews 10:10-12; John 1:29; Hebrews 9:26; Ephesians 5:2).  People must know Jesus Christ to receive salvation, but they must go through the process as the Bible prescribes or it is not legitimate in the eyes of God.  There cannot be a form of godliness and deny the power There must be a relationship with Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 3:5; Revelation 3:20; 1 John 5:11-12).  May Christians not make Jesus Christ a modern cultural figure, and may they get back to Him being the holy Son of God who offers salvation, life, and life more abundantly.

For more information about Abundant Grace Church visit agcsparta.org.