What You Believe Matters 4 – Jesus Our Lord

When it comes to faith in God there is a hinge that it all turns on.  That is what you believe about Jesus.  All religions have a “god” but when that god is expressed to us how does that change our belief?  Jesus is the most talked about and yet the most dividing person that has ever lived.  He even talked about this when he was here.  He talked about dividing and yet bringing people together at the same time.  So how does what we believe about Jesus matter?  Can it change the way I live my life as I follow His example?  Let’s see over the next few posts.

When I was a kid the first verse I memorized from the Bible was John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  That is the first part of the creed’s statements about Jesus.  I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son.  As a kid this was a verse about if I believe in Jesus then I can go to heaven.  As an adult I think it is more about God’s love for us.  This is his son who is being giving so that we can be reunited with God.  In my mind I see a conversation before Genesis 1.  The three, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, talked about starting this thing we know as life and realizing that eventually that it would get messed up.  I wonder if Jesus, the son, at that moment said he would come down and show us how to live this life.

He is a son that has come to help us know God’s heart.  He represents the Father to us.  He is the son of God.  Conceived by the Holy Ghost?  Man that sentence is certainly a faith stretcher.  Even Mary didn’t fully understand it, but said she would be the servant of God and bring Jesus into the world.  It is the defining thing about Jesus.  That he was “born of God and of the virgin Mary” is no easy belief.  Anyone who tries to convince that the virgin birth is a simple hurdle is not really that honest.  But, faith in a simple thing is not really faith at all.  It just believes what is easy to believe.  Faith requires that we move from the simple to the complex and yet move to a place where the complex does not stop our belief. 

This is where we decide if our belief is in only what can be seen and proven.  After all, that requires no faith at all.  So what does it matter if Jesus was God’s son?  It is the dividing line with all other belief systems in the world.  World religions acknowledge that Jesus existed and was something special.  They all stop at the divine though.  Jesus could be a prophet, even a teacher with some value to share.  But, could he be God?  No way could that happen.  Many people have lost their faith over these questions. 

I find peace in the questions though.  I’ve always been a questioner.  My whole life I’ve been intrigued with questions and trying to understand.  But faith takes questions to a completely different place in our souls.  We need to not concentrate on what we cannot understand or answer but to find peace in that there are things that are bigger than us. 

Think how it was to have all this laid on you one night by an angel sent from God.  Mary was probably a teenager when she got this news in Luke 1.

“The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has shown you his grace.
 Listen! You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of King David, his ancestor.  He will rule over the people of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.“  Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I am a virgin?“  The angel said to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you. For this reason the baby will be holy and will be called the Son of God.  Now Elizabeth, your relative, is also pregnant with a son though she is very old. Everyone thought she could not have a baby, but she has been pregnant for six months.  God can do anything!“  Mary said, “I am the servant of the Lord. Let this happen to me as you say!“ Then the angel went away.”                    Luke 1:30-38 (NCV)

She is told that she will be pregnant and deliver the Messiah to the world.  She doesn’t completely understand all of it but her faith in God helps her join Him in this great work.  She will be remembered forever for saying yes to what seems impossible, but with God it happened.  Maybe we can learn from her example when it comes following in faith.  She didn’t try to understand all that God had shared with her.  Instead she simply let her faith take on flesh.  Because, as James told us faith without works is dead. 

In no way will any of us be invited by God to bring the Messiah or Jesus into the world.  I’m not sure there has been a bigger ask in history.  But God will ask us to join Him by faith to bring the story and example of Jesus to the world around us every day.  So we see our belief in Jesus being the only son conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin is where the story of Jesus starts.  Our faith in him and letting him touch the world through our lives is where his story continues.