WHAT RELIGION IS JESUS?

Luke 15: 1-10 (NKJV):

There was a preacher who fell in the ocean and he couldn't swim. When a boat came by, the captain yelled, "Do you need help, sir?" The preacher calmly said "No, God will save me." A little later, another boat came by and a fisherman asked, "Hey, do you need help?" The preacher replied again, "No God will save me."

Eventually the preacher drowned & went to heaven. The preacher asked God, "Why didn't you save me?" God replied, "Fool, I sent you two boats!"

Man of us choose what to believe by choosing a particular religious ideology that works for us that ends us damning us to fail.

There are many religions in the world; among them:

Politics and religion: who is better at politics tries to use religion to their advantage. Believe me God isn’t a Democrat, Republican, or the Green Party. Who is right? The NYT asked this week: “What Religion was Jesus?”

My initial answer comes from a part of Jeff Bethke’s “Why I hate Religion and Love Jesus” poem: 

“Now back to the topic, one thing I think is vital to mention,

How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrums,

One is the work of God one is a man made invention,

One is the cure and one is the infection.

Because Religion says do, Jesus says done.

Religion says slave, Jesus says son,

Religion puts you in shackles but Jesus sets you free.

Religion makes you blind, but Jesus lets you see.

This is what makes religion and Jesus two different clans,

Religion is man searching for God, but Christianity is God searching for man.”

Listen to Luke 15: 1-10:

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."

So He spoke this parable to them, saying: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

In telling you what religion Jesus is I am going to use “R” words to explain like we use to do to explain what schools used to teach (‘Readin,‘Ritten, and ‘Rithmatic).

First, Jesus was about Recognition. He was sent as an emissary from the Creator God to remind humans of their creator and what sin had done to destroy the relationship. He was sent to make things right again as God intended.

His message comes from God and its truthfulness can be tested: "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own."

—John 7: 16

His message is eternal and will not be changed: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." —Matthew 24: 35

He came into the world from outside the world: "I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." —John 18: 38

He came from heaven, i.e. from God: "No-one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man." —John 3: 13

His priorities were revealed when Jesus was once asked about the most important commandment, he answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."      —Matthew 22:  37-40

Jesus came to bring recognition to God and to himself as the Son of God.

Our second point has everything to do with God’s love. It is Reconciliation.

One of Jesus’ greatest parables went like this: "Jesus continued: ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my half of the estate’. So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said: ‘How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men’.

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son’. But the father said to his servant: ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found’. So they began to celebrate.’"  —Luke 15: 11-24

Jesus says to us that we need "to come to our senses" as the wayward son did. He did not attempt to compensate for his wrongdoing by offering a repayment, which he could not produce anyway. His father did not expect it either. He simply wanted to come home - and he went. The "best robe" is symbolic for the covering of his filth, the ring for his acceptance again as son into the family and the sandals to show he was now a free man again, for slaves were to walk barefoot.

This is what God is offering to us and what Jesus is all about: Forgiveness. This

forgiveness is a gift of God to those who sincerely seek it and ask for it. Stories illustrating the compassion of God are repeated again and again:

"Then Jesus told them this parable: ‘Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulder and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep’. I tell you that in the same way there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent."  —Luke 15: 3-7

Third, after we have been reconciled Jesus offers Restoration. This comes via a test He teaches us, which enables us to assess ourselves:

"Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." —John 14: 21

 Jesus encourages us to trust him and in what he is doing for us: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." —John 14: 1-3

One of His strongest promises was that He will come again. This time not to save, but to judge all those who did not accept his offer of pardon and forgiveness. It is therefore so important to be prepared for his coming at any time: "You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him."

—Luke 12: 40

He even told us how this is going to happen he told us as well: "You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14: 62) and "As the lightning comes from the East and flashes to the West, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." (Matthew 24: 27)

The world rejects the idea that Jesus is coming again to judge the world—all nations and all people. He even said what would happen if we die before He returns: In that case he meets us at the point of our death. He is the Son of Man and the Son of God; all things to all people! His authority is without question and His right to claim this creation is beyond any doubts the world may claim.

The time to receive pardon is not yet over. Jesus is still waiting. He left us with an invitation: "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in ...." —Revelation 3: 20

The purpose of God reaching out to humanity is our fourth point, Restitution. God yearns to restore a relationship in which He dwells among His creation. Jesus tells us that it is when we trust in what he says then we will lovingly serve him with all our hearts and that this will honor him:

"The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God" (John 16: 27) and "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

(John 12: 26)

Faith in God is in fact linked to faith in Jesus. There is really no difference: "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that on-one who believes in me should stay in darkness" (John 12: 44-46)

God sent Jesus into the world to bring recognition of the creation, reconcile the creator to the world, restore the creation to its creator,  and finally restitution to that creation itself.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3: 16-17), and "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I raise him up at the last day." John 6:40

God doesn’t want us to become politicians to vote ideas and party platforms or even endorse churches and religions, God wants us to live a lifestyle in action that uplifts the teachings of Jesus and the commandments of God given in relationship to humanity, based on love and service.

You see my friend JESUS is what I would call a God-a-fear-ian!

He’s not socially, politically, or morally correct, nor a respecter of individual rights and privileges, or tried to just be a good moral teacher, He is an example of humility, respect, obedience, and Love.

He wants us to live our faith not display it like a yard sign.

Jeff Bethke ends his “spoken Word Style” poem this way:

“Which is why salvation is freely mine, forgiveness is my own,

Not based on my efforts, but Christ’s obedience alone.

Because he took the crown of thorns, and blood that dripped down his face

He took what we all deserved, that’s why we call it grace.

While being murdered he yelled “father forgive them, they know not what they do,”

Because when he was dangling on that cross, he was thinking of you

He paid for all your sin, and then buried it in the tomb,

Which is why I’m kneeling at the cross now saying come on there’s room

So know I hate religion, in fact I literally resent it,

Because when Jesus cried It is finished, I believe He meant it.”

Amen.