Jesus is the Way, the Center, our All in All

The Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians, "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).  I have thought a lot about that verse over the years. Paul said that he only talked about Jesus. At first glance, that seems completely wrong, because we read in Paul's letters that he talked about a lot of theological and behavioral issues. Surely, he did not only talk about Jesus, did he?  I mean, he talked about marriage, finances, the end times, the family, joy, peace, and evangelism, right? Yes, at times, he did address those issues. But, he did not address them apart from the person and work of Jesus Christ. Everything that he said about those things flowed from Jesus and His work portrayed in His death, burial, and resurrection. Paul was entirely Christ-focused in his ministry and everything that was not Jesus was considered to be loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ, his Lord (Phil. 3:7-8).

Seeing the Biblical mandate that we continually "fix our eyes on Jesus" (Hebrews 12:2), I have become quite focused on this in my life and ministry. Everything that we place our hope in besides Jesus is only an idol. It must come down. It has no power to save, deliver, or transform. And, we do look to so many other things, don't we?  We look to other people, money, jobs, possessions, fame, acceptance, our families, sex, power, position, religion, performance, self-righteousness, and an endless array of amusements and petty satisfactions. Jesus said that we cannot have two masters (Matt. 6:24).  We will love one and hate the other. Christians in America today are bombarded with so many temptations and competing affections, that their passion for Christ grows cold so easily. I am no different. It is so difficult to be single minded and to truly trust in Christ alone, especially when we do not even realize that we are succumbing to desires for other things.  If we attempt to get our identity or our needs met from any source other than Christ, we will soon experience spiritual dryness and emptyness.  Repentance is required. Fortunately, our sins are forgiven and there is grace. We do not have to be perfect. We must only look to Jesus, our righteousness and our Source of Life.

This is not a popular message. We cling tightly to our idols and turn on those who might try and pry them away from us. We are convinced that our idols will save us. We are so used to looking to other things that the idea that we must look to Christ alone to meet our deepest needs seems naiive and simplistic.  Our idols seem much more sophisticated and practical. We even make idols out of good things, like family, our church, a specific doctrine or teaching, or a Christian leader. We might have even made an idol out of a false view of God or the spiritual life. But, whatever we place our trust in besides Christ ends up destroying us. This is why we must first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  Everything else that we need will be added to us in the proper way (Matt. 6:33).  This is why the Reformers appealled to "Sola Christos" - Christ Alone.  Only He can save.

Michael Wells in his book, Heavenly Discipleship, writes this:

I once asked a Christian psychology student to imagine a seminar begun with prayer and conducted by a leading Christian psychologist who discussed the symptoms and treatment of depression. What would happen, I asked him, if at the end of the seminar I stood up and said I thought depressed believers needed to draw near to Jesus? What would be the attitude of those in attendance toward my statement and me? The student immediately answered that they would think I was ignorant, insensitve, unrealistic, out of touch, and shallow. Yes, I knew that would be their response, but why?

Quite simply, when Jesus - who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life - is not considered to be the answer, then questions immediately increase. In giving Christ, God gave us something on which to focus. In giving us this one thing, Jesus, as the answer to every question, life would become quite simple. When Jesus is taken out and no longer considered as the answer, then man lives in chaos. I often meet men who live in chaos with a thousand questions and a thousand answers; yet they do not have the answer and refuse to look to Jesus. No wonder man is hostile and frustrated. In a hundred lifetimes of searching, he will not run out of possible bogus answers . . . . 

Why are there only a few Biblical statements concerning how we are to raise children, have a pleasant marriage, and carry on relationships with those around us? Because the writers of the New Testament assumed we were doing the basics of keeping Christ in the center of life, making Him the answer, and simply abiding in Him. When our focus is the Divine Answer, we need very little else. Many avoid this simple answer for the obvious reason that they have not found Him to be the answer personally, so they look elsewhere. They cannot lead where they have not been. Those who have found Christ to be the answer to depression will give a hearty, "Amen!" to the statement, "Draw near." Those who have not found Him as their all conclude that since Jesus did not "work" for them, He will not for others (28-30).

I think that this is dead on. I have counseled many people in the midst of difficulties that Jesus is the answer to their struggle - look to Him. Unbelief often clouds their faces. We want something more tangible and present. We want something more real. "Look to Jesus" is seen as a pie-in-the-sky Sunday School answer. We are considered to be more real, authentic, and knowledgeable if we have something else that we can point to. Most of these other things that we point to, whether they are other people, teachings, or steps to follow, invariably end up putting us in bondage to another law that we have to live up to. Only Jesus saves. Only He is full of grace and truth.

Colossians 1:17 - "He (Christ) is before all things, and inn him all things hold together."  My life is held together when I am in Christ. When I do not abide in Christ, my life flies apart. Jesus is the answer.

2 Corinthians 11:2-4 - "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him. But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough."  How quickly do we latch on to other answers besides Jesus!  It is as though Christians are no longer convinced that Jesus is the Way. We have to invent or travel down other ways. But, devotion to Christ is the answer that the Scriptures give.

Jesus is not the Way for us until we are convinced that only He will satisfy.  A friend of mine once told me that Jonathon Edwards taught that whenever we sin, we sin because we are convinced that our sin will satisfy us more than God will. I initally opposed that statement because I never saw my sin as a statement that God could not satisfy me. I just saw it as me being weak and stupid. Actually, that statement made me kind of angry. But, the more that I thought about it, the more that it made sense. If I am thoroughly convinced that Jesus' Way is the best way and if I really believe that He knows what is best for me, then why would I willingly choose to disobey Him? Why would I choose something that I knew was not best? It is against all reason. I understand that we can be deceived, but that admission just proves the point. When deceived, we do not see things clearly and we come to believe that there is a way that is better than God. This is why we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2).  We must learn to have discernment and see things differently and the light of Christ shines upon our lives and our choices.

Only Jesus satisfies. He made us. Only Jesus can make us happy because only He can know what we really need.  We need Him.  This might come across as a very hard message because it strips us of all other affections and replaces them with Christ, but in reality, this is the most life-giving, life affirming message there is.  Because of grace, we are free to repent and turn to Christ. If we do, we will find life abundant (John 10:10).  Why would we want to hold on to anything else? 

 

 

  

Comments

[Debbie Kaufman]

Two points that specifically stand out in this well written post Alan(Can you tell I agree with your post? Very much so).

A friend of mine once told me that Jonathon Edwards taught that whenever we sin, we sin because we are convinced that our sin will satisfy us more than God will.

We must learn to have discernment and see things differently and the light of Christ shines upon our lives and our choices.

I am becoming more and more convinced that younger men such as yourselves are the prophets we need to be listening to.

[Alan Cross]

Only as we point to Christ, Debbie. I have just become convinced that Jesus really is the answer. It seems like Christian preaching and living should be promoting Him instead of everything else, since He is the Savior and all. We are slow to learn.