What a Friend We Have in Jesus/A Hijacked Religion?
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Straight to the Cross
COLUMN: Outlines of Faith
What a Friend We Have in Jesus
by Greg Tidwell
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone
lays down his life for his friends. You are my
friends if you do what I command you. No longer do
I call you servants, for the servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you
friends, for all that I have heard from my Father
I have made known to you" (John 15:13-15 ESV).
Do you have a real friend? Don't answer too
quickly, for I am not talking about a social
acquaintance. Do you have someone with whom you
can be yourself, someone you know will always be
there for you? Outside of our immediate family,
someone like this is very rare. You are blessed if
you have one or two real friends.
All Christians, however, have the blessing of the
greatest friend imaginable. Jesus, the Son of God,
has called us to be His friends. This friendship
is not empty talk; Jesus has proven Himself to be
our friend when He took our place in His death on
the cross.
One of the attributes of a true friend is a
willingness to tell us what we need to hear, not
just what we want to hear. Jesus wants us to be
blessed. He wants our lives to be rich and full
and complete. For this reason, Jesus calls us to
obey the will of God. It is in this relationship
of trusting obedience that we are friends to
Jesus. On our side, as well, friendship must be
more than empty talk; it must prove itself in
practice.
It is in obedience to the will of God, in penitent
faith, that we come into a relationship with the
Lord. This friendship means, come what may, we
always have Someone who knows us, loves us, and
will always be there for us. Jesus is our friend.
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COLUMN: Heavenly Connections
A Hijacked Religion?
by Tim Hall
Mel Gibson's "The Passion Of The Christ" has
provoked reactions from many quarters. One theme
that has been pressed by some is the Jewishness of
Jesus and Christianity's supposed disregard of
that fact. This comment from the March 8, 2004
issue of "U.S. News & World Report" is an example:
"Christians have always had to deal with the fact
that Jesus of Nazareth - the founder of their
religion, their Messiah, and the second part of
the trinitarian God - was himself not a Christian
but, indisputably, a Jew." The argument then
suggests that Jesus' followers developed Christian
doctrines in reaction to the persecution they
endured at the hands of Jewish leaders. The
result, Christianity, was the child of the early
disciples, but not anything Jesus had envisioned.
To say that Christianity was not in the mind of
the One claimed to be the head of the movement is
a serious charge. It brands the early Christian
leaders as renegades, usurpers - hijackers of an
ideal. If they had more faithfully followed the
teachings of Jesus, Christianity as we know it
would never have been born.
Such a view of the illegitimacy of Christianity
shows a failure to accept Jesus' own testimony
about His mission. Consider His statement in John
7:16,17: "My doctrine is not Mine, but His who
sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he shall
know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from
God or whether I speak on My own authority"
(NKJV). In saying this, Jesus was challenging
observers (of all times) to investigate. Those who
honestly consider the evidence "shall know" the
veracity of His way.
Of particular interest is the testimony of
Scripture that a change would occur in the
covenant God had made with the Jews.
Significantly, the prediction of this change came
from God through a Jew: "Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah - not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I
took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt . . ." (Jer. 31:31,32). Could honest
observers fail to see that this was a prediction
that God would somehow alter the covenant made
with the Jews through Moses?
This prophecy was later affirmed to have been
fulfilled by - again, significantly - a Hebrew. In
speaking of Jesus and the "new and living way
which He consecrated for us" (Heb. 10:20), he
wrote: "But now He has obtained a more excellent
ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a
better covenant, which was established on better
promises" (Heb. 8:6). After making that claim, the
writer then quoted from Jeremiah 31, the prophecy
of the change God would make to His covenant (vv.
8-12).
Here's the point: Jesus was a Jew. Of that there
can be no doubt. But of even greater importance is
the realization that Jesus was One who accepted
and followed the will of God, whatever that
happened to be. If His ministry had been conducted
during the Christian age, He would have obediently
submitted to the requirements of that covenant.
The fact that Jesus observed the Law of Moses does
not make illegitimate the later activities of His
apostles and disciples. They were merely imitating
their Lord, of whom it was prophesied, "Behold, I
have come to do Your will, O God" (Heb. 10:7,9).
We now have the possibility of pure and simple
Christianity because these early followers of
Jesus did the will of God. They were acting
entirely according to Jesus' plan.
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