What’s
the big deal about Jesus?
I
wonder who your sporting hero is.
Who would you most like to meet?
Mine by a distance is Paul Gascoigne – Gazza! What a player he
was!
It was thrilling to watch him in action – The dazzling skills,
the pin point accurate passing, and his energy around the
pitch. It was exciting to watch how he used the ball, his
technique, balance and awareness of people around him.
Yet where he is now?
Since he left football he has been found in and out of an
alcoholics rehabilitation clinic, frequently in the headlines
for mischief, and by his own admission suffers from depression.
Once everyone would have said ‘Gazza is full of life’ yet now
people feel sorry for him. His time has come and gone. What a
sad situation.
In 50 years time Gazza will have flourished and faded from most
memories. Everyone has their time and then it is past.
This is what the Bible says:
“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a
flower of the field; the wind blows over it and its place
remembers it no more”
Psalm Chapter 103 verses 15-16
The Bible is quite clear – life is short and every person needs
Jesus, that includes Gazza, it includes me and it include YOU!
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Why Jesus?
At the beginning of time, God
created all things good. He
created mankind and all his
abilities, gifts and talents!
God intended the abilities,
gifts and talents to be used for
him and he intended man to
flourish forever in a perfect
relationship with Him.
Look around the world: that is
not the case – wrongdoing,
violence, injustice and pain are
just some of the symptoms of
what the Bible names the world's
most deadly disease - ‘sin.’ |
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So What?
But ‘sin’ is far deeper than
just wrong things; sin is the
result of a rotten heart. God
created mankind to share all
good things with him. God
created mankind with skills and
abilities so that they might be
used in a way that honoured the
creator God. Yet mankind
decided to do it alone, to
selfishly take all the God given
good things, reject God and live
for self. Sin simply means that
man has gone his own way instead
of God’s. Your heart is selfish,
it has become rotten, it has
rejected God.
A book in the Bible called
Romans puts this in a simple
way:
Chapter 3 verses 10-12:
“There is no-one righteous, not
even one; there is no-one who
understands, no-one who seeks
God. All have turned away, they
have together become worthless;
there is no-one who does good
not even one.”
Understandably God the giver of
all good things is right to
demand a penalty. There is a
price to be paid – that price is
death, every man must die and
face separation from God and his
goodness forever!! |
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Is there any good news?
A pretty bleak picture – you and I must
pay this price for our rejection of
God. Yet, this is where the fantastic
news of Jesus kicks in. God loved every
person in the world so much that he sent
his son Jesus Christ.
The gospel of John in the Bible holds a
key verse:
John Chapter 3 verse 16:
“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.” |
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So why did God send Jesus?
To take all our sin, on himself and die
in our place, to take the punishment
that I deserve! You see, Jesus was free
from any wrong doing. He was completely
good so only he could take the place of
another.
The greatest substitution that ever took
place! And it gets better…
In his death is the gateway to life!!
A book in the Bible written by a man
called Peter holds great verse to
understand this:
1 Peter chapter 3 verse 18:
“For Christ died for sins once for all,
the righteous for the unrighteous to
bring you to God.”
After he died, he rose again, smashing
open the grave and lives today –
triumphant over death, so that I might
always live and never die.
The greatest victory of all time and you
can be a part of it!!
Gazza flourished and now he is sadly
fading, and the Bible says he has a very
bleak future without Jesus. Yet even
Gazza has the opportunity of life and
life in all his fullness if he believes
in what Jesus has done for him.
Don’t flourish in life as a flower and
then be blown away by the wind ready to
face your penalty. Think through the
story of Jesus. The real winner is the
person who lets Jesus take the penalty
and turns back to God. That person is
the person who ‘really lives.’ |
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What Next?
