He Saved Others....

 "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins"  (cf. Matt. 1:21).


When Jesus was crucified the crowds taunted and mocked Him, admitting He saved others and wondered why He didn't save Himself!  If Jesus had saved Himself, He couldn't have saved us!  He loved us more than Himself and His life and paid the penalty we deserved.  The crowds were convinced that He performed miracles and healed people, and even that He saved others; so why couldn't He save Himself?  He deliberately chose to be Savior first, then King and His saviorhood was on His mind not His own well-being. 

The crowds actually condemned themselves by admitting they knew He was the Savior and could save, because they never were saved themselves and applied what He taught--on His triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, they hailed Him as the King, and shouted "Hosanna!' or Lord, "save us now!" Perchance they had become disillusioned and thought He was not going to deliver them from the Roman rule after all.

We all can be guilty of the sin of vicarious faith.  We can hear someone's testimony and see a miracle at work in their life and actually believe they are saved and have been transformed by the blood of Jesus, but not apply it to oneself.  Believing Jesus saves isn't enough; we must believe He saved us!  We must personalize our faith and not let it be second-hand knowledge.  We must individually experience Christ and then authenticate it by sharing it and spreading the word by faith.  The only way to keep our faith is to give it away!  We may have family and friends with whom we are familiar and have personally witnessed them morph into new creatures in God's eyes, but that isn't enough to save us--we must personally receive Christ into our heart as its Lord and surrender ownership of our life to Him to even get to first base in the game of following Christ.

Jesus never encouraged the curious or the half-hearted trifler who wasn't ready for full commitment.  He was honest enough to warn us of the trials and tribulations and adversities we'd face, to test our faith.  Salvation is free but not cheap; it costs something to be saved (our ownership of our life), but it costs infinitely more not to be saved.  Some people will never apply the equation to themselves and live their whole life vicariously admiring how God worked in other people's lives, but not witness personal transformation.

The Jews weren't interested in being saved from their sins! But that is precisely why Christ was born!  The Jews wanted deliverance from Roman rule!  When the geopolitical dreams vanished, so did the enthusiasm and false disciples. Jesus had no trouble gathering crowds, for His reputation preceded Him, and He even had to keep a low profile later on and stay out of the limelight, for the leaders often tried to kill Him.  He wasn't going to die before His time and before completing His work and purpose to glorify the Father.   In the final analysis, it's not whether He can save Himself, or whether you believe He saved others, but whether He saved you and you believe this! 

In sum, Jesus wasn't the Messiah of conventional wisdom, but He was born to be a man on a mission extraordinaire to save His people from their sins ( cf. Matt. 1:21).        Soli Deo Gloria!

The Unconventional Jesus

Jesus was not consumer-driven or market-oriented, but marched to the beat of a different drummer than the crowds, not keeping pace with His companions and set apart from His enemies and accusers--i.e., the Pharisees who saw Him as a threat to their job security and domain of authority and as the up and coming challenger to the status quo who could really upset the applecart. Jesus didn't claim to know the truth, to tell the truth, or to teach about truth in theory, but to be the very personification of truth itself.  The focal point of His ministry always put truth first and with no compromise.  Indeed, Jesus did change the course of history (as secular historians will acknowledge) and turned the world upside down.  He paid no attention to public opinion or what you would say the polls today, or He only followed the Father's will and agenda to do the work given Him.

Because of this, we must accept Jesus for who He is or we are rejecting Him and compromising His person.  The culture in His day was religious and even pagan or to some degree still barbarian!  The people expected a liberator and warrior to set them free from Rome but got a pacifist and one who taught about freedom from sin and another "kingdom, not of this world." He defied all human convention in His ministry, picking disciples who were ordinary men and concentrating on these men rather than go for numbers and be concerned about popularity--He changed the course of history with a band of twelve men!  He chose to ignore public opinion and to preach the truth!  He wasn't afraid of the authorities and the religious establishment and to call them hypocrites.  Jesus saw His mission as from above and not of this world, with eternal consequences and results.  He wasn't focused on the immediate and short term as much as the long-term effects of His agenda and ministry.

What shocked the authorities so much as how he knocked them out of the comfort zones and never played it safe with His preaching, but spoke like no man had ever done--not by authority, but with authority. He wasn't afraid to rock the boat and upset the religious applecart!   Christ never foot-noted His sermons, claiming the authority of the respected rabbis or Pharisees, but claimed His own authority and pronouncement as God's Word.  Other religious leaders have played themselves down and were self-effacing, but Jesus made Himself the focal point of His ministry, being self-promoting and self-advancing, making Himself the central issue and the great question of the day:  Basically, the question, "Who am I?"   People don't tend to remember Him for His deeds, words, or ministry, but His identity as the Son of God--who He clearly claimed to be.

His credentials were unequaled and unmatched; His claims unheard of and unparalleled; His character and conduct perfectly blameless and unprecedented and very unique and consistent with His claims and credentials; and His effect on history undeniable and permanent, not to mention irreversible and into every manner of discipline.  He will never be excelled, equaled, or surpassed in any way--He is unlike any predecessor and no disciple has matched His holiness and perfect nature, and no one can accuse Him of sin but only sense their own unworthiness and sinfulness in view His perfect holiness and balance of character--He cannot be pegged or put into a box; no one can label Him, describe Him, or define Him, but only know Him.

Jesus was a threat to the Pharisees' turf and upset their religious applecart.    In fact, Jesus was antiestablishmentarian and fought the system, bucking the traditions of the elders and Pharisees, which knocked them out of the comfort zone and on the defensive, but they could not trap Him in His words or find fault with Him.  The only charge that stuck was political, that He claimed to be the king of the Jews; however, He won over all those who dream of changing the system and becoming anti-establishment. 

The biggest challenge to the traditions of the Pharisees which had made void the Word of God was His definition of sin.  The traditions had externalized the Law of Moses and only made men clean in appearance and on the outside, but Jesus internalized the Law and made sins a matter of the heart and something from within--a matter of the condition of the heart of man.  The Pharisees despised Him as the so-called friend of sinners and thought He was contaminated and a Sabbath breaker--their fetish or favorite command.  The Pharisees were attentive to minor points of the Law but missed the larger ones of justice, mercy, and faithfulness--Jesus saw through their duplicity and veneer.  

As far as being considered clean by the traditions, for example, He was Mr. Unclean!  But what really got the Pharisees angry and out to kill Him was their jaundiced eye and naked jealousy of His popularity with the common people who heard Him gladly.  He made them all feel condemned by His His standards of conduct--He hated duplicity but no sin was found in Him, and the closer one got to Him the more sin one became conscious of.

Jesus had a plan and an agenda--He was par excellence a man on a mission--and what the public thought didn't faze Him nor concern Him---He took no cues from the so-called polls of the day.  We would do well to follow His example and not pay attention to public pressure and be concerned with the truth.  It has been said wisely that He demanded the highest ethical standard, but is also the highest inspiration and motivation to do it.  In sum, we must also put our faith in God's plan that defies human reason and convention and realize that God's will is not to be thwarted or frustrated and He has no other plans--there's no Plan B--He completes it with or without our cooperation and help!   Soli Deo Gloria!