“If anyone grows tired or bored with Christianity, then they have become preoccupied with something within the Christian faith other than Jesus Christ” Senator Dick Halverson
And his name will be the hope of all the world.” Matt 12.21
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
The heart of this chapter is simple: Jesus is not merely the founder of a religion, the subject of Christian belief, or the name attached to a tradition. Jesus himself is the center. When the message becomes more about Christianity than Christ, people often miss the very person who gives the faith its life, power, and hope.
Jesus never became a Christian nor asked anyone else to become one. He didn’t come to start a new religion called Christianity. Jesus came to draw all people to himself. There is no other name under heaven in which men can be saved. No work in the New Testament was ever performed in the name of Christianity, it was performed “in the name” of Jesus. Go read the book of Acts and the ministry of the first century believers. Notice how many times you find that everything they do and say is clarified as being done in the Name of Jesus. The term Christian is only used twice in the New International Version, and it is used in a derogatory way.
All this leads back to one point: Jesus is what it is all about. Christianity, in its purest form, is completely centered on Jesus. Not a label. Not a system. Not a public identity. Jesus.
“…because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else…for in him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17
Read John 1:1-4
Read the passage from John again, but this time place the name Jesus wherever the text says Word, light, or uses the pronouns he and him.
In the beginning was Jesus, and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the beginning. Through Jesus all things were made; without Jesus nothing was made that has been made. In Jesus was life, and Jesus was the light of all mankind. Jesus shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome Jesus.
Jesus is always the message. It is dangerous to point people to anything less than him. We can appreciate ministries, organizations, speakers, authors, pastors, and churches, but none of them can carry the weight that belongs to Jesus alone. Let us point people to the only name under heaven by which they may be saved and find meaningful, overflowing life. Following Jesus is about life, and life is about Jesus. Jesus is life.
People are changed when they meet Jesus. They are not necessarily changed by adopting the label Christian, especially if they do not understand what that word is meant to mean. So let us give ourselves fully to a companionship with and aligning our lives to his interests.
“If I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” –Jesus
