1.4 About Jesus Christ

If you're new to church or coming back to church after a long time, it's perfectly normal to have a lot of questions concerning Jesus Christ. The world certainly has their own opinions. There are a lot of people that believe that Jesus was certainly a historical figure and that he was a great prophet, a great rabbi, a great teacher. He was full of wisdom and he was full of great sayings. Some people believe that he was just even a legend, that maybe he was a mythical character and some people believe he wasn't actually historical. There's a lot of different ideas out there, but at Canvas we believe the scripture teaches very clearly that Jesus is not just a part of the story, he is actually the nucleus. He's the center of the story. He is the hero of the entire Bible. He is portrayed, he is visualized, he is shown up in symbolism, not just in the 33 years that he lived on this planet, but we believe you can see Jesus in Genesis, in Exodus, in Leviticus, in Numbers. In fact, the Bible says in the book of Hebrews that everything that was created in the Old Testament was pointing to Jesus Christ that would one day come and rescue the world from its sin. And it's important because what you believe about Jesus shapes how you understand God, it shapes how you understand yourself, it shapes how you understand hope and eternity and forgiveness. And first, we believe that Jesus is the son of God and the Bible clearly teaches he is equal with God his father. In other words, Jesus is not just a created being or a lesser version of God, it's not JV God, he is God revealed to us in physical form. Now that's a big claim, but it was absolutely true. Jesus is not just someone who points to God, Jesus actually said he was showing us what and who God is in and with his life. Matthew chapter 1, 22 and 23 teaches that Jesus is Emmanuel, Emmanuel. It says it again in Isaiah, he is Emmanuel, which interpreted means God with us.

He is God with us in the flesh. That matters because it tells us that he's not a distant God, that he stepped into our world over 2000 years ago on that first Christmas, and he made a move towards humanity in a powerful and a redeeming way. Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, we hear this read a lot around Christmastime, but here's what it says. It says that he is described with four different titles, that his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. This is the kind of language the Bible uses for Christ. Not just inspiring, not just wise, but it's language that proclaims his utter divinity, his utter divinity. Second, we believe that Jesus lived a true human life and that he lived it without sin, that he was the only sinless man that ever lived this life. That's important because it means that Jesus understands what it's like to be human. He knows what it's like to be hungry. He knows what it's like to be rejected. He knows what it's like to be criticized. He knows what it's like to be lonely. He knows what it's like to be pressured. He knows what it's like to feel stress. Anything that you and I will ever experience on this planet, the Bible says that Jesus experienced it. That is why he says in Hebrews that we don't have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, that was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He knows what you're going through. He can relate and identify with your pain and your plight. It's so encouraging. It's so encouraging. So when we come to Jesus, we're not coming to somebody who can't relate to our pain and

our plight. We're coming to somebody who knows what it's like, with this exception, who has the great divine power to help, to not just commiserate with us, but to actually get involved and he has the power to heal and to make a difference. Thirdly, we believe that Jesus gave himself for us on the cross. Christians don't talk about the cross because we enjoy suffering or we love to reminisce about the brutality of the cross or the suffering that Jesus endured. We talk about the cross because it's where God's love met our brokenness. It's where God's love met our sin. It's where God's redemptive love rescued us and brought us back to life from death to life. So we speak about it in terms of redemption, in terms of rescue, in terms of hope. First Corinthians 15, three and four says Christ died for our sins. He was buried for us and he was raised from the dead on the third day. No, friend, the cross wasn't some tragic accident. It was and is a rescue mission. Jesus chose to die for the sins of humanity so that we could be reunited and restored with our heavenly father forever. This is where the message becomes personal. It's where it's personal, because if sin separated us from God, and we cannot fix that separation on our own, then we needed and had to have a savior. Someone had to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He did not come to just perform random acts of kindness. He didn't just come to wow the crowds with miracles, that walking on water or feeding 5,000 even raising the dead back to life. His mission, according to Luke 10,

was forgiveness and restoration. He said, here's my mission. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. That was his primary mission, and he accomplished that mission flawlessly. Fourth, we believe that Jesus rose from the dead. We actually believe it. Bible says that he appeared to over 500 people, and those people gave their lives for the message. If it's a lie, and someone puts you to the test, and they're gonna put you to death, you don't die for a lie. You don't die for a mistruth or a half-truth. They died as martyrs, because they saw something they couldn't unsee. They saw something they could not deny. They saw the risen Savior, and they knew that his claims were true. He was who he said he was, and he did what he said he came to do, and they were willing to give their lives for it, and they did. The resurrection is not a peripheral detail. It is the foundation of our hope as Christians, because if Jesus stayed in the grave, then Christianity is nothing more than another philosophy, just another religion out there in a plethora of over 3,000 religions. Just pick one.

But if Jesus rose from the dead, if it's true, then he has true and absolute authority over death, hell, and the grave, and over everything that he said, and we have to take his claims seriously. We have to believe that he's true and that it's true. Romans chapter one, three, and four teaches that Jesus was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection is proof that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be. And fifth, we believe the scripture teaches Jesus ascended to heaven and that he will return again. In Acts chapter one, nine, and 11, Bible describes Jesus being taken up into heaven right in front of his disciples. And the angels told those disciples that were standing watching that he will return in the same manner in which he ascended. This matters because history is not random. It means your life is not meaningless. It means that Jesus is not just a historical figure of the past to be studied like Confucius with wisdom. No, man, he's alive. He's reigning, he's sovereign, and he will come again to make all things new and set up his kingdom here on this earth. So here's what we believe about Jesus in simple terms. He's with God with us.

He lived the life we could not live. He died for our sins. He rose again. He reigns even now, and he's coming again to bring us to himself. And for you, this means Jesus is not asking for you to pretend, to pretend to be holy, or to pretend to be good, or perform, or have it all together. No, no, no, we put all of our brokenness in the finished work of Jesus and what he did on the cross and his resurrection from the dead, and he is inviting you into a living, loving relationship with him. He's inviting you to trust him. He's inviting you, just like you are, to stand up and follow him. If you're skeptical, you're welcome at Canvas Church. If you have questions, you're welcome at Canvas Church. If you're not sure what you believe yet, you're welcome at Canvas Church. But we wanna be truthful. We wanna be honest about who we are and what the Bible teaches and what we're sold out on, and that is that Jesus is not just a topic of conversation. He is at the very core, the nucleus, and the center of everything that we are and everything that we do. And our great hope and prayer is that you will both discover and deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ.