Life of Christ 100
We saw,
in Life of Christ 99, the wonderful closing scene of the Feast of Tabernacles,
in which Jesus clearly and publicly, before thousands in the Temple, interprets
the service to be about Himself. Today I want to give you several lessons from
that story.
First,
we see that Jesus is what the world needs. 'If any man thirst let him come unto
me and drink' (John 7.37).
It
never ceases to amaze me where people go to fill the empty inside of them. Some
turn to drugs, alcohol, or gambling. Others pursue success, money, promotion,
acquisitions of all kinds, or the cheering praises of a crowd. The alternatives
are practically endless: the seeming peacefulness of false religious rituals
and ceremonies; the comfort of a crowd that accepts them at the corner bar, the
bowling league, the chess club, or the internet chat room; a hedonistic pursuit
of pleasure, sex, or material comforts; a mindless loss of themselves in
popular entertainment and music. I could go on and on and on.
Such
people, driven by their internal emptiness, will go anywhere, with anybody,
spend any amount of money, contort their consciences into pretzels, drink
anything, eat anything, taste anything, wear anything, shoot anything, touch
anything, and take anything. And when satisfaction and satiation seem still
just out of reach they keep trying harder and harder, and going further and
further. This is why music, drugs, gambling, sex, comedy, alcohol, and other
'escapes' viz. addictions, get worse and worse. Like a mirage, what they are
chasing stays just close enough to keep them moving toward it, and as they move
they get wickeder and wickeder.
All
they have to do is come to Jesus. 'O taste and see that the Lord is good'
(Psalm 34.8). In Him is the only real joy to be found in this life. 'Therefore
with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation' (Isaiah 12.3).
Further, such a joyful means of slaking our life's thirst is completely free.
'I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life
freely' (Revelation 21.6).
Secondly,
we see that when we get Jesus, we get not only what we need, but what others
around us need. 'He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water' (John 7.38).
God's
people have always been the people who are best at helping others. We can see
this, historically, in the great social welfare changes such as the
anti-slavery movement in the 19th century or the temperance movement
of the 20th century. We can see it exemplified, in more modern
times, in disaster relief, or in the simple yet unselfish way Christians care
for their older neighbors.
God's
people not only understand and value living for others, but they actually have
what those others need. Our society seeks to help those in need by pointing
them to social workers, psychiatrists, or the government, and while such people
sincerely seek to help the simple truth is that they have not what people
actually need since they don't have Jesus.
If you
are a genuine child of God, filled with Him and with a desire to help people,
you will find that they will seek you out. The will come to you, unbidden and
in private, at your workplace. They will bring you the painful and failing
areas of their life and ask you, brokenly, if you know how to fix them. They
will want what you have because they see that what you have is real. And the
better they know you, these coworkers, family, and friends, and the more
genuine and mature your Christianity, the more they will come to you. They will
see, in you, the water for which they so desperately thirst.
Thirdly,
there never has been anybody like Him, and there won't every be anybody else
like Him. 'The officers answered, Never man spake like this man' (John 7.36).
The
world has seen some amazing men, politically, militarily, creatively, and
religiously. The world is, right now, on a constant search for the next big
star. The world is, right now, on a constant search for the man who will solve
all of its problems. But if has never seen, and will never again see anybody
else as astounding as Jesus Christ. Only He is the Lily of the Valley, and the
Bright and Morning Star. Only He is the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
A few
weeks ago my family and I attended a concert put on by the Air Force Band
group, Celtic Aire. I enjoyed many of their selections, but one in particular
made me sit up and take notice. They played and sang a song written for a
September 11 memorial service at the Pentagon entitled 'There Are No Words'. You can hear it on the Youtube link above. Written and sung by Kitty Donohoe, the somber chorus sings,
There are no words,
There is no song,
Is there a balm that can heal these wounds that will
last a lifetime long?
Sitting
in my seat, in the hushed stillness of that theater, as we all thought back to
that horrific day, I found myself wanting to jump up on top of my seat and
shout, 'Yes! There is a balm in Gilead! And His name is Jesus!'
He is what the world needs. And since we have Him we have what the world needs. And nobody else will ever be like Him again.
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