The Time of Decision

The 60th anniversary of VE Day will soon be upon us. Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared "We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing." However, before the war with Japan was over, Churchill had been dumped from office by the British public who thought that Clement Atlee was the man to "win the peace".

On May 5th our nation again faces some big choices as yet another general election looms. I shall be watching this one with interest as in the North Cornwall constituency an ex-student of mine is standing as a parliamentary candidate. Churchill's definition of a parliamentary candidate was succint: "He is asked to stand, he wants to sit, he is expected to lie."

Several thousand years ago a nation's leader assembled his people at Shechem. In his final official act, Joshua issued this challenge to the tribes of Israel: "Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped... and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..." (Joshua Ch 24 v14-15)

I'm not an ambassador for any political party but I do believe that both as a nation and as individuals we have to decide who we will serve. Like the Apostle Paul writing in 2 Corinthians 5 I am here as Christ's ambassador. And it seems to me when choosing who has our allegiance there are four key questions we need to ask:

Who is he? Can I trust him?

So who is Jesus? We have no DNA file. No birth certificate. No dental records. No school reports. No tax returns. No recording of his voice. No film footage. No portraits. We don't have anything he wrote or made. But on the other hand, he's the most famous person who's ever lived. The most debated person in history. There are loads of films about him and libraries filled with books about him. And just about everybody has a theory about his true identity. Some people say he was no more than a good man. Others say he was a revolutionary. Or a magician. Or a con man. For some he's a mystic, a spiritual guru. For others, a myth. For many teenagers, he's just a swear word.

The incredible thing is he claimed to be the Son of God and you have to decide the legitimacy of that claim. CS Lewis, (pictured left) who was a professor at Cambridge University and once an agnostic, examined that claim: "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, or you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to." (Quoted from Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Pub 1960.)

What has he done? What is his track record?

Jesus' track record includes teachings that are still relevant 2,000 years on. Teachings that still impact our world and revolutionise people's lives. It includes miracles that range from healing a blind man to raising Lazarus from the dead. He had the power to calm the stormy sea and to turn water into wine. It includes an amazing death on a Roman cross outside the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was crucified that first Easter, as Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ" graphically shows. It also includes the awesome fact that the tomb was found empty and that Jesus was seen alive by a wide variety of witnesses ranging from individuals to small groups and a crowd of over 500.

Jesus also claimed that all that he had done was for you and me. He taught that his death was for you and me. He, the innocent one, had taken the punishment for our sins. He had willingly given his life so that we could have our sins forgiven.

What does he offer? What's in it for me?

The list is endless. The following can all be found in 2 Corinthians Ch 5 verses 15 to 21 and Ch 6 v1 to 2.
He offers a new identity - "I am a new creation".
He offers a new purpose - "to live for Him"
He offers a new job - "the ministry of reconciliation"
He offers a new forgiveness - "not counting people's sins against them"
He offers a new relationship - I am "in Him"
He offers a new goal - to become "the righteousness of God"
He offers a new blessing - "the favour of God"
He offers a new hope - "now is the day of salvation"
Who wouldn't want to follow Jesus?

What will it cost?

2 Corinthians 5 verse 15 says that "those who live should no longer live for themselves." Jesus wants 100% of me. He doesn't want me to be half hearted. He wants total commitment. Jesus is not calling you to be religious or to be nice but to live your whole life 100% for Him. Jesus gave His all for you. He expects all in return.

Joshua said to his people: "If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

The people answered: "Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! We too will serve the Lord, because He is our God."

As we think about where our allegiance lies in the coming days, it is my prayer that we as individuals and our nation as a whole will choose to serve the Lord.

(Adapted with permission from a sermon first preached by Phil Hadley at Efford Christian Fellowship in Plymouth on Sunday 24th April 2005)

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