Jesus: Who IS This Guy? Part 1

Spirituality Column #96
September 9, 2008
Current! In Carmel (IN) newspaper
Current! In Westfield (IN) newspaper

Jesus: Who IS This Guy? Part 1
By Bob Walters

(First of two parts)

Can you explain who Jesus Christ is?

No, I mean, seriously, if someone tells you Jesus was just a prophet or was just a man in history famous for giving good advice and being crucified or was a “sinner like me” or isn’t really God or is “my homeboy” or is a myth or is just “your personal opinion,” can you explain who Jesus Christ is, really?

Without your face turning red and your tongue getting tied?

We Christians tend to mangle our message and get our feet tangled up in church buzzwords and scriptural chimera when we attempt to explain Jesus Christ to non-Christians. They have no idea what we’re talking about. “Blood of the Lamb … Huh?”

Or we get mad. The irony is that Satan thrives on both the misinformation that makes us angry, and the fact that anger makes us poor witnesses for Christ. Funny how that works.

Our efforts are further hampered because the world … that would be the Fallen World which is the turf of Satan, you know, this place where we all live … works overtime to confuse the issue of who Jesus truly is.

So who is He?

For this conversation, let’s start with the fact that Jesus is Satan’s Public Enemy No. 1. Hence, the world works hard to confuse us about Jesus’ identity. Non-believers are easily suckered into accepting – and too many believers are not equipped to refute – incorrect information about the basic facts of Christ.

It is critically important that Christians are able to explain that …

… Jesus is God in human form. He is God’s expression and assurance of love, and our invitation to a relationship with God. Jesus is God’s proof that God created and loves each one of us individually. Jesus really lived, really died, really came back to life, really ascended into heaven and He really lives.

… The Cross – Christ crucified and risen – was about God’s love, not about God’s wrath.

… Jesus is mankind’s only link with a loving, personal God; Satan promotes our separation from God.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will explain the “only link” remark next week in the conclusion of this column.