It’s About Jesus

“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2, NASB). In last week’s article, “Making Disciples for Jesus,” I emphasized that those who believe are to live by the teaching of Jesus. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus commands His disciples to make disciples of the believers by teaching them to obey what He says. This means that it is not good enough to memorize the scriptures; rather the commands of Jesus are to be our teacher and guide helping to determine the lifestyle that we live. Our life is to be a witness/testimony about who Jesus is and what he requires of those who follow Him. The aim of this article is to help us to clarify why we are to make Jesus the focus our worship. Does too much attention to agendas help people to develop their relationship to Christ? How can the church provide the people with a meaningful worship experience? The motivation for this article comes from a conversation that my daughter and I had. She related to me that there are a lot of young people who are turning away from the church. She stated that some people are tired of people in the church, especially leaders, who have their own selfish agendas. These people manipulate scriptures to promote their own selfish agendas. On the other hand, there are people that simply want to encounter Jesus during the worship experience. There is too much time spent on promoting someone’s agenda. People want and need worship experience in which they can feel and enjoy the presence of God. You see it’s not about our agendas. Some years ago a song was recorded. Some of the words say, “It’s not about us, it’s all about Jesus. Thus, the life and the worship experience are about Jesus. Having thought about our conversation, I was reminded of the words of Paul. He says to the church at Corinth: “For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2, NASB). Paul says this because the church at Corinth is a divisive congregation. One of the areas in which they are divided is on which leader they follow (1:12). Paul asks, “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul” (1:13)? It’s not about Apollos, Cephas, or Paul. It’s about Jesus. Now, let me return to the conversation that I had with my daughter Abra. She mentioned that people use the worship experience to promote their own agenda. Where am I going with this? America is a divided nation and Donald John Trump is not the cause of the divisions. In fact, Donald Trump is doing a good thing. Joseph, are you crazy! How can you say that he is doing something good? Well people, this is how I see it. There are a lot of divisions in our country. These divisions are not new. Some of them have been since the beginning of this country. Equal rights, immigration, and religious freedom are issues that divide our country. The Declaration of Independence declares that people are born with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, we are divided over when life begins, or to put it another way, we debate at what stage of development does the developing fetus have a right to life? Thus we have the abortion debate. Similarly, who has the right to take a life? Thus, there is the debate over capital punishment. What does health insurance have to do with the right to life? What does education have to do with the right to pursue happiness? These are the agendas that people too often bring up in worship service. Promoting our agendas during worship does little or anything to promote the worship of God and the praise of Jesus Christ. In Acts 2 Peter preaches a sermon to promote Jesus. Let us look at this sermon, and it is my prayer and hope that the readers will gain an appreciation for the need in our churches to worship God and not to promote our agendas because it’s all about Jesus. In Acts 1 we learn that Jesus has ascended to heaven. The disciples and “the women” along with other brethren gather in a house waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit comes and the people begin to speak with tongues unknown to them. It is the Day of Pentecost and Jews from various places are present to celebrate this holy day. When the visitors hear them speaking in tongues they think that those speaking are drunk. Peter stands up and preaches a sermon. The significant thing is this. Peter does not address the people’s agenda: These people are drunk. Why are they drunk? Why are they drunk so early in the morning? Peter preaches with the aim of leading people to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Peter tells the crowd that these people are speaking in tongues because they are given this ability by the Holy Spirit. They are not speaking to promote themselves and their personal agenda. They are fulfilling the words of the prophet Joel. The people are talking about Jesus of Nazareth. They are proclaiming that Jesus is the Christ; the Messiah that the Jews have been waiting for. Jesus comes to provide a way for all people to have a relationship with God. He does this by dying on a cross for the forgiveness of sins which is necessary for people to be restored to God. Debating issues cannot lead to Godliness. The church is guilty of trying to make people conform to their personal beliefs about certain issues. Even if their beliefs are right, emphasizing their beliefs and seeking to have laws passed that promote their agenda is ineffective. Let me give three reasons why I believe this to be true. First, the mindset of the people must be changed. Paul writes, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Rom. 8:5-7, NASB). When we seek to promote our personal agendas we fail because others do not share our beliefs, values, and world view. How can we bring people to a worldview that agrees with the mind of God? There is a way that we can change people’s views, and it is not about laws written in a book. Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek” (Rom. 1:16, NASB). In this passage Paul is doing what Peter does in Acts 2. Both of them present the gospel to the people and the people change their mind about their own thinking. It is not about a good lesson outline. It’s not about a style of preaching and worship. It’s not even about our morals and ethics. It’s about Jesus. When people hear the good news that Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins and through Him we have hope of eternal life they have a change of mind. They no longer conform to this world because they have a new mind and adopt new behaviors (Rom. 12:1-2). Finally, people respond positively to love. Putting people down and condemning them does not attract people to Christ. It only drives them away. Condemning people is from a fleshly mind, and such behavior does not come from the Spirit of God. People respond favorably to God when they discover that God is love, and “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8, NASB). Our conversation and our worship must be focused on Jesus. It’s not about us, it’s about Jesus.