Still in Need of a Savior

Here we are, 2000 years past the humble beginnings of the man born God. 2000 years since the birth of the one we call Savior, the Christ, the Messiah. But what has changed in those 2000 years? How much is different since that night in the stable in Bethlehem? Can we say we are better people now than we were 2000 years ago? Or are we still in need of a Savior?

Well 2000 years is a lot of history to cover in one short night, so I will simply try to summarize and draw some comparisons. First off, 2000 years ago people were sinners. I say this because I have heard the report from John the Baptist calling people to repent of their sins. I say this because I know that the Jews had an annual Day of Atonement festival where the sins of the people where covered for another year. I say this because of the outrage against Jesus when he said to the paralytic your sins have been forgiven. They were ready to stone him for they said who can forgive sins but God alone. Indeed, it is only God who can forgive sins, because sin by definition is a moral lapse, a falling short. The question would be falling short of what, and the answer is falling short of the righteousness of God. You see, in a sense, sin is a failure to be perfect like God, therefore all sin is against God. So to sum it up, 2000 years ago people weren’t perfect. They needed a Savior.

But how about us. We are 2000 years on the receiving end of God’s Greatest gift. Have we as a people changed? Have we finally conquered that sin demon? Well, I feel that I can speak for everyone when I say that we are not perfect. Maybe some of us are better than others… or at least we think so, but seriously, we are all in the same boat. We still make mistakes. We still do not live as God would have us to. We still do not put others above ourselves, we still do not care for the hurting and the needy, we still do not love others as Christ loved the Church, we still do not love God above everything else in this world. We put a host of other things ahead of God. It may be our family, or our job, our hobbies, like hunting or fishing, or our sports; it may be our money or even simply put, it may be our rest that has more standing than God, for we put all these things ahead of him, and then if there is time, maybe we’ll squeeze him in there, just for good measure. You know, we are still in need of a savior.

Secondly 2000 years ago, people had a wrong conception of God. The Greeks and Romans had a multiplicity of Gods, including their own Emperors from time to time. Many smaller nations thought they could make a God out of wood, or metal, or stone and it could exert some type of influence on the surrounding culture. Some cultures including many native Americans believed that the earth itself was God, while the Israelites thought that God was a bean counter, counting up all the good versus all the bad. They thought they could work their way to heaven. They developed a whole class of people whose main function, whether intentional or not was to make the rest of the Jews feel like they would never be good enough to get to heaven. They were sure that they could live a life that was pleasing to God by setting up such stringent legalistic rules that yoked a nation into bondage. It was into all of these different views of God that Jesus came, because they needed a savior.

How about now, now that we have seen the God of love in action, dying on the cross. Have we understood God well enough that we can no longer say we need a savior? Consider the pluralism that has invaded this world such that many believe you may believe in whatever you like and it is fine. You can choose any road you want to get to God. If that was true, then all the roads they followed 2000 years ago would have worked. But they didn’t and they don’t. Jesus said, “no-one comes to father but through me.” He is the only road. Our world is still so lost on this point. Even the Church has come up with tons of different theologies and ideologies trying to devise a Christless way to God. Because we know that if we accept his way, we have to submit, and humility is not our strongest suit. In the 2000 years since Christ came the roads to God have not become fewer, but more, which means more and more people are missing the truth about God. We are still so much in need of a savior.

Although there are many points I could make on this topic, let me make just one more. 2000 years ago people didn’t realize that they could know God. God was something to know about, to fear, to honor and respect, but not to know. Perhaps a few people, like David, or Moses could know him, but most people could not. God was so distant, and that was okay. Most people were too afraid to know God. This might be because Biblically speaking everyone that God knew, he gave them something to do. He told Abraham to move, he told Moses to lead his people out, He told Gideon to fight, He told the prophets to speak and sometimes do ridiculous things. Yet it was clear that not everyone could know God, only those select few. Then Jesus came, God made man. God came to earth so that people could know him and touch him and talk and walk and eat with him. He came to earth to laugh and to cry with them, to heal and to bless them. Jesus came not so that he could know them, but so that they….so that we could know him. Remember, that was how it started in the garden, man and God having fellowship together. Once we messed it up, he kicked us out of the garden, but he didn’t cut off the fellowship, we did. And he came to restore it. Because they needed a savior.

So how are we doing on this project? Do we understand God better, do we know him. Surely some of us do, yet look at our world. Most of Europe and a growing number in America believe that we can never know God, because they believe there is no God! We have gone in the wrong direction! Countless other religions try to teach you how to tap into the God potential because “God is in you”. They make God to be nothing more than a part of the human spirit. They misunderstand that God is a person who wants you to know him, not simply a special part of your soul. He is the creator of the universe who created you to know him. He created you to so that you could know his love and love him back. He created you for the purpose of being in a love relationship with him. And yet we fail to know him. We think we cannot. We may be able to do some of the right things. We may be able to say the right prayers or go to the right services, or pay the right tithes but the best well get is “ I hope to see him in heaven someday.” I hope so. Jesus came so that you can know so. He came so that you can know him. And yes that may mean he asks you to do something. But the first thing he asks you to do is to love him. But listen, it’s not something that he hasn’t already done for you. He leads by example and he wants you to see how much he loves you. That is why he came down off his throne in heaven and took the form of a little baby. And the child grew, God grew as a man, experiencing all that we experience just to show you he could understand what we go through. He can say he has been there. And then to show you how much he loved you, he died in your place. He thinks you’re something to die for. You mean that much to him. That is his level of love for you. He wants you to know him. Because after 2000 years, we are still in need of a savior.

But listen to these words from Titus chapter 2

2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all, training us to renounce impiety and worldly passions, and in the present age to live lives that are self-controlled, upright, and godly, while we wait for the blessed hope and the manifestation of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He it is who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds.

Thanks be to God, he has given us Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh that we may know the savior, God in flesh and trust him to truly save us from ourselves. Thank you Jesus.