Are We Better If Christ Had Stayed?
Over the years, there were times I used the bulletin space to add comments to sermons I preached previously, or to emphasize a point in more detail for the sermon I preached on that Sunday morning. Today, I look back to last week and the sermon A Sad Day for Galilee. There is not a true Christian who does not wish that Christ were present with us at this very moment. We long for Christ to come, but also wonder what it would be like if we could live in the physical presence of Jesus as the disciples in the first century did. Would we immensely enjoy His presence and understand all His words, or would we be shortsighted and weak in faith as the disciples often were?
The answers to these questions are not difficult. We not only have sufficient samplings of Christ teachings in the Bible, but we also have the advantage of the Bible authors’ examination and explanations of His teachings. Along with these are centuries of solid commentaries written by faithful expositors of the scriptures. These extra availabilities are the work of the Holy Spirit using men to guide us into the truths of God’s word. We can know Christ because looking into the scriptures is like looking directly into His eyes. When we examine what we have compared to what the disciples did not have, there is no excuse for us to fall short of their understanding of Christ’s words.
What is our excuse for not experiencing the same types of advancements that caused Christianity to circle the globe and become the greatest religion known to earth’s inhabitants? There is no excuse. Our failure centers in our lack of dedication to spend time learning the word and gaining strength by our fellowship with God’s people in His church. Our failure is weak discipleship without conviction to live as Christ commanded.
This reminds me of the rich man in hell and his conversation with Abraham. The rich man suffered torment and asked Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead as a warning for his brothers to believe in Christ and avoid the awful punishment of that place. Abraham told him his brothers had Moses and the prophets as their witnesses. If they would not believe their witness, they would not believe the warnings of one returned from the dead. There are extensive important teachings from this story in Luke 16. One of these we should not miss is that the Bible is the best and only way to obtain knowledge of Christ. If the scriptures are not sufficient, we have no hope of salvation.
Would we be better Christians if Christ sat in front of us and conversed with us daily? No, there is no proof we would. Like thousands in Galilee that were only interested is satisfying selfish lusts, so we reject the brightest light we have. Thus, we have gross lifestyles that have infiltrated the church and threaten to destroy it from the inside. We punch holes in the bottom of salvation’s boat and expect we will never sink. We are sinking. Christian feet are wet while we claim we ride in Jesus’ boat. It is a sad day for us as our boat goes down. Salvation looks us in the eyes while we are too busy to do anything other than look at us. The world says to look for our authentic self. Christ tells us to reject all such thoughts. The Christian life hides with Christ in God. Unless you are what Christ is—unless Christ is what you claim to be, you neither know Him nor your authentic self.
Would you be better off if Christ were within sight of your physical eyes? No, only further condemned for aggravated rejection of His truth.
Pastor V. Mark Smith