Q. Who is Jesus?

A. A common, often fatal myth about Jesus is perpetrated in Western culture: he’s a marginalized, Galilean hippie-peasant in a prom dress who rocks out to the Spice Girls while drinking decaf.

Myth #2: You can beat Jesus up.

Setting The Record Straight

Marginalized? Not at all. Back in his day, he was tremendously popular and influential… that’s what got him killed! He was doing miracles, attracting followers, taking on “The Man” (the Jewish religious-ruling establishment called the Pharisees). People either loved him or hated him… no in between. They wanted to make him king by force, and then they wanted to kill him. What they didn’t want to do was ignore him.
Hippie? Jesus loved and taught peace, but he wasn’t afraid of confrontation. He took on the Pharisees of his day in sharp, verbal combat, leaving them confounded every time. He entered the Jewish Temple and tore the place up, turning over tables and businesses. Jesus loved the environment - the Bible tells us that he created it for himself. But he loved people more - they were the point of his coming. They had this problem - sin - that was keeping them from heaven and sending them to burn forever in hell. Jesus came to fix that by dying the death we should have died so we can live a life giving glory to God - not subterfuge.
Prom Dress? Makeup? Spice Girls? Decaf? Jesus was the manliest man that ever lived. His first miracle? Making wine… good wine. His last miracle on earth? Flying. In between? Healing people, raising people from the dead, ordering demons around. Oh yeah, he died too… and then was resurrected. And about that death… Roman crucifixion is the most brutal form of execution that exists. The Romans wouldn’t even do it to their own citizens - that’s how bad it was. Jesus not only willingly died but went through all that torture silently - without complaining.
And you think you can beat him up? “Nobody takes my life from me. I lay it down of my own accord.” Jesus was beat up and crucified only because he allowed it. You really think you can take on God? That you can beat up the one who conquered death? This guy rose from the grave. Good luck with that.

So What?

Jesus was a real guy. Can’t argue with that. A Jewish historian named Josephus even wrote about him. He existed, he taught, he died. While he was teaching he amassed a rather large crowd of followers. Followers that freaked out and hid when Jesus was killed. So why would they decide to start a religion? Put yourself in their place - your leader (who you thought was going to become King) was just killed and his ideas black-listed. You’ve lost all hope, because everything is contingent on him being alive.

Look at what happens next: Christianity is formed, and starts growing, even under threat of death (by stoning and crucifixion - both quite painful and torturous). The effect (Christianity growing) is clear and undisputable. What was the cause? What gets a bunch of frightened, discouraged Jews to stop hiding, regain confidence, and start telling the world about Jesus? The only possible answer - Jesus did what he said he would do and rose from the dead. Jesus is real, Jesus is alive, Jesus is powerful.

A good question to be asking right now: why did Jesus have to die? Why did he give his life up willingly? What’s the point?

Answer: sin.

We live in a culture of moral relativism that says that there is no such thing as sin and that we get to define what “good” is by our preferences. But that doesn’t make any sense… rape is always wrong, right? Mugging and beating up old ladies is always wrong, right? So somewhere these “absolutes” must be defined.

You’ve heard the “Golden Rule”, right? “He who has the gold makes the rules.” Or, “he who is the most powerful gets to define what sin is.” By definition, that “most powerful being” is God. And in reality, all God really wants is for you to see him as “most powerful” and see him as “the best” (because he is), and so “sin” is really simply “treasuring anything else above God.”

Some examples:

Stealing. Pretty obvious - you treasure that thing that’s not yours more than you treasure God, so you decide to take it.
Cheating. Also pretty obvious - you treasure that good grade more than you treasure God.
Lying. You treasure your reputation more than you treasure God.
Sex (outside of marriage). You treasure that girl (or boy) more than you treasure God.

And for those of you who think you’re perfect… Pride. You treasure yourself more than you treasure God.

Everybody’s sinful. Which means that everyone has impugned God’s glory. A just judge must punish sin, and God is just, so he must punish us. And so we all deserve death. Well, worse than that - we all deserve Hell, which is a real place, it’s very HOT, and it’s where you’re tormented consciously for eternity (sorry, no annihilation).

Hell is the just response to our sin - it's what a good judge should do - but God has mercifully provided a way out...he came down to earth in human form as Jesus (fully God and fully man at the same time), lived a perfect life, and then died. He died the death we deserve, meaning that God punished Jesus for our sin, so that we wouldn't be punished. He lived the perfect life that we could never live, which means that when God looks at us, he doesn't see our sin but sees Jesus' perfection, and counts that as ours.

But here’s the catch - we’re not all saved automatically, and once we are, we don’t just get to keep on sinning. Jesus died for all who would trust in him. What's required from us is simple: repent of your sin (hate it, and stop doing it) and start treasuring and trusting God (start doing the opposite of sinning). Trust God by treasuring him. This is what we were created for - treasuring God above all things. Believe him when he says that he is far more satisfying than stealing, cheating, lying, or sex. Or drugs or alcohol or TV or World of Warcraft or Nintendo Wii or getting good grades or finding a good spouse or living comfortably and retiring early...and seek after him with all your heart.