11A Worship

Is Jesus necessary? Many of us who have been immersed in Christian faith, and in the Christian church, answer “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Others aren’t so sure, or they outright reject such a rigid response. “I’m cultivating my relationship with God, growing closer to Him, I will be welcomed by God into whatever comes after this life, without Jesus, on my own, through my kindness and good deeds, by following some other faith, guru, or spiritual guide. I don’t need Jesus.”

Christian faith, humbly and yet boldly, states that Jesus is the only way to cultivate a relationship with God, to grow closer to Him, to be welcomed into the life God provides beyond this life. That exclusive claim is not of our own making … it is confirmed time and again in the Bible. Acts 4, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men/women by which we must be saved.” 1 John 2, “No one who denies the Son has the Father.” There is no way (without doing great violence to the Bible) of getting around the necessity of Jesus. That’s why here at Grace we pray that God would help us be a Jesus Church! In the mystery, wonder, and love of God the way (Jesus) is narrow and His love for us is wide.