Monday, November 21, 2011

The MEDIOCRE Jesus...of Christianity

The word mediocre is defined as:

Of only ordinary or moderate quality; neither good nor bad; BARELY adequate.

We use this word to describe the efforts of those who do not apply themselves to a task at hand.  We use this word to describe our children's efforts when they bring home report cards laden with C's.  But could this word also be applied to a more celestial figure, namely Jesus?

How do we know if something is mediocre?  A label of mediocrity can only be applied when a purpose/task is defined.  Therefore, if the leadership of the CEO of a company produces break-even results for the fiscal year and profitability was the task then we can label the CEO as mediocre.  So what does this have to do with Jesus?

What was Jesus' purpose?
Why was Jesus born?  For what reason was Jesus sent?  What was Jesus' purpose?:

1 John 3:8b
The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

Here we have the clearly defined purpose of Jesus.  This is the reason for his coming.  The reason was 'to destroy the works of the devil'.  But what does that mean?  We can only know if Jesus is fulfilling the task if we understand the task.  So what does it mean to destroy the works of the devil?  The word destroy here is the Greek word 'luo' and it means to 'to reverse the result of tying by untying - to untie, to loosen'.  Okay now we have clarity; so Jesus' reason for coming to earth was to REVERSE THE EFFECTS of the devil.  So when did Satan begin to have an effect over mankind?  It began in the garden and it was at the point of the fall of man that Satan began his work.

What does the work of Satan produce in mankind?
We can see the effects of evil all around us.  Murder, hypocrisy, fornication, and every other thing that God regards as sin.  The results of this effect is shown in the bible:
 
1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Ephesians 2:2
...in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

2 Timothy 2:26
...and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

Revelation 12:9
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

From these verse we can confirm that the works of the devil are:
Corrupting the whole world
Working in the sons of disobedience
Captivating mankind to do his will
Deceiving the whole world

From these we can further deduce that this is the cause of the condition of our world today.  Now we can precipitate a definition for the works of the devil:

The devil works in mankind holding them captive and deceiving them, thus binding them to corruption and rendering them disobedient.

This is the work of Satan.

Is Jesus fulfilling his purpose?
If the purpose of Jesus is to UNDO the effects of the devil, I ask you, honestly, is he effective at that task?  Consider that by Christianity's measurement there are BILLIONS of souls in hell RIGHT NOW..  Why are they there?  Well they are there because they are unsaved. So if there are billions unsaved and  Jesus' purpose was to undo the effects of the devil that MUST mean that he is mediocre.  But we have a problem, consider:

Isaiah 55:11
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

God is speaking here and he is saying something important.  Who is the WORD OF GOD?:

John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The word of God IS Jesus.  Okay, so what does God say about this Word?:

'It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.'

Okay, so what is the desire of God?  To UNDO ALL (not SOME but all) that the devil has done.  What has the devil done to mankind? He 'holds them captive, deceiving them, thus binding them to corruption and rendering them disobedient'.  My question to you is, do any die in this bound up state?  Yes, billions do.  So what does that mean?  It means either Jesus is mediocre (only ABLE to save a few) or that there is work yet to be accomplished in the future.

Yeah, but...
I can hear it now, the fervent cries of free will!  Okay consider this analogy.  You go to the store to purchase a toaster.  You do this because you want toasted bread.  You unbox the toaster, plug it in and begin to toast.  Question, why do you use a toaster to do this?  Because a toaster IS SUPPOSE TO TOAST BREAD!  That is its PURPOSE.  Now imagine if you will this brand new toaster begins toasting, and out of ten slices of bread the toaster ONLY toasts four slices.  What do you do?  Do you take the six slices of bread back to the bakery and say 'Mr. Baker sir, this here bread don't toast'?  That would be ridiculous because you would KNOW that that CAPACITY to toast bread was NOT IN THE BREAD ITSELF.  That capacity is ONLY found in the toaster.  If we applied our ideas of salvation to the bread we think that the  toasting process had SOMETHING to do with the bread. When in fact:

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

The grace is from GOD and the faith is from JESUS.  And to further deny you ANY part in this process he says:

Ephesians 2:9
...not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

This 'not a result of works' includes your so called 'acceptance' of him.  The work of Jesus is to 'toast' every man.  Consider:

Mark 9:49
“For everyone will be salted with fire.

So will Jesus be successful in his work of UNDOING all the works of the devil?  We have these witnesses:

1 Timothy 4:10
For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

A greater witness is this:

1 John 4:14
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

And since the Word of God 'will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it', I DARE TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS WILL SAVE THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!

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