Passion or Person?

A man went up to a preacher and asked him why people were so consumed by the death of Jesus. "There is so much more to Jesus than His death," he explained. 
"Talk about His LIFE!  Talk about His TEACHINGS!  Talk about His great EXAMPLE!  
THAT'S the kind of man that men will follow!"

The preacher responded, "Then you will FOLLOW Him if I tell you about Him?"
"Yes, I will."
The preacher then said, "Let’s take the first step.  The first thing that you need to know about Jesus is that He never sinned.  Can you do that?"
"Of course not!" the man replied.  "I sin every day."

Then the preacher said, "Sir, you don’t need an EXAMPLE; you need a SAVIOR!"

There IS a lot of discussion about the PASSION (suffering) of the Christ.  And, there IS a lot more that we need to know about the PERSON of the Christ, too!  Yet, we must recognize the primary reason why Jesus came to this world.  Before Jesus was born into the world, an angel informed Joseph that Mary would "bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).  During His earthly ministry Jesus often stated His primary mission: "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10).  It was in His Passion (suffering) on the cross that Jesus "bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness; by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24).

Our GREATEST need is a Savior to save us from our sins!  "For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23), and "the wages of sin is DEATH, 
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).  Christ will save those who: place their trust in Him (Hebrews 11:6), repent of their sins (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sin (Acts 2:38).  And, Christ will CONTINUE to save those who: CONTINUE to seek to "walk in His steps" (1 Peter 2:21) – who continue to follow Him as a way of life (1 John 1:7). 

As someone has well said:

If our greatest need was for information........God would have sent an educator.
If our greatest need was for technology.........God would have sent a scientist.
If our greatest need was for pleasure............God would have sent an entertainer.
If our greatest need was for money...............God would have sent an economist.

But since our GREATEST need was (is) forgiveness........God sent a Savior!

"Behold - the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29).  
OBEY HIM - so that He will wash away your sins.  THEN FOLLOW HIS EXAMPLE - 
as a way of life for the rest of YOUR life! 

God bless you!

-- David A. Sargent / Sid Dye

Church of Christ at Creekwood 
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama  36695  

To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:

                      HTML version:  subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net
                   TEXT version:  subscribe-livingwater-text@lyris.dundee.net

Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchsearch.org

Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org