Jesus Has a Purpose for Humanity

If you ask a group to give a quick description of who Jesus is, you will receive as many answers as you have people. Some common threads will be weaved throughout the language of the people but still much will be different. Due to much of modern western evangelicalism, the picture of Jesus that has been painted is one that is both false to the world and to the church. Many would say that Jesus main goal (as expressed by his church) is that people conform to the rules of God. They may excuse Jesus for never perpetrating this call, but will definitely blame the church for doing so and rightly. We are called the image of God and so our actions will reflect upon Jesus. When viewed through this lens, many wonder what is different about Jesus anyway? Among scientists, atheists and other religions, what Good is Jesus? Is he different and if so, how?If you ask a group to give a quick description of who Jesus is, you will receive as many answers as you have people. Some common threads will be weaved throughout the language of the people but still much will be different. Due to much of modern western evangelicalism, the picture of Jesus that has been painted is one that is both false to the world and to the church. Many would say that Jesus main goal (as expressed by his church) is that people conform to the rules of God. They may excuse Jesus for never perpetrating this call, but will definitely blame the church for doing so and rightly. We are called the image of God and so our actions will reflect upon Jesus. When viewed through this lens, many wonder what is different about Jesus anyway? Among scientists, atheists and other religions, what Good is Jesus? Is he different and if so, how?

 

  We live in a broken world, clearly in need of restoration. We have broken lives, broken homes, broken creation, broken relationships, broken governments, broken views of those different from ourselves and simply an over all brokenness. Humanity has continuously sought to answer the question of how to restore it. Science and religion are two main expressions of trying to restore humanity. We are led then to ask: “What Good Is Jesus among science and other religions?”

READ- Luke 4:16-21; Isaiah 58:10; Here we see a picture of Jesus declaring his intentions for His coming. Conformity was not on the list he read.

 

Jesus offers restoration for the sake of others

Jesus has a purpose for humanity. His purpose is far deeper than any other religious figure could ever dream up. His purpose for humanity is to be restored, not destroyed, not thrown out but to be restored- fully restored.

We humans are to blame for the chaos in this world, not God. We are the ones who chose this world to be broken, not Jesus. Jesus hates what this world has become just as much as we do. His heart is broken for the poor. His heart is broken for the dying children in remote countries. His heart aches for the AIDS victims. His mind worries over the homeless. He desperately longs for the restoration to happen. He deeply desires us to turn from the falleness and brokenness of this world and to be healed in this life and the next. His desire is that once we are fully restored, we can then be the hands and feet of His restoration project.

For too long, generations of Christians have missed their role in this process. For too long, I have missed my role in this process, let it be so no more! Jesus has a purpose for humanity, this is the heart cry of this generation: real, authentic living that brings positive change for all humanity. This world is seeking desperately after a purpose for humanity. Why are we here? What is the reason for my life? Is it all to live and die, or is there a greater meaning to it all?

When we compare Jesus to other religious leaders or even other religions, they fall massively short of the bar Jesus sets for humanity and his intention on restoring humanity. Many think that Jesus followers have ruined the true meaning of Christ’s life and to some degree they are right, but Jesus, when looked at as He is, not taking into account some current feelings about his followers, he is purely motivated by love for the world. Other religious figures had no such raw depth of care for humanity to them as Jesus has. Most religious efforts are selfishly motivated, seeking the best life for yourself by doing x, y and z. Love the poor because it will help you. Find your chi so you can connect to the great gods and ancestors of the past, present and future. Take care of the environment or the “Great Mother” will wipe you out. Do good works to earn Allah’s affections. At their core most religions encourage selfish motivations for good deeds. Jesus is different. Once we meet Him, experience Him, feel Him, love Him and decide to follow Him, we simply desire to do good works. We know deep down, we are just as broken as the ones we serve; yet Christ brought us out of that pit. Inside, we know that God deeply loves the people we serve, so we love them. Jesus purposed that we would love others and desire their restoration as a response to His love and affection for us, not an obligation to gain his love. John 3:17 states “For God did not send his son in the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world would be saved through Him.”

The verses read above speak to how He desired to do this saving. His purpose for humanity was the restoration of the broken. He stated in Mark 2:17: “And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

When you look deeply into other religions, the motivation for humanistic activity is not motivated by an already achieved love, but rather towards a love hoped for. The “Christian cults” are the very same. Good works achieve love of the Diety. Many have twisted the Gospel message into the same lie, but I assure you that Jesus purpose for humanity is restoration by restored people filled with His power, not the endless doing of good to hopefully one day achieve “holiness status”. Jesus is seeking restored people to become restorers

 

Jesus is proven by Science

First, let me state that Science and Faith are not opposed to each other. In fact for millennia they coexisted and helped draw stronger conclusions when working side by side. The battle is between naturalism and theism. “Naturalism is intrinsically atheistic because it sees nothing outside the natural or material world” Sean McDowell (Is God Just a Human Invention?). Many scientists are in fact naturalists, and so they bend their science to the realm of only that which exists within the material world. Thus the battle ensues, but science is not at odds with faith.

In the naturalistic scientific mind, the earth was created from the “Big Bang” theory. They agree that something cataclysmic had to happen in order to create the world, but all of nature then began working together to create what we now have. When broken down, many naturalistic scientists have come to the conclusion that there must have been a pre-existing atom sized point of the universe from which all expanded out. What this looked like and how it expanded without outside force cannot be explained. The ‘Big Bang’ theory comes from this idea that at one point in time there was a large expansion, which then created the universe the way in which we now experience it. The core premise of this theory however is that it was accidental; to say anything else would suggest a conscience working it’s will upon the expansion. If we are all accidents after all, who cares if a few die off? Shouldn't we control the population through genocide and abortions? Shouldn’t we then live for our own happiness, rather than those of others? The idea of humans serving humans flies in the face of survival of the fittest. In fact, those who are strongest should be overpowering the weak. We shouldn't care, evolutionisticly speaking about the poor, or the beaten down. Yet we do. Why? Because deep down, we believe that there must be purpose for humanity, all of humanity not just a select few. In our core, it doesn’t sit well to not have compassion. When push comes to shove, we simply can’t rectify this in our minds. We make purpose even out of a system that refutes purpose.

Planned Parenthood and their abortion track were started for the purpose of population control[1]. The founders thought if they could get the black women to kill their babies, whites could remain supreme. Today they walk around as if they are doing favors for the world by letting the women kill their unborn children, but they are still fulfilling their main purpose: controlling the black population. I bet if you were to look into the records of the years Planned Parenthood has been around you would see they have strategically infiltrated black communities, not to help them but to destroy them. Yet, many tout the greatness of this organization. In a country that deeply cares for humanity, I am shocked that we have missed this and have failed to highlight this heinous reality. Survival of the fittest is not the answer to humanities desperate need for salvation; salvation from war, salvation from famine, salvation from poverty or even salvation for eternity, because this concept is the antithesis of salvation and of purpose.

In essence then, naturalistic scientists state that we came from a purposeless genesis and we develop and design our own purpose from our own reasoning. Yet, in the same breath echo Charles Darwin when he says: “The horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy” (Autobiography of Charles Darwin and Selected Letters). With this thought process, C.S. Lewis states: “If the value of reasoning is in doubt, you cannot try to establish is by reasoning”. Yet that is what naturalistic science attempts to do.

Science rather than fighting against faith actually enhances it. We believe in a higher power designing all things. There would then be order, rules and certain things in place that cause the universe to continue to exist and yes even to expand. Take for example the science of fine-tuning. In this scientific study, scientists have found that there are hundreds of necessary “dials” that are tuned to the exact frequency to allow life on earth. For example, the tilt of the earth’s axis is exactly at 23.5 degrees, any more or any less and no life on earth. We have the exact percentage of oxygen we need to survive- 21%, any more or any less and there would be no life on earth. The oceans we have on the planet are exactly 3.4% salt as is the human blood stream, any more salt or any less salt and there is no life on earth. This science of fine-tuning points to a precise making of something rather than an accidental one.

We could go on for hours about how the earth points to a creator, my purpose is to show you that Jesus is Good in light of science because he is proven from within it. His body was never found. Historically we see 500 people seeing Him ascend into Heaven at the same time. He was and is real and has a purpose for Humanity, we are not accidents, we do have purpose. We cannot govern ourselves because as even the founder of evolution stated, our reasoning can’t be trusted. Yet, Jesus offers life, and wholeness within his purpose for us.

 

May we seek to be restored restorers. Christians do not need to argue belief into people. We do need answers, but not arguments. Yet, the way in which we live as seeking the restoration of others for their sake, not ours will speak volumes. Selfishly serving others in today’s world is unheard of

 

 

[1] http://www.blackgenocide.org/sanger.html