What Can Jesus the Christ Do For you?

Question: What can Jesus the Christ do for you?

Possible answers:

1. Nothing.

2. I don’t believe in God, so Jesus the Christ makes no difference in my life.

3. I think Jesus was a good teacher, maybe even a great teacher, but other than his teachings about loving my neighbor and such, he can’t do anything for me.

4. I don’t think about it.

5. I was raised in a church where Jesus was pushed down my throat, and was judging me for everything I did, so don’t talk to me about Jesus.

6. Wasn’t he the baby born in Bethlehem with some star and such?

7. My life is in turmoil, what do you think Jesus Christ can do for me.

8. Can he make me rich? Buy me a boat?

9. Who is Jesus the Christ?

10. I’m not into religious stuff; it’s too confusing for me.

11. I went to church once and nobody seemed to care and the preacher yelled at me for thirty-five minutes, so no thank you, I don’t need that Jesus Christ.

12. I can’t follow all those rules the church says I have to follow to believe.

Is there another answer?

Can Jesus the Christ make a difference in my life? Is life better with Jesus? Will Jesus fill the emptiness in my life? How much faith do I need for Jesus to make a difference?

In his first letter to the Christians in Corinth the Apostle Paul wrote about love (1 Corinthians 13). He begins, “If I speak with the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” The apostle then goes on to describe love for us and its deepest meaning. He concludes his writing about love with this, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”

The concluding verse gives us the three building blocks of life—faith, hope, and love. Using these three building blocks we can build a meaningful, purposeful, and abundant life.

Does your life feel chaotic? Is there always someone or something demanding your attention? Do you have more to do than you can possibly do? Is there someone who criticizes you when you don’t do it “all?” Are there times when you wonder if you will ever be good enough?

Luke in his Gospel tells us the story of the day Jesus was welcomed into the home of a woman named Martha. Her sister Mary spent the day sitting at Jesus feet and listening to his teachings. But Martha (see if this sounds familiar) had a lot to do. Think about it; she had a house full of company, including the Rabbi Jesus, and there was food to prepare and a myriad of other things to do, so yes, she was busy, busy, busy. (You may know the feeling.) She finally became so exasperated with her sister, who was sitting listening to Jesus, that she marched in and said to our Lord, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” (See Luke 10:38-42.)

Do you ever feel like Martha? Are there times when you think you’re the only one doing and doing and doing? Do you feel like you need to do in order to be acceptable, or to be worthy? Are there times when you feel like you can never do enough or do it right?

“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” In the kingdom of God, in the eyes of our Lord, you don’t have to do and do; you only need to have faith, to believe, and let the work of God be done in you and through you.

Faith can make you okay. Faith will free you to live and do in the kingdom of God. Faith in Jesus the Christ can and will transform your life as he forgives you, lifts your guilt, and leads you in the path of righteousness. “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” Let’s look at that one more time—“Everything…Everything…Everything…has become new!”

We begin with faith, and Jesus said we can begin with faith the size of a mustard seed. But the seed of faith, planted in our hearts, will grow, even when we don’t realize it is growing. Today, let faith take root in your heart. The Lord Jesus will accept you as you are and help you become who you should be. There is power in the gospel.

And faith leads us to hope—the second building block of our lives; lives built on the solid foundation of Jesus the Christ. The hope of Jesus is more than a “hope-so,” it is a sure and certain hope. As the Psalmist put it:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,

and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

my help and my God.” (42:5)

Hang on to hope; for sometimes in life hope is all we have.

The third building block of life is love. With the solid foundation of Jesus Christ, the block of love will help us live a richer life, a fuller life. There is far too little love in the world, and far too much hate, and even more indifference.

Hate and all that goes with it leads to the violence, abuse, and other evils in the world. Hate gives birth to more hate.

Indifference allows hate to take root and grow and makes way for evil. A long time ago someone paraphrased Sir Edmund Burke and reminded us. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Love gives birth to more love. As Jesus told us, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34)

But…Jesus went a step further, and for many people it is step too far. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

You can see why many see that as a step too far.

But let me ask, where does hate take us? What problems does hate solve? How much evil is stopped by hate?

I close with where I began: “What can Jesus the Christ do for you?”

The prophet Isaiah gives us a picture of what God can do:

“He gives power to the faint,

and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary,

and the young will fall exhausted.

but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:29-31)

It’s easy to be like Martha and get so caught up in the busyness of life that we forget to build a life.

By faith, let Jesus the Christ help you build your life.

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