Introduction to an Unwritten Book

This book is about glorifying Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel. It's a book written by an American Gentile with an Irish name some 2,000 years after the story of Jesus began to unfurl. I'm writing it to explain to you what I have learned about the central message of the Bible, which is a question with which I wrestled for many years before I finally came to understand how the message is not idea, but a person.

Imagine you have a brother. A sister. A friend. It doesn't matter who the person is, but picture someone in your mind who you really love, someone you know others would love, too, if only they came to know more about this person. How many books could you write to convince others that they, too, should love this person you love? What argument would you make? What meaning is there behind this love that you should put it to words? Wouldn't it be better just to introduce your friends to this person and let them learn for themselves why they ought to be in love with each other, too?

So it is obvious that this book is doomed from the start because it will never convince you why you ought to love Jesus. However, I hope that it will convince you to consider taking a step toward him, to reach out just a little toward him and invite him into your life, if only for a few moments. Because perhaps the most difficult and irrational thing that I am trying to do by writing to you is to convince you that Jesus is actually alive, and he is here, right now. He is sitting next to me, and he is standing next to you, and he is waiting for us to speak to him.

Born in a manger. Crucified. Risen on the third day. These are three central facts of the biography of Jesus Christ that those who profess his name believe to be true. Yes, we believe that his mother came to be pregnant by the power of God, not by having sex with a man. Yes, we believe that he was crucified in Jerusalem during the reign of Caesar Augustus by Roman soldiers on the authority of Pontius Pilate in order to squelch an uprising among the Jewish people. Yes, we believe that after being killed and buried, physically dead, that Jesus came back to life, and that he is still alive, to this very day, almost 2,000 years later.

These are the facts that we accept. These are the facts that make us followers of The Way. There are other things, too, that Christians believe, and there are many disputes, even among Christians, concerning many things recorded in the Christian Bible. While I may discuss some of these topics in this book, I want you to know right now that there is only only one single question of theology that I intend to make central in this book, and it is the question that I invite you to consider as you read through these pages. I will not ask you to make judgments about sins. I will not ask you to condemn homosexuality or to choose a particular denomination with which to fellowship and worship. I won't even ask you to believe that Jesus died for your sins. Although I do have opinions of my own about these topics and many, many others, none of these issues are a concern of this book. This book has only one concern, and it is this: Jesus is alive, and he is waiting for you to accept him.

You may think that this is the most ridiculous and most difficult thing to accept about Christianity. You may agree with many others who point to Jesus' teaching about loving others as you love yourself and say that you agree. You may even agree with the diminishing number of people in America who actually believe that Jesus was a real person, that he really did have followers, and that he was, in fact, crucified by the Romans. However, you cannot accept much more than that. You can't accept that he was raised from the dead by the power of God on the third day, and that he ascended into heaven where he reigns in power and authority over all of Creation at this very moment. The last part, I agree, sounds a little hokey, but it is the part of Christianity that matters most. The thing that ought to matter most to a Christian is that Jesus Christ is a risen and reigning king. All power and authority over your life belongs to him alone, and any testimony of scripture or testimony of man is a testimony to this central fact.

In the first century A.D., just a few years after the time of Jesus, the Apostle Paul wrote to one of the early groups of Christian converts in a port city in modern-day Greece, just an hour's drive to Athens. The city is named Corinth, and we call the inhabitants of that city Corinthians, just as we might call residents of California, Californians, or residents of Indiana, Hoosiers. The people of this city in ancient Greece knew about Judaism, a religion that was characterized by a proclamation of the signs and wonders of God, most notably, the powerful demonstrations of a might deity who had freed the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt, but the culture was predominantly Greek. It was a culture of people who had been heavily influenced by the teachings of another man, Socrates, who had taught his students to think for themselves, to be rational, and to question everything. To these people, new converts to The Way, Paul wrote:

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the follow of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (I Corinthians 1: 20-25, ESV). 

Yeah, that's a lot of scripture, and I understand that if you are now wrestling with God like I was wrestling with God for many years, then you probably won't find that passage very convincing. But I show it to you to illustrate the starting place for this book, which is this: If you want to understand Christianity, the first step you take is not to take a step into a church. If you want to know what it means to be a Christian, the first step you take is not to read your Bible. If you want to figure out why this man, Jesus, has had such a strong influence upon the lives of so many generations of human beings over the course of the past 2,000 years as nations and empires have risen and fallen, then you cannot understand it even by reading this very book. The first step, friend, is to step toward Jesus Christ. He walked this planet like a man. He died like a man. But he rose from the dead in the Power of God, and he is alive today.

Jesus himself instructed his followers to "seek first the kingdom of God" (Matthew 6:33, ESV). If you are reading this book, then that is exactly what you are doing. I am not suggesting that this book is some perfect tome and that you have finally found a writer who knows all the answers, because I certainly don't know all the answers. However, I do know the Answer, and his name is Jesus. The fact that that you are taking any time to read these words testifies to me that you are already in obedience to Jesus even though you don't even know it. You are seeking the kingdom of God. The only question, then, is whether you are seeking first the kingdom of God. Are there other things that you have placed in priority to this question? If so, you'll need to set those things aside. If you are concerned about paying your bills, keeping up with your mortgage, sending your kids to college, or anything else, then you are not seeking God's kingdom first. Jesus tells us that if we seek first the kingdom of God, then "all these things will be added to you." He says specifically that our daily preoccupations, concerns about what we will eat, what we will drink, and what we will wear, will be "added to you" if you simply seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

I invite you now, at the beginning of these pages, to open yourself to accepting that Jesus Christ is alive and well. He is reigning as king over all of the universe (which includes you), and he is ready to solve every problem you have ever had. You may have found yourself so high up to the neck in regrets and your life is so far out of control that you feel there is no hope left for you. It doesn't matter. Jesus can take care or it. You may think that you are such a horrible person that should never be forgiven because you have done too many things that people don't even know about. Maybe you're even so ashamed that you can't bring yourself to admit to anyone all the evil acts you've committed in your life. It's not a problem. Jesus can handle it. You might find yourself in a situation that you don't think is fair, and you can't understand why a loving and wise God would ever let something so bad happen to you, and you may be angry at God for things that have happened to you, your family, or to people you love. I can tell you, Jesus knows something about suffering for things that weren't his fault, and he's a friend who is looking for someone just like you, someone who knows what he went through when he got whipped 39 times by Roman soldiers and was nailed to that stick of wood just for doing his best to follow what he knew in his heart was the right thing to do.

Jesus knows all your questions, and he is so patient and loving that he will let you carry all of that pain and regret and disappointment for just as long as you care to bear it. But understand this: He is walking standing right beside you at this very instant, and the moment you ask him to carry any of it, he will.

So don't wait for the last page of this book to take the first step toward Jesus. If you want to know what it means to be a Christian, the only way to find out is to become one. It doesn't work any other way. You can't pray enough, you can't fast enough, you can't read your Bible enough, you can't go to church enough, you can't feed the poor enough, you can't give money to charity enough, you can't do anything enough to know what it means to be a Christian. The Bible tells us that the thing God wants most from us is simply to believe in faith that he exists. One passage tells us that "without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Hebrews 11:6, ESV). There is no other way. You have to take the first step. Believe in Jesus. Take a risk and know that he is real. As the psalmist writes, "O taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him" (Psalm 34:8, ESV).

What do you have to lose? Everything. What will it cost you to kneel before Jesus right now and to confess that you want to believe that he is real, and that you want to believe that he can take control of every aspect of your life? If you kneel, you lose everything. If you don't you still lose everything. Jesus asks us to consider this question, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his soul?" (Mark 8:36, ESV). At the same time, he tells us, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mark 16:25, ESV).

This is Christianity. This is what Jesus says about himself. You can repackage the gospel if you'd like to do that. You can start a whole new religion based upon all the wisdom and experience you have gained in your life. Or, you can humble yourself and admit that 2,000 years of history testify to the fact that maybe this person named Jesus really is who he said he is, and that he can do what he says he can do. Be a fool. Believe it.