Jesus, Justice, and Peace: Part 1, Jesus

I was recently invited to attend an event at the place of worship of a friend who was not a Christian. The event seemed to be a series of speakers on the topic of who founded your religion and what does your religion teach about how justice leads to peace.

Although I was unable to attend (this time), I decided that I’d best know Who the founder of my religion is and what He taught about justice and peace. Sometimes, someone just might ask a question, and you might be put on the spot.

My religion was founded by Jesus Christ who is both Son of Man and Son of God. He is one in being with both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father had a perfect plan for eternal friendship with man when He created this world, but man represented by Adam and Eve rejected His plan. As a result, we live in a broken world with rampant disease and sin.

Because God cannot stand anything impure in His presence for long, he planned to send His Son to repair our brokenness at the moment of Adam and Eve’s rejection. Before Christ, reparation required the annual sacrifice that shed the blood of a pure, spotless animal to cover God’s people. The sacrifice could only be performed by the high priest as the people’s representative; if the high priest was not pleasing to God, the high priest was killed instantly for being too impure in the presence of a Holy God.

After Christ’s death, those who love God no longer need the annual sacrifice. First, all they must do is admit that they have sinned; in fact, according to Romans 3:23, we’ve all sinned, broken the rules, and missed the mark that God wants us to achieve. Like any good Father, God the Father set out consequences for missing the mark, and they are steep — eternal separation from Him and Heaven. As a result, we need to accept and believe that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, that He too is God, that His death is the only possible sacrifice to obtain forgiveness for missing the mark. Finally, we must publicly admit that we miss the mark, we must turn away from choices that result in missing the mark, and we must ask Jesus to forgive us for miss the mark. When we do this, Jesus is faithful and true and cannot lie; He accepts us into His family. Then we share what we believe, and we work under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to study the Word of God, connect to Jesus through prayer, meet with more experienced Christians regularly, and apply the Word of God to our lives so we can obey His teachings.

The real strength to walk this out comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. I can’t express what that’s like, and it’s humbling as a writer to have no words. It means that my faith is in Jesus Christ who is both Son of Man and Son of God. He is one in being with both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father had a perfect plan for eternal friendship with man when He created this world, but man represented by Adam and Eve rejected His plan. As a result, we live in a broken world with rampant disease and sin.

Because God cannot stand anything impure in His presence for long, he planned to send His Son to repair our brokenness at the moment of Adam and Eve’s rejection. Before Christ, reparation required the annual sacrifice that shed the blood of a pure, spotless animal to cover God’s people. The sacrifice could only be performed by the high priest as the people’s representative; if the high priest was not pleasing to God, the high priest was killed instantly for being too impure in the presence of a Holy God.

After Christ’s death, those who love God no longer need the annual sacrifice. First, all they must do is admit that they have sinned; in fact, according to Romans 3:23, we’ve all sinned, broken the rules, and missed the mark that God wants us to achieve. Like any good Father, God the Father set out consequences for missing the mark, and they are steep — eternal separation from Him and Heaven. As a result, we need to accept and believe that Jesus is God’s one and only Son, that He too is God, that His death is the only possible sacrifice to obtain forgiveness for missing the mark. Finally, we must publicly admit that we miss the mark, we must turn away from choices that result in missing the mark, and we must ask Jesus to forgive us for miss the mark. When we do this, Jesus is faithful and true and cannot lie; He accepts us into His family. Then we share what we believe, and we work under the Holy Spirit’s inspiration to study the Word of God, connect to Jesus through prayer, meet with more experienced Christians regularly, and apply the Word of God to our lives so we can obey His teachings.

The real strength to walk this out comes from the Holy Spirit living within us. I can’t express what that’s like, and it’s humbling as a communicator to not have the words.

Jesus came to bring the Jewish faith to fulfillment with His death, burial, resurrection, and return to heaven. He then sent the Holy Spirit to empower His followers to live as He did and teach what He taught throughout the world. Christ never intended today’s diverse, numerous Christian denominations.

In the coming parts, we’ll explore how I arrived at what Jesus taught, and then look at His teachings on justice and peace.