Jesus and other gods

Why should I worship Jesus? (This message comes from Camp Victory Tuesday night)

Well, I'm not sure if you knew it or not, but everybody has a god, and everybody is worshiping something. Even the atheist college student that stays wasted all week has a god. (The next blog post will cover that topic in detail.) So, what is so special about Jesus that I should worship him?

Actually, he is the best God to worship because he is God. I know, that sounds a little crazy and maybe heretical to some of you, but Scripture teaches that Jesus is God the Son, who entered human flesh and history to redeem the fallen race of man. That is why almost 2 billion people on the planet today worship him as God the Son. He is the most famous person who has ever lived. More books have been written about him, more songs sung to him, more artwork painted of him, and more movies have been made about him than any other man or woman who has ever breathed. He has made such a huge impact on the world that our historical calendar is divided into B.C., "before Christ," and A.D., "the year of our Lord." No one has ever matched the life Jesus lived and no one has ever created a following of so many people like Jesus did. Why? Because he is God.

The book of Romans in the New Testament, specifically chapter one, talks about how me and you have turned our backs towards the one true God. Even though we know or knew at one point in time that God was real and powerful, we rejected that thought inside us and made or own god. The author of Romans says "we exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." You see, we were made to worship the one true living God. When we follow that purpose for which we were created, we become fulfilled and satisfied and happy in Him. However, instead of that plan, we devise our own. We make a god of something or someone and worship and serve it without realizing that our own god cannot fulfill us and satisfy us like we want him/it to. This is the trap of life. This is what Satan is constantly trying to get people to do, and it is detrimental, just has history has shown us.

Instead of worshiping God, we worship our girlfriend or boyfriend or car or house or job or hobby. However, all the things that aren't God dissapoint us. They turn their backs on us and abandon us. They cheat on us and hurt us. They make us feel good for a moment, but they leave us with nothing left. We become empty and broken, unsatisfied and miserable. That is the problem. Ultimately, we make "idols" and "bow down" to them, and it usually takes some desperate broken situations to realize that our idols are worthless.

Therefore, the cure to idols is repentance. Repentance is making a total change of mind which leads to a new direction and lifestyle. We turn our backs to our idols and turn towards the one true God. We turn to Jesus and worship him. We let him become our joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

Who or what do you worship? Hopefully it is Jesus.