SortingBeans

Question # 1: Why did Jesus come into the world?

This, to me, is one of the most important questions to ask because if we don’t understand why He came, His sacrifice means nothing to us and we’re left wondering around in this world without significance, meaning, or purpose.

Well, it all starts off with this really small, three letter word: sin. Now, I want you to pay close attention to the words and context of what I’m going to say because this is very important. I could make this really easy and say, “Jesus Christ came to die for our sins,” and just call it a night and be done with it. But, many people will interpret what I just said differently, and we need to understand what that really means. So, let’s take a look at the Bible and what it says about this question. I believe firmly in letting the Bible interpret itself.

Let’s take a look at Hebrews 9:26—the second part of that verse. It reads like this, “But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” So we read here that Jesus came to do away with sin—to “put away,” as it were. Now let’s take a look at 1 John 3:5. It says, “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.” Here the Bible says that Christ came to take away sin. To do away with… To take away… these are very interesting words. I say that because if you notice, it does not use the word “atone,” which means “to cover”—chew on that for a while. But why did He need to take away sin? What’s wrong with sin? What is sin?

The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon
SIN:

Now, I know we are talking about sin, but please do not get caught up in the aspect of sin (what sin is, what it isn’t, etc.), because it’s not the point of the topic. Jesus came to free us from it, not to have us obsessed with it. So when I begin explaining sin, just think of how that relates to what Jesus did, because this topic is about what Christ did.

Now most of us, if not all of us, know what Newton’s law of motion is. And that is: for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Now I would personally like to add: for every choice, there is a consequence, whether it be good or bad. We face choices in our lives every day that produces an action. For instance, I will use a scenario of what happens when I go to work. It’s probably not the best example, but it will have to do.

When I head out to work every morning, I choose to star my car in order to drive to work. The consequence of this choice is my engine starting, thus being able to drive; the consequence of this choice is good. My action, then, is turning the key in the ignition; the equal and opposite reaction is the engine turning over and starting. Both consequence and reactions are good at this point. However, when I begin driving down the highway, I notice that I’m running late for work. So, I do what every sensible, God-fearing man would do: I speed. I choose to make up the time by stepping on the gas pedal a little harder to get there faster. At the moment the choice seems good—that I’ll get to work on time and will not get wrote up for anything.

Well, what that type of thinking does is lead to a place where we assume no consequence, good or bad, because all I did is make a choice that is seemingly not harming anyone else. The truth, however, is that consequence still remains. When I decide to step on the gas pedal a little harder, I am then choosing to disobey the law. The consequence for that choice results in de-moralizing my person values. This will cause my own morals to be less and less honorable and further away from integrity, and ultimately separated from the will of God. The reaction from my initial action of stepping on the gas pedal is my vehicle going faster. I then put myself and other people’s lives in jeopardy and take the risk of getting a speeding ticket that I cannot afford. The problem is that almost everyone does it, so we think that these kinds of things are okay. But if we really look into it—like we are now—we realize that these simple choices are not okay. Even the simplest of choices affect not only ourselves, but others.

Are you still with me?

Now, how does this relate to the question, “Why did He come into the world?” Well, just like Newton’s law of motion, the same thing happens with our sins. When we sin, consequence follows. Sin, in it’s rawest form, is separation from God. God is perfect, holy, and without sin. He is perfectly good and has done no wrong. When we disobey God, we sin. That is what sin is; disobedience.

The problem goes deeper than that, though. God created Adam and Eve, our first parents. I say this both respectively and theologically. The BIble affirms that the human race came from God’s first created people. Adam and Eve brought sin into this world by committing the first sin. We could blame Eve for disobeying God and taking of the fruit, but Adam did nothing to prevent it from happening. This is what we call a sin of omission. Adam sinned by not doing something he should have. And what did that disobedience cause? A separation from God, that’s what it caused. Ever since then, man has tried to work his way back to that close fellowship with God, but fails miserably to do so because our sin disables us. In fact, because of this, we are not only disabled, but entirely incapable of making any progress of our own toward being reunited with God.

So the main reason Jesus came into the world is to take away and remove that sin in order to enable us to have fellowship with God again. Did he have to? No. But he did it anyway. It was not because of our own goodness, because we have none. The Gospel shows us that only by the goodness and righteousness of Jesus alone is anyone brought into a relationship with the Father.

That brings us to our next question.