Why Jesus Christ is so Important

Christ is everything…

For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory, forever. Amen. (Romans 11:36).

When men of God focus on men, for better or for worse, they miss the point of Christ and Him crucified (Rom 1:16–17; 1 Cor 2:2, 4). Man-centered focus is the evil of man-centered theology. For man to imagine himself on an ever-higher plane in this world is to find him ascending the steps of the tower of Babel, a dead end route to heaven (Gen 11), in his demon-inspired pursuit to be like God (Gen 3:5).

The apostle Paul impressed upon his readers: to set their minds on things above (Col 3:2).

Where are your thoughts, today? A president makes policy changes to increase the wealth of a nation by over 7 trillion dollars in one year. Well done…and where is the follow up story of poverty being wiped out as a result? Greed is not good (Col 3:5). Another president gives away money at an unprecedented rate, in order to win voters for his party, only to inflame unsustainable inflation. Stupid.

Jesus taught His followers to invest their money in heaven (Lk 16:9). The return on their investment would be the people who benefited from their investment, the very people who would welcome them into heaven…a great cloud of witnesses from every nation, tribe, and tongue (Heb 12:1; Rev 5:9; 7:9).

If policies and investments for the sake of gaining more of this world are bankrupt (Mt 16:26), in the audit from heaven, then how does one actually invest in heaven?

Christ is bringing many sons to glory (Heb 2:10). This is God’s eternal purpose for Christ (Eph 1:11; 3:11), to leave heaven and come into the world (Jn 1:14; 3:16). He came for His chosen lady, the church (Mt 16:18; 2 Jn 1:1). He paid for her redemption (Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:7; 5:25) and secured each of His sheep (Jn 10:28–29; Rom 8:35–39). In leaving us here, the task for us becomes one of suffering for the sake of the elect (2 Tim 2:10), in making them into disciples (Mt 28:19–20), which can only happen by the work of the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11; Jn 3:1–8; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13; 1 Pet 1:3).

Fools for Christ, unashamed of the Gospel of Christ, present their lives as a living sacrifice unto God (Rom 12:1). In other words, we do not store up our treasure on earth, for we understand Christ to be our entire economy.

From Him is the supply for us to do the good works, prepared beforehand for us to walk in (Eph 2:10). Through Him is our union with Him in the Spirit (Eph 1:12; Col 1:27). Without the Spirit, a man’s works are filthy rags (Is 64:6), for apart from Christ you can do nothing (Jn 15:5).

The Spirit works in and through a redeemed soul to accomplish the work of God (Ps 57:2; 138:8; Is 26:12; Phil 2:13) , which is for you to believe in the One whom He has sent (John 6:29). Finally, this is to Him. He receives all honor and glory and praise. Faith in His economy pleases Him (Heb 11:6; 13:5).

When men of God present today’s flavor of fixing you with their concocted 3, 5, or their ever powerful “7” steps of psychology or philosophy, then you know their focus is not Christ.

Christ is to be preached (1 Cor 2:2, 4; 2 Tim 4:2), and preachers are to be supplied with time and money from the church to learn Christ and proclaim Him with an ever-greater prowess in handling the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). Just because someone holds the position of pastor does not mean he is faithful to his calling, however.

Wherever you find a pastor speaking of positivism, psychology, moralism, philosophy, self-help, 7 steps to a better you, or a man-centered plan of salvation, he is not faithful. He must know that Christ is everything, believe that Christ is everything, and boldly proclaim, “Christ is everything!”

The world will see him to be a fool for Christ (1 Cor 1:18, 23; 4:10), and much of the church will find his message irritating. The reason is that man-centered mind-sets must be crucified. This is a long and painful process of sitting under rightly divided Bible preaching, which itself is rare like a precious jewel. One’s spiritual growth requires this supremely, however.

Why is Christ so important? Because He is everything that is important, and so God would be glorified in people who have one objective…the glory of God.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

February 10, 2022