Mention God and most people have an overall favorable reaction. And that’s because for many, God is considered an all-powerful and loving God who will one day take you to heaven. But mention the name Jesus Christ and reactions usually fall into two distinct camps. For the Christian, Jesus is a wonderful, loving, and yes all-powerful God who will indeed take us to heaven when we die. But for those who don’t know Christ, Jesus is hated because sin is loved. For those who love their sin they understand that Jesus stands in strict opposition to their sinful lifestyle and because of that they despise Him.
Some say that can’t there be a middle ground where we can respect Jesus as a great moral teacher but not God and therefore still enjoy our sin? The great British scholar and apologist, C. S. Lewis shared why this is not a valid option when he stated:
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”1
You see when you realize that Christians believe that Jesus is God and that a sinful lifestyle will one day have the sinner facing the judgment of God, it becomes obvious why so many people hate Christians and their God, Jesus. When we as Christians share the full Gospel message that Jesus loves you but hates sin, no wonder many hate our message because Jesus preached a message of repentance from sin. You can’t have it both ways in that you are willing to accept that Jesus loves you but unwilling to let Jesus change you to hate sin. Loving sin is not an option for those who want Jesus to accept them and bring them to heaven when they die.
If only those who love sin could realize that when they come to Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior that He will transform their hearts to give them a love for Him that is so great that it will overtake their love of sin. The sweet fellowship of Jesus, and the peace and joy that comes with it, are so much more enjoyable than the few moments of pleasure that sin offers. Satan makes those who love their sin totally blind to the joy and peace that could be theirs. The tradeoff in my book is no contest. Serving Jesus has peace, joy, fellowship, and eternal life to offer while living in sin has momentary pleasures that come with guilt, shame, bondage, and eternal misery. Not only that but (Psalm 16:11) trumps momentary pleasures every time for we read: “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
1 C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 1952), p. 52
AHMEN!