SUPREMACY OF CHRIST IN OUR MINISTRIES

We are living in an age where there is a lot of skepticism and new teaching and philosophy where no one really wants to identify with absolute truth. Truth as we know it has become so relative so much so that anything goes. There is total infiltration and influence of eastern religions making many believers falter with others even walking away from their faith. Recently

I was watching on the television in one of the women prisons there was a yoga instructor giving instructions to a number of women prisoners for purposes of exercise they say. This idea of borrowing from eastern religions and others is slowly becoming a common phenomenon. We are not only aping certain practices but many of us are even going for the teachings from the other religions. The most shocking bit is that such tendencies and teachings of this nature are sitting comfortably on the pulpits of many of our so called evangelical Churches.

In the course of my reading I got to this subject on supremacy of Christ and I feel we all can remind and encourage ourselves on this again. We cannot afford to join the bandwagon of people who are losing the focus of the main thing and are slowly being blinded by the god of this age. In the contemporary world exclusivity has been shunned away and preachers can even make sermons that are devoid of Christ, everything we see in our churches and in many congregations is a kind of teaching that is knowledge based.

These teachings are characterized by buzz words and punch lines, if we are not taught on parenting; we could as well be instructed on how to get out of debt by planting a seed of a given amount of money. Biblical parenting should be encouraged by all means, the only trouble we have with the new teachings is that there is very little of scriptures and more of philosophies and abstract thinking in them. There is no more faithful handling of scriptures and no wonder the gospel is never preached and the end result is the growing number of nominal believers who are conned of their money for all they want to hear is on wealth and health.  If we carry on with this trend it will only be for our own peril for we cannot do anything apart from Christ.

If we were to take the centrality of Christ from our ministries and our gospel work then our work will not amount to anything. Christ is the heart of not only the gospel but the whole of scripture is about Him; we cannot assume that or even ignore it as gospel workers. Others have even come to a conclusion that there are many ways to God and so Christians need to show tolerance to the other religions since we share some commonalities in our beliefs and teachings. This is a lie from the devil and we should not allow ourselves to be the baits. Jesus Christ should be central both in our faith and lives as believers. Christ is not just the truth but He is the absolute truth, in John 14:6 He affirms this when he says “I am the way the, truth and the life.” He is the personification of the embodiment of truth, He is not only saying what I say is true to mean He is true but he is the actual truth. This revelation is not one that is discovered by experience but is the mystery of God that has been revealed over time. He substantiates this in the verses that follow John 14:6, He gives an explanation to this claim which means He is equal with God. Verse seven says, “If you really knew me you would know my Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Jesus brings to us something profound that no mind can just hack it on its own; this is the knowledge of God. God is the truth and Christ is the embodiment of God to us and as it is this truth should be very central in our faith and walk as believers.

The second thing that makes Christ supreme to us is that He is the way to God and nobody can see God except through Jesus Christ. This is central and is the heart of the gospel.  If Christianity is Christ, the cross is the greatest key to understanding Him says Ajith Fernando National Director Youth for Christ Sri Lanka. What the cross of Christ achieved is so vast and so deep that numerous interpretations of it have appeared throughout the history of the Church. Jesus confirms His claim of being the way by going to the cross and it is at the cross that He paves the way for us and makes possible for us to see God. What we see at the cross is substitution, the one who had no sin takes our place as He takes our curse and as a result we are counted right with God. When God looks down from heaven all He see’s in the lives of those who have received the grace of Christ in light of what happened at the cross is His righteousness.

Another important aspect of supremacy of Christ is Jesus as the life, John 14:6. Eternal life is a primary result of Christ's saving work (John 3:16, 5:24). Jesus often says that this life comes through a relationship we have with Him. In John 17:3 He says, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Jesus

Christ is the author of life. Apostle Peter who was against the idea of Christ being crucified after receiving the awakening of Christ he preaches boldly to the people telling them that they killed the author of life. (Acts 2) Peter goes ahead to lead them to repentance and in Acts 2 doctor Luke records that about three thousand people received Christ on that day. We cannot walk away from these truths that Jesus is the gospel, the way, the truth and the life. All we can do is to be human and choose to be unfaithful in our preaching and teaching but God remains to be true even if we walk away from His ways and the truth that He has revealed through His son Jesus Christ. When writing to young Timothy Apostle Paul talks of a time when people will walk away from sound doctrine and we are living in those days till the close of this age.

Article By: Bonface Ochieng Grace Baptist Church Kisumu