Jesus is Enough!

[blg119]

Isn't Jesus Enough?, by Phil Ware


Why isn't Jesus enough for us? Oh, in our religious speak we say that
Jesus is enough, but you scratch beneath our surface, you look at our
culture in churchland, you see that many of us don't really mean it --
or at least most of us haven't been brave enough to try it.

Aren't you being a little tough on us, Phil? Maybe, but I don't think
so. And remember, if I'm pointing a finger at "us," then I've also got
three fingers pointing back at me! So let's be honest with ourselves.
If Jesus were enough for us then why do we ...

* Crave and spend to get what's new?
Why do we have to have the latest and newest gizmo, vehicle, house,
or whatever it is that we have to have? Why would so many of us be
in debt up to our eyeballs so we could live in the right house and
neighborhood, drive a nice car, have the latest fashions, wear the
right shoes, and show off the latest i-Whatever?

* Worry about missing out on something if we make a choice for Jesus?
Why fear that we might lose something if we don't run with the wild
crowd so we can popular? Why get sucked back into taking another
drag or two on the weed because we can't hang around some folks if
we don't? Why do we drop our sexual ethics for fear of missing out
on an experience if we don't? Why baptize our worries in a longneck
bottle if Jesus is enough?

* Get so concerned about folks not doing church our way?
Why judge someone because they don't live up to our pile of rules
and traditions that we've encrusted around the simple message of
Jesus? Or, why fear we might be missing something and simply add in
what some other group or religion is doing? Why not focus on Jesus
and put everything to the "Jesus test"* in what we do rather than
worry ourselves with comparative religious shopping?

Jesus faced a mountain of religious stuff: stuff that was piled up,
defended, studied, extrapolated, debated, and paraded by the religious
establishment of His day. He came walked up this mountain of religious
stuff and conquered it by being raised up on a cross. He claimed that
He was the fulfillment of all the good things anticipated and promised
in God's Law, Prophets, and Wisdom. He claimed to know the true way to
apply God's Word and He said He came as God's Living Word. He claimed
that the light, bread, water of life were all found in Him. He declared
that He fulfilled the meaning of the feasts and the great acts of God's
deliverance. He declared that He was the only way to God. He said, in
essence, "I am enough. If you believe this, follow me, but apart from
me, you are not going to find God and produce the abundant life I long
to give you." Jesus is enough!

Jesus' followers declared these same basic truths.

Peter said, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other
name given under heaven by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12 TNIV).
Jesus is God's ultimate message to use (Hebrews 1:1-3;John 1:1-18). So
the apostle Paul preached "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1
Corinthians 2:2), a message centered in the truth that Jesus died for
our sins according to God's plan, was buried, was raised on the third
day, and appeared to His followers (1 Corinthians 15:1-6). This is not
only the Gospel that we believe, but it is also the Gospel that we
experience when we confess Him as Lord and are baptized with Him into
His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:1-4). This Gospel must not
be changed, watered down, or encrusted with add-ons, as Paul warns in
the strongest terms possible (Galatians 1:5-9). Jesus is enough!

And as we seek to live life to its fullest and as we seek to grow to be
all we are made to be in Jesus, Paul adds:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to
live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in
the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and
deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the
elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. For
in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and
in Christ you have been brought to fullness (Colossians 2:6-11).

Jesus is enough!

All the flash and demand of our religious systems are bankrupt compared
to the grace of Jesus.

So the call to us is clear. Sink the roots of our hearts deep down into
Jesus as Lord!

Know His story. Let the Holy Spirit transform us into His character as
we seek to know Him. Build our lives around His leading in our lives
and our surrender to His Lordship. So where is your Bible most worn? Is
it in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) where the story of
Jesus is told? If not, why not spend some more time with Jesus? Jesus
is enough! Let our lives overflow with thankfulness!

Nothing reminds us of our great blessings in Christ quite like daily
praise and thanksgiving for what God has done, given, and blessed us
with in Jesus. In times where we are prone to panic because of the
economy, terrorism, health concerns, and housing crises we need to be
reminded of the love that led Jesus to leave the safety of heaven to
come to our world full of this kind of stuff. He did it for us. Jesus
is enough! Don't let anyone take us captive through their old
traditions or new experiences!

All these may sound very religious and philosophically wise, but if
Jesus didn't demand them, then why should we pursue them? Anything
added to Jesus is less than what Jesus offers us. Remember what He
said:

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them
you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that
testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life (John
5:39-40).

All the flash and demand of our religious systems are bankrupt compared
to the grace of Jesus. Jesus comes and challenges us to follow Him and
let Him be our Lord. When we do, rather than being a burden to us,
Jesus promises us this:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you
rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke

is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 12:28-30).

Jesus is enough

[momof4boys7530]

Oct. 27, 2008 at 10:02 AM

Thanks Leigh..I printed it out and I will read it to remind me daily that Jesus is enough!