Just Give Them Jesus
By David Stahl
Now I am not Catholic, but I would have to think very long and hard to find another person who possessed the integrity, simplicity, and Christ-likeness character more than Mother Teresa. Affectionately known in the Catholic Saint world as the “Saint of the Gutters,” Mother Teresa was speaking to a very large group of Nuns and when she finished she took questions. One sister raised her hand and asked, “why are so many Nuns joining your Order? Mother Teresa thought a moment and said, “I give them Jesus next question.” The novice Nun quickly raised her hand again and said, “Mother Teresa please wait a minute I asked why so many Nuns were joining your Order. Is it because they do not have to wear a habit or do not have bulky clothing to care for each day?” Mother Teresa replied, “No I give them Jesus next question.” A third time the novice Nun raised her hand and asked, “Mother Teresa please tell me more there just has to be more.” Mother Teresa calmly walked down off of the podium, into the crowd, and laid her hand on the young novas Nun’s shoulder and said, “I give them Jesus there is nothing more.” Did you get that, “I give them Jesus there is nothing more.” Mother Teresa had it right all we are to give the world is Jesus and Him alone. Mother Teresa had it right she taught the young nun what she needed to know. This was the same principle Jesus put forth as He instructed the disciples in Matthew. Jesus taught, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Jesus did not say go evangelize all nations, but “teach all nations.” Did you know there is a big difference between the two? My friend the world has been evangelized time and time again, but what needs to happen now in the world is to sit the people down that have come to Christ and teach them “to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you,” but you can make more money and get your name up in lights in evangelism, plus teaching is hard and time consuming and requires a personal relationship and commitment by both the teacher and the student something strange to have these days. Jesus spent over 80% of His time teaching (everyone) the rest of His time was spent with dealing with the religious folks, traveling from one town to the next, doing signs and wonders, and just dealing with life. But not too many evangelists, pastors, and preachers want to identify with the gutters oh no not much fame and popularity down in the gutters, but oddly enough Jesus was a man who could get down in the gutters where most people live. The question is can we follow Jesus’ example? How low can we go! Did you know Jesus never called Himself the son of God? Oh no Jesus referred to Himself as the “Son of man” taking a lead from Ezekiel. In the Book of Ezekiel the expression “Son of man” is used 92 times in reference to himself, but also prophetically speaking of Jesus Christ. Who wants to be the “Son of man” when you can be the son of God? Oh no we want the power of the cross without the shame and loss we must identify with. This is the message Jesus was teaching in Luke 9:57, “And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Luke 9:57-58) If we really want to just give them Jesus we will have to identify with the sufferings and heartaches of this world and come with grips with the reality of the deceitfulness and wickedness of our emotions, desires, and heart. To do this right as a teacher God will have to really be able to deal with us for us to be able to give life in our teaching, if not then we will give death to everyone we teach. Sadly we give the world everything and I mean everything, but little do we give (teach the world) the world Jesus. At most churches we give the world entertainment: a light and sound show, smoke and fog for special effects, poems, skits, dramas, music far beyond our ability to hear, announcements, upcoming board meetings (all ad nausea), and when it is time to hear the word of God well, has our heart been prepared? No of course not so all we get is a sermon with a good moral thought and not a life giving word from God. Paul teaches us, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14) We must be so careful with emotional music, pageantry, traditions of men, and administration (boards and committees) they are so destructive in the Body of Christ. If what we do in church does not point everyone to Jesus we have failed. When we started our church in Germany God told me not burden me and the people with a lot of committees and ministries they keep the people working and their mind off of my Son. By the way what happened to the old hymns of the church? They have been replaced by the fleshly feeling, humanistic contemporary music that feeds our flesh and not a heartfelt song that is sung to God as a hymn does. The words of contemporary music are directed to God so that He can come and make us feel good, well God is not so concerned about making us feel good as He is concerned about us allowing Him to conform us into His image and character which contemporary music will never do. For the conforming to happened we must endure the dealings and judgments of the LORD in our lives, but again who wants to identify with the “Son of man” when we can desire to identify with the son of God and all of His blessings. I am amazed at the number of churches who play DVDs and tapes (to get our emotions moving) from a Christian concert or service; over and over so loud thinking God is in the repetition and volume, but God is not. Elijah found out, “And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12) We come to church and look for the earth to quake and for us to be set “on fire for the LORD,” but all of that is not of God. He is a simplistic, sublime God of righteousness and holiness that operates in the recesses of our heart that manifest His love out from us to the world, and as we teach the world about Jesus. When the Nazis would ship the Jewish people by train from the ghettos in Poland and all around Eastern Europe many German Christians knew of this practice and they even knew of the train schedule when one would pass by on its way to Auschwitz and other places well, the pastors of the churches would tell their people to “sing a little bit louder” as the trains passed by so that they would drown out the sound of the train and their responsibility of knowing this horrible genocide was going on, yet today we still do this. In most churches people are encouraged to “sing a little bit louder” to get in the spirit while all the time the people are ignoring their responsibilities before God to allow Him to search their hearts. Why do we give such a show of entertainment when we can just give them Jesus? Remember what we use to win people to Christ with we have won them to that. If we use a hip Jesus message with worldly means (music, lights, smoke, drama, etc.) then we have won them to that, but if we use the word of God then we have won them to the word of God which will stand and serve in their lives as an anchor that will hold them. When we do this (win them to Christ with the word of God) we have given them Jesus. You know there are so many great parables, stories, examples, just plain wonderful advice in the Bible, but they should not become the main message. They are not, they are just wonderful things in the Bible that point us to a loving God. Often this simplicity of heart is lost due to hyper-spiritualism which preys on and destroys feeble minded people. Everything is spiritual, making a cake, going shopping, buying clothing, well God has given us a mind. This is why it is critical we study (not read) the word of God if not we will get over into areas that sound right, look right, and feel right, but in the end are not of God. Not everything we do in God must be spiritualized. There seems to be two camps in the most churches today; one camp not led by the Spirit of God and the other camp those led by the Spirit of God. If this is not confusing enough the ones who are lead by the Spirit of God can spiritualize everything (hyper-spiritualism) and become no earthly good to just give them Jesus. I think these folks are more damaging to the Body of Christ than the non-spiritual folks. We must be led and guided by the Holy Spirit to all truths (especially about ourselves) so that we will be able to move and function with the LORD now and in our next life to come. Many Christians are not moving with the LORD not because there is sin in their lives, but because they have missed the sublime move of God trying to make everything more than what it is. We need to relax, take a good deep breath, and just give people Jesus and He will take it from there. We must get involved with the lives of people again. Not to the point of becoming a busy body, but to the point of a genuine concern for souls. Time is drawing to a close and I will be honest most people in the church have lost the desire to see souls won to Christ and how do we do this? We just give them Jesus. The nominal church of today has built walls that are safe, warm, and cozy thinking their programs (seemingly spiritual enticement) and goodly facilities will draw in the lost, but that is not the model we find in the Bible. My friend Jesus went out after the lost sheep, He left the 99 in the wilderness (the wilderness has ways of taking care of problems in our lives) and went after the one lost sheep. Not evangelizing like we do today. Oh no Jesus knew the lost sheep that is why (not because it was lost) He went after it. In Luke Jesus said, “And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel themto come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23) We are to go after the lost people in the world not waiting on them to find our church and when we find them we are to give them Jesus and teach them to observe all things that Jesus taught the disciples nothing more nothing less. You know my friend the main message of the Bible is the message of the cross. Yes there are other messages that point to Christ, but they are not the main message. The only message that points our sinful flesh to life in God is the message of the cross. Paul taught, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of non eeffect.18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:17-18) On our cross (the battle of wills between our desires and the desires God has for us) we must die as Jesus did. The cross is an instrument of death on which we must willfully impale ourselves so that we may come to know the resurrection (Philippians 3:10) life Paul talked about. If we give them Jesus we give them life what else more is there?
