There has been so much discussion over the course of the last few days and coverage on Michael Jackson's life. As I caught just a little of the memorial service and read many comments on Facebook, I felt compelled to blog about the whole situation.
First of all, I would say that this service is representative of the fact that we live in an extremely confused spiritual state as a society. Our world is speeding toward universalism (the belief that everyone makes it to heaven eventually) at a rapid rate. The world today encourages everyone to be tolerant of everyone else's religion and beliefs and as long as someone is sincere, that person will get to God. Even many evangelical Christians are being swept up by this belief. Everyone thinks Jesus is a good man, great teacher, prophet, or whatever. No matter the religion, most everyone thinks highly of Jesus. So there are two strong currents in our world today, people believing everyone will make it to heaven, and a relatively high regard for Jesus the man.
The problem is that these two beliefs cannot co-exist. If I have a high view of Jesus I must understand what Jesus taught and proclaimed while He walked this earth. He said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no man gets to the Father but by me. (John 14:6) He also claimed that He and the Father were one. He claimed that He would die for sin, rise again, and ascend to the right hand of the Father. He made all of these declarations while He walked this earth. He came to establish a new Kingdom . He said in John 10:10 that He came to that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. The way to life is only through Him. He is the one with the power to forgive sin and to give eternal life. He and He alone made that way for us. Jesus came to seek and to save those who are lost. We are a lost humanity. The only one with the power to give life is Jesus. God made a way through His Son Jesus Christ that we could be saved, it wasn't through Buddha or Mohammed or Confucious, Joseph Smith or any other religious proponent. Jesus is alive today and and He is offering life to all who will place their trust fully in Him. As a believer I am called to love all people whether they be muslim, buddhist, or any other religion. Whether they are gay, straight, bi or any other sexual preference. Whether they are a prostitute or a pop star but in every situation I am to model the love of Jesus Christ and to speak the Gospel lovingly and boldly in hopes that the same grace that saved me from my sin, would reach into their heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit and save them into eternal life and freedom from sin. I am called to never compromise the Truth of God's word but to stand in the world and lovingly call out to whosoever will to respond to His message. The problem is that many who claim to be Christians are not living out their faith and being a reflection of Jesus as we ought.
But please do not call Jesus a good teacher or a good man or a good prophet, He has not left us that option. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and returning King. He is our all in all, and the reason for hope, he is our Savior and one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
We as human beings have two options. We can bow our knee to Jesus now and place our faith and trust in Him and live for Him now. If I do that, I will enjoy abundant life with Him now and eternal, unbroken fellowship in Heaven with Him for all eternity. The other option we have is to live like we want to, believe what we want to, and do what we want to while we live on this earth and still one day we will bow our knee in submission to Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, if I wait to bow my knee on that day, I will be subject to God's everlasting judgement of eternal punishment in hell. We all deserve this. Thankfully, God loved us so much that He did what we could never do ourselves, and offers to all of us salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I watched the memorial today I was heartbroken to see the video that showed all of the religious symbols of our world flashing on the screen basically proclaiming that all roads lead to God. I did here a true statement in the service, one speaker said he will live forever and ever and ever. That is true for all of us. The only question is where. If I place my trust in Jesus it will be eternal joy in Heaven, if I fail to do that, only eternal torment and judgement awaits.