How to Become a Follower of Jesus (05-16-16 pt I)

To be an authentic follower of the way of Jesus, a person must understand four basic spiritual realities. He or she must be willing to acknowledge his or her individual, personal need for God’s grace and affirm to God this need. Let’s review those realities.

1. Every human being has a personal stake in the problem of evil. We all fail to live up to our own moral standards. This is what the Bible calls “sin” and, as a result, we are cut off from the divine, condemned to live in a world dominated by death. It is easier to see the problem of evil in the world at large, especially among our enemies or oppressors, than it is to see it in ourselves, but that does not mean it is not there.

No human being can honestly say he or she is above the problem of evil. “We all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” (Ephesians 2:3, NKJV) All human beings, including the most devout religious people, are sinners, susceptible to the reality of evil in their own lives.

“There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Scriptures, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:10-12, 20-24) To put it another way, we are lawbreakers. We have broken God’s moral law and are worthy of be destroyed. Even one violation is worthy of destruction. We are utterly lost, condemned to die a sinner’s death. That is the problem with sin.  Continued.....