Jesus is the Answer

            Of all Christian clichés, "Jesus is the answer" has got to be one of the most well-known. But clichés, like stereotypes, exist for a reason.  Expressions earn the label "cliché" when they get overused, but why else would a phrase get overused if it didn't communicate some truth?  Still, Christian clichés often garner only disdain from the world. For example, I saw a bumper sticker recently that said, "If Jesus is the answer, what's the question?" Frankly, I think they make a good point. Christians are often too quick to dispense catchy quips and one-liners, all the while failing to truly engage their culture in the real, difficult matters of life.  We in the church may have all the answers, but we too often have no understanding of the questions. "Jesus is the answer" runs the risk of becoming nothing more than a vague generality, a yawning platitude, an excuse to avoid confronting our world with its reasonable challenges.      

            It might be true that Jesus is the answer, but to what question?  Is Jesus the answer to 2+2?  No, the answer for that is 4.  What I'm aiming at is not a philosophical tirade but a practical provocation for us to make sure we understand the world's questions before glibly retorting, "Jesus is the answer." 

            So, what are the world's questions, and how is Jesus the answer?  Over the next three weeks, I hope to address what I consider to be the three biggest questions every person is asking (whether they verbalize it or not).  These are questions for which Jesus is the only real answer:

            1) Where can I find lasting love? 

            2) Who will satisfy my desire for happiness?

            3) How can I achieve stability and security? 

            Next week, we'll look at the first question and explore our fundamental desire for love that lasts, but before we tackle the questions, I want to be clear what I mean by "Jesus." When I say that Jesus is the answer, I don't mean the sum of Christian teaching or some system of moral living whereby mankind may better himself.  Nor do I mean belief in what Jesus taught or ascent to Christianity as a superior code of ethics.  When I say that Jesus is the answer, I mean the person of Jesus, the Living One... Christ himself is the answer!  Asking "What would Jesus do" may satisfy the religious appetites of carnal man, but it won't lead to Christ-infused living or produce the fruitful life that pleases God.  Rather than presumptuously guessing what Jesus might do in a given situation and manufacturing a mode of spirituality, what if we yielded to the Holy Spirit and actually let Jesus live his life through us?  Jesus - the One who promised "I will be with you, even to the end" - it is He who possesses, in his very being, the answer to every question that spiritually frustrated man has ever asked.  In John 15, Jesus did not send his disciples away for altruistic living. He drew them near for abundant life. So as we proceed, may we each remember to abide in Christ himself as the answer to our questions, the healer of our brokenness, the solution to all our enigmas.