Recent Messages

Much of Christianity in recent centuries has been like a math formula, like A+B=C. In this equation, each person’s harmful individual thoughts, words, and actions are sins that offend God’s holiness and are deserving of consequences. This is “A” in the equation. At just the right time, Jesus, God’s Son, endures the consequences of our sins for us by dying on the Cross. This is “B.” If we accept Jesus as our personal savior and believe that he died for our sins, we receive the reward of salvation and eternal life in heaven with Jesus (as opposed to hell). This is “C.” The truth is that this formula doesn’t represent how big, bright, beautiful and freeing Jesus is. Continuing our conversation from last week, Jesus’s work of “saving us” is much bigger, much brighter, and much more beautiful and mysterious. It includes wonderful and complicated things like forgiveness and justice. And it’s something that is legitimate and significant for ordinary people living right here and right now.

Related Topics: discipleship, theology | More Messages from Ross Stackhouse

From Series: "Dead Man Walking: Why Jesus Died & Why It Still Matters for Ordinary People"

Statistics and stories tell us that the percentage of people who are turning to Jesus for help, hope, and is going down. Fewer people see faith as a trustworthy path to transforming our problems. A fair amount of folks see Christianity as a part of the problem. People might understandably ask, I don’t have a problem with Jesus and Christians for the most part, but what honestly does Jesus have to do with what we’re dealing with in the 21st century? People might even say, To be honest, can we really even be sure he existed? And even if he did and he was a great man who helped people, Christianity has had its shot in history, and it just hasn’t helped. In this series, we want to take these questions very seriously. We want to reflect together on this question, Does Jesus really save us? His name means “He saves.” Throughout the ages, much has been made about how Jesus’ death, in particular, saves us. Really? How? Why did he die, and why should I care? What does it have to do with me and the challenges I face? What does it have to do with us, and why should we as ordinary people care? In this series, we want to discover hope and new life as we pursue answers to these questions. We hope to discover, again or for the first time, how Jesus’ life and his death save us.