Apart from Jesus, We are Separated from God

Are we keeping the main thing the main thing?

I asked myself that question recently in relation to how I talk about the Good News with people who don’t yet believe. Here is how Paul describes what it meant for the Christians in Thessalonica to believe in Jesus: He says, “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thess. 1:9-10)

What does Jesus save you from? The ugly answer is that he saves us from ourselves, from our position as alienated from God and ultimately under God’s judgment.

Last month I was reminded how easy it is to get distracted from this fundamental point. I traveled to Hanoi in August to teach at Hanoi Bible College and to catch up with former students. One evening I had a conversation with a Lyft driver, which is called Grab in Vietnam, on the way to a friend’s house.

The driver considered my belief in Jesus as similar to his own devotion to Amida Buddha—whose statue was on his dashboard. “I call on him to provide peace and security for me. I make sure to pray before taking a big test, or even when I’m in a bad traffic jam. My family keeps up our family altar, too. That helps protect our ancestors in the afterlife.”

That pretty much sums up this man’s religious life. Being a fairly well-informed apologist, I decided a little bit of comparative religions was in order. I shared that Christianity is not a belief that Jesus will make things right for me, but a belief that Jesus is a real man who lived in history, announced God’s kingdom, was killed for it, and then rose again from the dead in order to show that God’s saving power has come into the world. This is different than Amida Buddha, who is neither historical nor does he give you something to live for. As often happens, the driver distracted the conversation at this point ("What Vietnamese food do you like?"), and I wasn't able to return clearly to the gospel again on that ride.

I asked my pastor friend that evening how he helps show Vietnamese people that they have a need for a Savior. How do we connect with them when they do not believe in a creator God who has standards for us? Rather than proposing another need we could address (like, say, belonging), he responded that their ignorance is precisely the point. He tries to show people that they really are sinners. He reminds them that they willingly go against God’s purposes when they lie and bend the rules, even if they don't do these things very often. He pointed out that although Vietnamese people may not have a clear sense of moral right and wrong, this is exactly what we need to show them. 

That response humbled me. How often have I let myself be distracted by secondary questions and missed an opportunity to point people to a fundamental problem: whether we recognize it or not, we must give an account before our Creator. This friend and former student reminded me that the gospel never lets us ignore that crucial context.

The exhortation for us this morning, Cities Church, is to never miss an opportunity to remind people around us that we are accountable to our creator. That doesn’t need to be rude or brash, but what my Grab driver really needed to hear was that we are alienated, distant, and separated from our creator—but that he graciously comes near to us with an announcement of the forgiveness of sins.

And that hope leads each of us to confess our sins and find rest in Jesus Christ.