Colossians 2:6-7 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Most of us remember the old children’s hymn “Jesus Loves Me” and we certainly enjoy the simplicity of the faith that its lyrics describe. When I hear it sung, I can shut my eyes and sing all of the words faultlessly. At the same time, I’m transported back to school assemblies in Scotland and see myself singing it as a child, or teaching it as a school chaplain many years later.
It’s a lovely song, and I’m glad to write that our church children are still learning its beautiful words. The first two lines are very important foundations for any beginner in the Christian faith.
“Jesus loves me this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.”
Those two simple lines express a genuine dependence upon the authority of the scriptures to tell us about Jesus. We know Who He is by accepting what the Bible states about Him. The Gospel stories, the Book of Acts, all the New Testament letters, and even the Book of Revelation paint a picture of Christ that we have embraced for twenty centuries. The First Christians used those stories and letters to build up their fledgling church communities. They flourished because they remained faithful to the holy words that they received, read, and retained.
I came to Christ first as a child singing simple hymns and then as an alcohol addict looking for Jesus to save me from myself. In both circumstances, I clung to the belief that Jesus loved me and that the Bible was true. The roots of faith that my Sunday School teachers had planted in my heart and mind bore fruit at a critical time in my life. Through their Biblical teaching, I knew that I just needed Jesus to cover my sins with His blood and to redeem me forever to God.
The older I get, the more that I see people complicating their faith by trying to mold and reshape Jesus into their ways and understanding. They also want to know that Jesus loves them, but they try to make Him uniquely and comfortably fit their lives. Our Christian faith doesn’t work that way; it never has and it never will. Christ reshapes us when we repent. He enables us to become the human beings that God wants us to be. Anything else is just a personal delusion; anything other than Jesus leads us down a path that goes nowhere.
At Erin Christ is, and always will be, the Senior Pastor and the Head of the Church. The role that He has called me to undertake is to be the teaching elder of our congregation. That’s a ministry that has eternal consequences for you and me. That’s why I really try to base all that I teach upon what the Scriptures have told Christians for centuries. I preach the simple faith that I was taught, which was rooted and built up on Christ. I endeavor to teach what the Bible states, and not what I would like it to say. And so, with all of my heart, my mind, my strength, and my soul, I truly believe in those words from the old hymn: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I hope and pray that you can too.
May God bless you and all your loved ones.
John Stuart is currently the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment or ask questions of today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.
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