“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Luke 19:10
Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if Jesus had not come? The impact of the life of Christ affects us every day of our life as well as every other person in the world! If Christ had not come, there would be no hope of eternal life, no cross and no empty tomb. Life would be meaningless. There would be no forgiveness of sin, no freedom from guilt, no deliverance from the power of sin, no hymns to sing and no hope for the future.
Before Jesus came, life was cheap and still is in areas where the gospel has not penetrated. Abortion in the Roman Empire was rampant. It was common for unwanted babies to be taken to the forest or hillsides and be consumed by wild animals. Children could be killed at the whim of their father. Only half of the children lived past the age of 8 years. Child sacrifice was common. But, in the early church, abortion disappeared. Orphanages and schools were established by believers. In the second century, an historian wrote, “Christians marry, they beget children, and do not destroy their offspring.” In the sixth century, the Justinian Code outlawed abortion and treated it as murder. Christians have always raised a strong voice for life until it became politically incorrect in the 20th century.
Wherever Christianity has an influence, it raises the value of women and the elderly. During the Roman Empire, half the empire was in slavery. It was a Christian in Great Britain, William Wilberforce, who through prayer and persistence was finally able to see the slave trade abolished in 1833. It would be 32 years later, after a terrible Civil War, when slavery was outlawed in America. The morality of any society can be judged by the view it holds of human life. Remove Jesus Christ from history and life would be cheap. You might not be alive today, if Jesus had not come.
The early church stressed support for widows, orphans, the sick and disabled, and those out of work or imprisoned for their faith. They redeemed slaves out of slavery. They entertained travelers. They helped those experiencing famine and persecution. They were a brotherhood, bound together in love that turned the Roman Empire upside down. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another,” John 13:35. When Christians were brought to die in the arena, one of Rome’s historians shouted, “Look how these Christians love one another!”
In the history of the world, there has never been a nation with the religious, political and economic liberties we have in the United States. The Mayflower Compact, called the “birth certificate of America,” stated that the country was founded for the “glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith.” The concept of a secular nation where the Bible is kept out of the schools and the name of Jesus Christ is banished would never have occurred to the founding fathers. Men such as John Adams, Patrick Henry and others were practicing evangelical Christians. Those who were not, were God-fearing men. The Bible was important to them and it had a huge influence on our Constitution.
President Abraham Lincoln said, “It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God…and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.” “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,” Psalm 33:12. What if Jesus had not come?
Your friend, Jean (taken from a sermon by Pastor Terry)