"I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD"

Jeff Watt, Creative Arts Pastor

At RockPointe, you may have noticed that we love to make much of Jesus. We talk about him, we sing about him, and we seek to follow and imitate him. Now, that may not be a unique characteristic of our particular church, but it is at the very core of our denominational identity.

A. B. Simpson, the founder of the Christian & Missionary Alliance (the denomination to which RockPointe Church belongs), saw Jesus as vitally central to the Christian life. In what may be his best-known hymn, Simpson declared:

Jesus only is our message,
Jesus all our theme shall be;
We will lift up Jesus ever,
Jesus only will we see.
Jesus only, Jesus ever,
Jesus all in all we sing,
Saviour, Sanctifier, and Healer,
Glorious Lord and coming King.

These last two lines contain what we in the Alliance call “The Fourfold Gospel”, which describes Jesus as our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. As we think about the second line of the Apostle’s Creed this week, let’s explore four of our core beliefs about Jesus through the lens of the Fourfold Gospel.

First, Jesus is our Saviour. John 3:16-17 reminds us that Jesus’ task on earth was nothing less than a divine rescue mission. We were drowning, chained to the weight of our sin, unable to save ourselves from death. Jesus came and, by his suffering and death, reversed our destiny and gave us eternal life (Romans 6:23). What was impossible, God made possible through Jesus. No wonder the Apostle Peter declared, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12).

Second, Jesus is our Sanctifier. To sanctify something means to make it holy. It speaks of the gradual process by which Jesus is making us more like him. As those who are filled with his Spirit, we should resemble Jesus more and more the longer we know and follow him (Hebrews 10:14). While we are counted as holy and blameless in God’s eyes because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, our growing day-to-day experience of that reality is evidence of Jesus’ Spirit in us (1 Thess. 5:23-24).

Third, Jesus is our Healer. Few stories speak more loudly of Jesus’ power and divinity than the occasions when he healed the sick, restored sight to the blind, and raised the dead. Because he remains “the same yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), Jesus continues to express his love and mercy through healing. His ongoing willingness to heal today speaks of a wholeness we will one day fully experience in heaven that extends to our whole being—emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically (Luke 4:18-19).

Fourth, Jesus is our Coming King. Even though we don’t know when it will happen, Jesus’ imminent return is never far from our minds. It is our greatest hope, and it fuels our desire to make the most of the days with which we have been entrusted. And when things around us seem darkest, we find comfort in the fact that a day is coming when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9-11).

It would be foolish to say that these four aspects comprise the sum total of Jesus’ being. His fullness is beyond our comprehension to describe fully—like how he holds all creation together (Colossians 1:17) and how he is at the same time fully God and fully man (Hebrews 1:3, 2:14). Some of my all-time favourite passages of Scripture are when the writer seems to become overwhelmed with the person of Jesus; I like to imagine them unable to do anything but break into song. If it has been awhile since you’ve felt that way about Jesus, try reading these amazing passages, and see if it doesn’t revive that sense of awe and wonder:

• Hebrews 1:1-3

• Colossians 1:15-20

• John 1:1-14

As effusive as these writers of Scripture were in describing Jesus, I’m sure they always felt like they were merely scratching the surface. Perhaps it is our job to pick up where they left off, adding our own testimony of Jesus’ incomparable glory and majesty. Of course, our best efforts to describe him will always feel like they fall far short, but that shouldn’t stop us from trying. Here’s one example from Matt Redman that seems appropriate for Thanksgiving Weekend:

Jesus what can I give, what can I bring
To so faithful a friend, to so loving a King?
Saviour, what can be said, what can be sung
As a praise of Your name for the things You have done?
Oh my words could not tell, not even in part,
Of the debt of love that is owed by this thankful heart.

Let’s allow our belief in our Saviour, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King to spill out in expressions of praise and thanksgiving this weekend. I’m looking forward to making much of Jesus with you!