Jesus Christ Is a Person to Be Dealt With

           Jesus Christ polarizes people. There are places today where the mere mention of His name wreaks dire consequences. Even in so-called free societies there are movements to eradicate any vestige of the name, the teachings, or the deity of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
            This is nothing new. When Jesus walked the earth as the God-man, there was equally strong feeling on both sides as Jesus carried out His ministry.
           Why would Jesus evoke such diverse sentiment?
           First of all, it was the will of God. The Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" (Isaiah 53:3).
            Second, it was the teachings of Jesus that separated people in their opinion of Him. The teaching of Christ literally turned the world upside down, in that the kingdom system He was talking about was opposite the world system.
            The world system is all about force, greed, selfishness, ambition, and pleasure. When Jesus was teaching, the world was divided along the lines of the "haves" and the "have nots."
            Rome was in power. The civil and religious leaders had aligned themselves with Rome to best serve their own ambition.
            The majority of the people were disenfranchised. They had no voice, they had no status, and they had no advocate.
            The most direct teaching of Christ in establishing His kingdom is in what is called the Sermon on the Mount, contained in Matthew 5-7. Jesus moved the focus from the here-and-now to the hereafter, The hope that one day, maybe not in this life but in the next life, everything would be set right moved people to join Him or oppose Him.
            The temporary versus the eternal still divides our souls individually, even if we are followers of Christ. But also every person will align themselves on one side or the other: Have it now, or trust God for later.
            In Matthew 5:3-10, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
            These principles of Christ, better termed the gospel of Christ, pulled the rug from under the power brokers, who used the threat of imminent punishment for all who did not fall in line with whatever they wanted. People who had no power before would now stand up and resist even to the death, because they had the promise of justice in the next life.
            That is why and how Jesus turned the world upside down. Literally, the disenfranchised had the power to disenfranchise the establishment.
            The gospel of Jesus set people free, first of all from their sin and the resulting judgment of God. But the gospel also gave freedom to live above circumstances, trusting in the power of Almighty God.
            Jesus Christ is a person to be dealt with. We may have everything our way now by following the ways of the world, but we must ask ourselves, "What's next?"
            In Hebrews 9:27, we are brought face to face with reality: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment." The reality is that everything depends on what we do with Jesus Christ.