One of the most searching questions found in the Bible asked by Jesus is perhaps more relevant today as his life and words have gone global in ways unimaginable to other generations. In a world where the lines of spirituality have all run together, everyone has a box for what Jesus is asking, because every seriously spiritual person has figured out that Jesus is part of the spiritual equation.
Author and journalist, Lee Strobel concludes in his book, “The case for the real Jesus”; “When you wed the American independent streak with a postmodern skepticism toward institutions, you set the stage for what theologians call “syncretism”, which is the blending of elements from various faiths into a new form of spirituality.” Living in a place like Asheville I feel like someone turned the “syncretism blender” on high for 20 years. It seems we have lost so much of the Jesus who really lived that for some it doesn’t even matter if Jesus existed at all, the “idea of Jesus is what is important”. Everything can be “blended” with Jesus if he is what we want him to be.
At Crosspoint, Jesus is a core value because we embrace the experience of Jesus in our lives, (because he is real and relevant for us), and we equally embrace the objective truth about his life and work for us. We want to challenge the ignorance about our Savior and we can only do that when we can clearly tell others more than merely cleverly edited portions of his words and deeds. We tell the hard things about Jesus that are intended to offend the “spiritually syncretistic” and shake their trust in their ideas about Jesus. The Jews wanted Jesus to be merely “a prophet” but when he became a threat to their precisely blended system of law keeping and divine-right-racial-elitism, they had enough, and crucified him, thinking they were doing the will of God.
But our message is not all about confrontation, Jesus also allows us to open the door wide to the skeptics and say, “Come and see the Jesus that the Bible revels…in fact, come close!” Because the closer you examine Him and the more you press his words and deeds, the more compelling his claims become. In fact, Crosspoint exists, to bring every person to intersect with the soul satisfying beauty of Jesus Christ by authentic worship and witness to the power of His kingdom.
Here is the "crosspoint" for each individual, “Who do you say that I am?” Stepping off into the answer to that question sincerely will take you to places you did not think you could go intellectually, emotionally or volitionally. Peter answered for the apostles in a way that was not only experiential, but objectively true for all generations and for all time, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And upon this rock of truth, Jesus is building His church.
