Romans 1:20–21 “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”
In a classic yuletide sermon, Pastor Kennedy points out that Christmas is coming, but does the world really need Christmas anymore? Does this modern, electronic, technological world really need Christ, or Christmas? Quite evidently, commerce needs Christmas, since many businesses do 40-60 percent or more of their income in the month of December. But do we really need Christ? There are those, of course, who say we don’t. I, of course, believe we do, for many reasons. I will mention two briefly.
First, Christ is the hope of the world. The world desperately needs Christ because the world desperately needs hope. We live in a world where most of the hope has been drained away. That is why suicide has become commonplace, especially among the young in college, because they live in a world without hope. All looks very bleak and dark. Yet Christ could say, “I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore” (Revelation 1:18). “Because I live, you shall live also” (John 14:19). Every soul yearns for something permanent, something eternal. You may try to stuff it full of material things, but it just won’t be satisfied, and somehow, sometime, the soul is going to peak out around the corner of the day after tomorrow and say, “Isn’t there anything better than this? Is this all there is?”
The world needs hope and the only real hope available is found in Jesus Christ. This is not some vain, vacuous, empty hope, but a hope that is built on solid evidence. It is a hope that is built on solid rock, a rock against which you can dash all of your doubts and all of your unbelief—the cold rock of an empty tomb. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is built upon such solid evidence of such many diverse sorts that it has never been disproved. It has been denied, it has been ignored, but it has never been disproved, though all of the guns of unbelief and skepticism have been trained upon it. The world desperately needs Christ because the world needs hope and no one else can give it.
Second, among the many reasons, let me say that the world needs Christ because Christ gives meaning and significance to life. Dr. Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard, America’s most prolific evolutionist today, reminds the people that they were of no real significance at all, and that life had no more meaning than a dried twig. Mind you, not a branch or fruitful bough, or even a tree, but merely a dead twig you might pick up off the grass in your back yard and toss into the fire or the garbage can. Dear friends, that is not humility, that is futility. That is meaninglessness. The Bible gives us true lessons in humility. But it also tells us that we are made in the image of God, and we have real significance and meaning when it comes to the great ultimate questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? How should I live? Where am I going? Those are the questions that fill the mind of every sophomore in college.
What is the evolutionist’s answer to these questions? Who am I? Twiggy, that’s who.
Where did I come from? You slithered up out of some primordial slime, dropped your tail, climbed a tree, grew some fur, jumped down, put on a 3-piece suit, and voila, here you are. How should I live? Who knows? They certainly don’t. There is no guide book that comes out of the primordial slime with you. Where am I going? You are going into oblivion, into the heat death of the solar system and the entire galaxy. Truly, there is no meaning and no significance to life at all..
Christ’s answers are far more glorious: Who am I? I am the child of the King. I am a child of the Living God. Where did I come from? I came from the hand of an omnipotent and omniscient Creator. Why am I here? I am here to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. How should I live? He has given me a guide book—His Word— the Bible, which not only gives me the principles to live by, but gives me the Living Exemplar, Jesus Christ, who lived them out perfectly. Where am I going? I am going to that place He has prepared for me in paradise.
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