Here at the Lord’s Table we celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ victory on the cross, when he sacrificed himself for the forgiveness of our sin, and reconciled us to God. And His victory completely changes how we view this world.

I saw an example of a distorted world view 55 years ago when my school friends saw a TV series about a group of skydivers, who appeared to be stationary in the air, as if they were flying, and the distant earth never seemed to get any closer.  It was the first time that cameras were small enough to be carried in the air, we had never seen anything like it before, and a couple of school friends even thought these people were flying!

You may think those students were a bit silly, but many people today have similar illusions about life.

Some tell us our world has existed, and will continue to exist, virtually forever. But that is like a skydiver seeing the earth as not appearing to get any closer, until it is too late.  Jesus told us many times that this era will end, and we will all face a time of judgement.

Another illusion says there are no absolute values, and we can choose whatever beliefs we like as all views are equally valid.  But that’s like a skydiver choosing to gaze up into a serene and never-ending view into space while ignoring the fast-approaching hard earth below.  God’s word tells us there are absolute values like good and evil, truth and falsehood; and our focus and direction in this life, and being upright and aligned with God, has eternal consequences.

A third illusion is like the way my school friends thought the skydivers had stopped their fall by frantically waving their arms and legs.  People today are tempted to think that we can, in our own power and without God, sort out humanity’s problems.  But our problems are not caused by any lack of technical skill, they are caused by things like anger, hatred, greed, and other sin that stems from the human heart.

God has given us the real world view in his word, and in Jesus we can face that reality without fear or illusion.  Through Jesus’ victory on the cross, we can look forward to our time of judgement, for we have a wonderful promise in Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”.

This is not an intellectual belief, it’s in our heart, it involves a personal relationship of faith, as we allow Jesus to live in us and put a new heart within us, a heart that enables us to turn away from sin and evil, and to live in his goodness and truth.