Jim, you pose two good questions. Something we all need to consider. But, I wonder if a third question would be equally appropriate. What would he DO? I kind of think he would "lay hands on the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead," etc...

No doubt he says a lot in the gospels. But he DOES a lot more. "...if all his miracles were recorded, the world couldn't contain the volumes."

I pray every Sunday that he will show up and do just that.

Jesus wouldn't walk into church on Sunday, unless he were lost. He went to "church" on the Sabbath.

Jesus is a do-er!

He's probably a little too Christian to go to most churches. He'd probably go on tour with U2 or something.

Looks about right to me. One can look carefully at the criteria for judgment in the NT, and then look again at the "Lord, when did we..." passages for eloquent support for some of the surmises you make.

Good question! It asks us the reflected question 'do we preach what Jesus preached'? Actually, if we take the view that Jesus' preaching was his way of interpreting what he did and who he was, does the church measure up? Does our 'preached' message explain why we do the things we do (and I am assuming that we are trying to live the christian life)? Or is it simply an umbrella paradigm under which to create an organisation, or a weekend enthusiasts club? The Word became flesh long before Jesus' preaching got written into the Gospels.

I think he'd turn over the tables of all the 'Christian merchandise' stalls. I don't think he would be asked to speak in many Western churches!

If Jesus showed up on Sunday, I think he'd probably hang out with the kids. I fear he might have a few choice "woe to you's" for the big folks.

When I think of the highly popular "how-to" examples of doing Sunday mornings and the so-called "preaching for change" methods, I sense that we're being encouraged to wield something akin to a pseudo-spiritual lever--targeting results that should come from God's power, not well-articulated, well-illustrated prose. Many of the most buzz-worthy voices in the world of church leadership rant endlessly about relevance and applicability, but messages tend to come out like sanctified psychology and sociology, with a short list of tips, techniques, and recipes.

The further I go, the more I question whether an unhealthy form of spiritual ambition isn't driving much of modern church leadership and the all-pervasive pursuit of numerical growth. Is the modern church being driven more by the entrepreneurial spirit or the Holy Spirit?

Repent!!!

Don't believe Jesus would be about performing miracles to impress people who He is, but would be stressing obedience to the Father and spreading His Kingdom here on earth.

These are very profound questions that I think we barely even touch the surface in our contemplation of the results. Personally, I don't think we would even let Jesus speak -- he wouldn't be American / white or presentable enough to appear in our church gatherings. We are all so tainted by our psycho / politico / social / material baggage that we fail to comprehend the depths of Jesus life / death (and message). We do not have the ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches -- we do not have the will to hear.

Here's another way of thinking about this:

Jesus does walk into our church every Sunday. He does preach.

The question is, How can we learn to recognize him? How can we learn to listen?

"demons of lust , pride, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, come out of them. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind"

My understanding is Jesus does come to each church every Sunday. He is always there with us, and esp. when we gather together.

What would he say? Hopefully the same things we say each week - only better! What would he do? What he did when he was here the first time around.

Assumptions impede grace. John 1:14 tells us that Jesus was full of truth and grace. Not one more that the other, full of both. We are quick to assume that truth always has to be hard. We often assume that if someone enjoys the message it must be designed to tickle ears. Every week I see people who love the message because they love the Lord and the message has encouraged them to seek him more, know him better and live more faithfully for him. The Message has identified for them God’s heart and they are grateful because that is what they wanted.

I think that if Jesus came today he would love people well. He would love them with Truth and with Grace. He would say things that teach us to lean into his kingdom and to do so because we love him fully. He is coming to a house, hopefully filled with those he gave his own life to adopt as sons and daughters. He would instruct us about “first things” and then show us how to live that way.

Most pastors I know are nothing like the Pharisees of scripture. Most pastors struggle with low pay, little help and the sense that their calling will somehow hurt their families future because that cannot retire, pay for their kids college, do not have medical insurance and the like. They have people in their church threaten to leave because a sermon went long, money was mentioned more than 2 times in a month and even though the bible tells us to, a call was given to sacrifice. It might be time we quit assuming Jesus would verbally spank these people and give them the honor due someone who has prayerfully answered a call from God.

"Truth hurts" is not a Bible statement; it is a human one. Truth sets free is the biblical statement. So the measurement for truth is not pain but freedom. Biblical freedom is the ability to choose your master, in one sense the ability to choose God as your master. The opposite of truth is pain, enslavement and death. Truth is awesome and brings joy.

I do not think he will come to preach. He left
the Holy Spirit to minister to us. He would want
us to repent.

"You do not evaluate truth the way I do. Sermon messages are not good if they seem to pass the popularity contest. There were times when I spoke and people walked away, wanting nothing more to do with me."

So true. I think Jesus would have harsh words for most Christians who are relatively rich and do not care about the dying in the third world or in our own backyard. Of course, preaching such a message about us needing to do more to help the needy, the poor, the widows, fatherless, those who need a drink and the naked - all this would just offend. But then, Jesus would probably do that... Many would walk away. And that would probably be closer to the bible.

I doubt that Jesus' message and actions would be any different than it was the first time He was physically here, because He Is, and His nature is unchanging.

There would be many attracted to His care and healing. Some would sidle up to Him for status. Many would feel lifted by his attention to the "unworthy". Many would be following the "show". Many would test Him for various reasons. Many would leave Him because the truth He spoke was too harsh. Some would be profoundly changed for the better. Some would find themselves and their positions threatened by Him. And eventually some, perhaps many would try to kill Him yet again.

Thankfully, Jesus hasn't changed. He still pursues each one of us for His purpose, even though we are very much the same variety of rabble that He dealt with in the Scriptural record. Hopefully we will take advantage of their experiences and avoid many of the pitfalls of those who have gone before us.

Somebody said that Jesus came to comfort the afflicted -- and to afflict the comfortable!

Pastor Jim:

I thought your comments were thought provoking and reminded me of the poem "If Jesus Came To Your House."

I have spent 40 of my 62 years as ateaching evangelist and lately within the last 2 years to be exact been asked to be an Associate Pastor of a new church plant.

Leading Small groups in God's Word and in Discipleship as layed out in His Word the Bible.

I pondered accepting this position and sought the Lord in prayer.

The answer I got was not only to me but to the Church as a whole.
Ist: I was to get out of the box ..... the comfort zone of not offending those in the pews. I grew up in the camp meetings of Billy Graham when he started out in the Billy Sunday Tabernacle in Warsaw Indiana and with Oral Roberts, Rex Humbard. I was told to preach that there is a Heaven and a Hell and that there was a Lake of Fire.

It was brought home to me very clearly that the souls of those God had given to me would be held to my account if I misled them in any way.

2nd: I was led to the passage where Ezekial was brought to the Valley of Dry Bones and I was told that I was to start preaching so that those who wer content with their walk and the way they had become and I was to begin to disturb them ... I was to stir up the spirit within them through the not white washed Word ..... BUT ..... the Blood washed Word. The church is dying ..... I mean us our congregations not the buildings but the Believers themselves we need to seek a fresh anointing we need the fire up in our bones ..... we need the fire so hot within us that God gets a smell of our stinking pride and arrogance being consumed by the Fire of His Spirit that He comes to each one of us and asks: "What do you want?" we need to reply "More of You!!!!!!!!!!

He would do what he did when he was here on earth 2000 years ago. Heal the sick,raise the dead and send people out to the ends of the earth to preach the good news and complete the unfinished work.

For the church his sermon would be taken from Rev 3: 14-22. The church in Laodicea. I think that is the condition of the church today.

Thanks for the questions pastor Jim. Its amazing the number of persons who have responded because your questions hit either a positive or negative sensitive spot.

What would Jesus say, or what would He preach? To be true to Himself and His word irrespective of what He would find in our churches He would have to preach the word, the Gospel of Christ as He did the first time around. This is especially so since neither He or we have changed. PS I am glad that His Spirit is with us all day and everyday when we are assembled and when we are alone.

I do not believe His message would change. His is unchangeable.

I would hope, however, that WE would respond as Isaiah did, "Woe to me for I am a man of unclean lips" and then say "Here I am Lord, send me!"

Pastor Jim, I believe your congregation must be very blessed if you agonize over your sermons in this way. I hope that they recognize it.

he might do what he did. condemn the religious leaders for placing heavy weights on the shoulders of the people, and then look at the downtrodden and say, (probably with eyes full of compassion and maybe even a tear or two) "go and sin no more."

He'd tell some stories that would infuriate some, encourage others, and confuse the rest of us.

Didn't Jesus preach to 7 churches acording to John the Revelator?