BRANSON – Speaking to Missouri Baptists during their annual meeting here, Oct. 29, Carlos Smith, lead pastor of The Journey Hanley Road church in University City, gave them a “simple spiritual arithmetic” to live by: namely, “Jesus is greater than all.”
“I want to leave you this morning with the simple message that, no matter what you’re dealing with, … Christ is greater,” said Smith, who was preaching from Philippians 3:1-11. No matter what someone might put next to Jesus, whether it be sickness, cancer, the opiate crisis in Missouri, or any other problem they might have, they’ll discover this truth: “Jesus is greater than all.”
According to Philippians 3:1-11, Smith said, Jesus gives his people a greater identity – not an identity based on ethnicity or nationality or religion, but an identity based on Christ alone. “The only banner,” Smith said, “that is going to matter at the last day” is not the banner of ethnicity, nationality or religion, “but the blood stained banner of Jesus Christ.”
Christ also gives His people a greater profit than this world can. Jesus gives them Himself and His righteousness. “Everything that we need, Jesus already gave to us,” Smith said. Anytime a believer is tempted by sin, they simply need to ask themselves, “Is this sin better than Jesus?” No doubt, Smith said, it is never greater than Jesus.
Finally, Jesus gives His people a greater hope. Not only can Christians look forward to being raised together from the dead when Jesus returns, but also “the resurrection power of God that got Jesus out of the grave is at work in each and every one of us.”