Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

Foreword by Rico Tice
Preface

1 A rescue story
2 A claim we can’t walk away from
3 God has a face
4 A fresh start
5 The love that we long for
6 The revolution
7 Our life in his hands
8 Bread for the journey
9 Life to the full
10 The Servant King
11 The future starts today

FOREWORD

If you read this book you will come face to face with Jesus. Not the Jesus of popular imagination, but the real-life Jesus of history. Not the Jesus of hearsay, but Jesus in his own words, as recorded in the Gospel of John. And there is no-one more important for you to meet.

This is not a dry, preachy book. There is no religiosity, no jargon. You don’t need any ‘insider’ knowledge. Mike approaches the subject as someone who has had his own eyes opened and is longing to share that knowledge. And so his book overflows with warmth and humanity, as he gives us an insight into the life Jesus wants to restore to us. Trusting in Jesus is not about missing out on life. It is about the fullness of life we were created for, the fresh start we all need.

Perhaps you have picked up this book for a friend, longing for them to come to know and trust Jesus. No doubt you are concerned to give them the right material. I can vouch that with this book they will be in safe hands, both in terms of content and approach.

First, and crucially, the Jesus presented here is the Jesus of the Bible. Mike is faithful to John’s Gospel throughout. His content is shaped by John’s content. And so he is always pointing the reader to the source of information, to the Bible, for it is here in God’s word that we find life-changing power.

Secondly, Mike writes out of a love for other people. He has a real heart for his reader, and his desire that they should know the life they were meant for is palpable on every page. And so he beckons them with warmth as well as candour to share with him in the life that can be found only in Jesus. There is no sense of superiority. Instead he builds a natural rapport with his reader, with plenty of down-to-earth illustration from real life that we can all relate to. Above all, here is someone who is delighted to share with others the joy he has found.

And thirdly, Mike is serious in his purpose. He understands the stakes and the urgency of the decision. The strength of his longing for people to put their trust in Jesus informs all that he writes. There is humour, but never flippancy. No attempt is made to soften the importance of a person’s response to Jesus.

Or perhaps you have picked up this book as someone indifferent to Jesus. If that’s the case, then, with respect, I would say you cannot have really met him. Please may I ask you to let this book make that introduction? Rest assured this won’t require you to put your brain to one side. Mike’s presentation of Jesus is consistently thoughtful and reasoned. He carefully dismantles the arguments for dismissing Jesus, arguments erected to stave off being confronted with the reality of Jesus. And he shows us that truly to make sense of life and its meaning, it is to Jesus we must go.

I urge you to meet the real-life Jesus in this book. No-one can ignore him for ever.

Rico Tice
Associate Minister, All Souls Church
Langham Place, London
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PREFACE

My friends wouldn’t say that they were against Jesus. It is more that they don’t see why he is relevant to them. That sort of ambivalence has always puzzled me, because, as far as I can tell, the claims Jesus makes about who he is and what he has come to do are compelling. I cannot think of anyone more relevant. As I have talked with my friends, it has often emerged that their knowledge of Jesus has been gleaned from a mixture of religious studies lessons, Christmas carol services and TV documentaries. In our culture Jesus is increasingly marginalized, so it is hardly surprising that our understanding of him is so patchy. But I long for my friends to know that the Jesus they have no time for is a pale imitation of the real Jesus. That is why I have written this book. It is not a technical book and I am aware that it leaves many questions unanswered, but it is an attempt to introduce people to the real Jesus.

I have based each chapter on a section of John’s Gospel partly because it was through John’s Gospel that my own eyes were first opened to see the real Jesus, and partly because it is my hope that readers of this portrait of Jesus will get a handle on John’s much fuller portrait and so be inspired to read John’s Gospel for themselves.