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The God
who is
Ü Does God exist or did we invent him?
Ü Who is Jesus?
Ü Who is the Holy Spirit?
Ü Does God exist or did we invent him?
It may seem a strange matter for Christians to discuss
but we live in an increasingly atheistic and intolerant world and it is vital
we think through the difficulties that others have in coming to faith. It is
important that we can give an answer to the faith that we have.
Ü Who is Jesus?
So when we come to this question, we may answer
questions that you don’t have. If you are in a relationship with Jesus, such
questions as to his existence and character may be assumed.
Point 1 Jesus existed. He is more authenticated than almost any other person
in history. Although he lived the other end of the Roman Empire in a small
province and did not make the headlines, the evidence for his existence is so
overwhelming, few would disbelieve his existence. There is less evidence for
the existence of Mohammed the prophet, Julius Caesar but few ever question
their existence.
Point 2 We
have reliable witness documents. The Gospels, which tell the life on earth story of Jesus are remarkably
well preserved. There are odd words changed and Mark’s gospel seems to have
been cut short. They are convincingly telling the same story from different
viewpoints. We think we have an fragment of John as early as 120AD, and the
whole New Testament as early as 350 AD.
So the story and the actual text of what was said and done is more
reliable than any other documents of that era.
Point 3. He was fully human.
He had a human body
that tired as
in John 4:6 and
he suffered hunger as in Matthew 4:2.
He had human emotions
anger in Mark 11:15-17
Love as in Mark 10:21
Sadness as in John 11:32-36
He had human experiences
Temptation as in Mark 1:13
Learning as in Luke 2:46-52
Work as in Mark 6:3
Obedience as in Luke 2:51
This is a great encouragement to us. He walked where we walked.
Hebrews
2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in
every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the
people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is
able to help those who are being tempted.
Hebrews
4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every
way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the
throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need.
He is our man in heaven, who understands us.
His humanity lifts this miserable existence to
elevated heights. We are not an
evolved species, waiting for the next asteroid strike to wipe us of the planet,
we are God’s chosen species, designed to relate to him. And God chose to be
among us as a human being and experience the struggles for himself. Never
forget that you pray to as God who understands and has felt the same emotions
as you.
But also he tells us that sin is not impossible to overcome. The failure we know is not the best, he was without
sin. And by his Holy Spirit we can overcome temptation and live the life that
he intended. So when you fail yet again, do not think that your failure means
that it impossible to please God as a human. Look to Jesus, remind yourself
that sin can be overcome and was overcome in the life, death and resurrection
of Jesus.
Let’s return
to the main question. So what was he?
Why is he so important to world history?
A prophet: eg
Matthew 5:22
A rabbi Mark
1:14-20
The Messiah John 10:24-30
So we can
accept that he was a great human/religious teacher. Some of the great
sayings are his "Do
unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31, NIV)
which wikipedia calls the ‘Ethic of reciprocity’ which shows
that Jesus could put it in simple terms so that we could understand.
But what does Jesus claim about
himself?
God & Son
of God John 10:31-39;
Luke 2:49; John 2:16 my Father's house. See John 14:2
Eternal John 8:58
If you claim to be God, you
would probably be sectioned under the Mental Health Act. So was Jesus Mad? Did he believe he
was something he was not? Had he picked up on the Caesars claim to be God and
simply believe he was , like them, above normal humans? If you are serious about telling others the
good news, you need to have checked this one out.
Read the gospels for yourself.
Jesus never denies being God and frequently says he is. His care is in not
letting his followers run away with the idea that being God he can be another
despotic Caesar.
If he were mad, then how come
his madness is so balanced and full of compassion? He does have it in for the
religious leaders of the day but he does not use his power against them, only
for the healing and providing for the people around him.
Is he the ultimate con-man? Knocking on your door, just
wanting to check your plumbing, from the council, or whatever? It is too easy
to be conned and we must be vigilant. Never let an uninvited trader in your
door. Use the Age Concern register for
finding someone or ask around friends.
The question is: Did Jesus
know he was not God and simply con his disciples into believing it?
This is a serious challenge
and needs thought. What test can we apply to expose him? Well, he claimed to be
the Messiah and the fulfillment of the Law, so we can test that.
There are many Old Testament
references to the Messiah and therefore we can see if first Jesus satisfied
them and second, whether he, knowing them, simply carried them out.
First, the Messiah had to be
born in Bethlehem, we all know that. But it would be difficult to engineer your
place of birth. He also had to come from Nazareth and Egypt. Jesus managed to
fulfill all of those while still a toddler. Matthew, in particular, is very
keen to show how Jesus fulfilled the promises of a Messiah, so I will leave you
to read them and judge yourself. But even if we could believe Jesus engineered
his death and he did knowingly set out to die, it is impossible for him to have
the unlikely event of the Jews choosing crucifixion rather than stoning, for
example. So in birth and death he would have to be amazingly lucky to have
fulfilled the prophecies. But then he claimed he would rise from death. And
after three days his disillusioned disciples are transformed. They claim he is
alive. Now Jesus could not have engineered his own resurrection, This is the
final demonstration that Jesus is who he claims to be. So the evidence about
the resurrection is crucial. Again can I refer you to Who moved the stone? And
other books written by people seeking to find fault with the evidence and
coming to the conviction that this is a real event, however impossible it may
seem. Jesus was not a con-man. Nor was
he mad.
He has therefore to be Son of
God, he cannot just be a great ethical teacher, he is God as he claimed to be.
And if he is, we need to take seriously what he says and does.
That is why we took so long over John’s Gospel in the last two years. And we
will return to the gospels in the future. In simple terms we believe that what
Jesus said and what the Bible says is the only guide to life. So we ignore the
traditions of the church and the writing of the early Fathers and concentrate
of God’s word alone. Spurgeon once said that he only read books that helped
understand the Bible better. We must always be careful reading and listening to
others expounding the Scriptures, like me, that we match up to what Jesus
taught and what is written in the Bible. Jesus said “I am the truth”.
In conclusion then, we have to
recognize that the question ‘Who is Jesus?’ is critical to our understanding of
God. If the Bible is right about Jesus, Hebrews 1 directs our thinking about
God to thinking about Jesus
1In the past God spoke to our forefathers
through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2but in
these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all
things, and through whom he made the universe. 3The Son is the
radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining
all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
Time does not allow
me to go on to explore in what way Jesus is God and how his humanity and
divinity work out in his life on earth and his life in heaven. Maybe we need to
consider that another time.
At the heart of our gospel is
that God himself came in human flesh, lived among us, laid down his life on the
cross not a life thrown away but as we learnt in Romans 3
21But now a
righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law
and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes
through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his
blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he
had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to
demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who
justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
And
he rose again on the third day, triumphing over death itself, returned to
heaven to be at the Father’s right hand and has sent his Holy Spirit to our
strength and stay in our lives.
Who is Jesus? He is all that the Bible says about him.
He is my Saviour and Lord and my constant friend.
Hebrews 12: 2Let us fix our
eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set
before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition
from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.