What is the Christian Message?
An Iranian was travelling on a plane when he noticed that his fellow passenger was reading a Bible.
Eventually the Iranian man plucked up courage and said to his companion,
“I’m new in the west, could you please explain the Christian religion to me? What is the difference between a Catholic, a Protestant and a Baptist?”
The Christian smiled and replied,
“I’ll try. Excuse me asking, but are you a Muslim?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Could you tell me, do Muslims have sins?
“Oh yes, many, many sins. I don’t even know all the sins. ”
“Let me ask you another question, ‘Is it serious if you commit a sin?’
“Very, very serious.”
“Well, do you sin?”
“All the time. I commit many sins.”
“How does God feel about your sin?’
“Its very bad, very bad.”
The Christian then asked a most important question,
“Do you have any hope of forgiveness?”
The Iranian man then said,
“I hope that God will forgive me.”
“On what basis do you have this hope?”
The Iranian looked blank. The Christian then came out with a statement that has great implications,
“Well, may I be bold enough to say that at present He won’t, but God has provided us with the solution”
The Iranian was then asked,
“Are you interested in your sins being forgiven?”
“Yes. Yes. Now I understand Christianity. It’s about forgiveness.”
The Christian went on to explain the story about Jesus, who came from God to be the Saviour of the world and how his sacrificial death on our behalf took over from us the responsibility for our sin. He took our sin and we receive his standing of being righteous before God. That Iranian’s heart was opened by God both to his need and to the only solution.
Today there are many who are terrified about catching the Covid-19 virus. A few years ago the fear was the HIV virus, Yet the whole Bible teaches that we have a virus that has contaminated us all, it is the S-I-N virus but it can be treated.
Michael Horton has recently published a book entitled ‘Christless Christianity’ in which he shares his concerns that much modern-day preaching relegates the Gospel to a self-help system rather than the good news of being redeemed from God's wrath through the death of Jesus Christ. Many churches have become social groups that undoubtedly offer great benefits to people socially. Other churches concentrate on ‘worshipping God’ in their services, using various means such as liturgy, rousing music and prayer. It is however a grave mistake to think of worship in terms of something Christians do corporately when they come together. We can only worship God by committing our whole lives to the service of our Saviour. This will include encouraging other Christians by meeting up with them to learn from God’s word. Also included in worship is the sharing with others around us the message about how people can be reconciled to God.
When Paul wrote to the troubled church at Corinth he also emphasised that a major part of worship is sharing the message about how we sinners can be made right with God.
“Since then we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men.” 2 Corinthians 5:11
The drive to share the faith with others comes from the understanding of how much Christ loves us all,
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all . . .” 2 Corinthians 5:14
Christians have been bought with a price and we are therefore obligated to live for Jesus,
“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:15
This is why, when we become Christians, we start a new life which is committed to living to honour our Saviour.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Paul continues to describe what this new life of worship will involve,
“All this is from God who reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18
The possibility of reconciliation with God is the message that everyone must hear, that our sin can be forgiven because of who Jesus is and what he has achieved on our behalf. Our message is that we can be put right with God by Jesus Christ. Paul explains this,
“ . . . that God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them.” 2 Corinthians 5:19
Yet how few today realise that this is the message of the church. In essence it was the rediscovery of this message that led to the first reformation of the church in the sixteenth century. May we never move away from this message. One theologian has suggested that we now need a second reformation. He says rightly that the first reformation was about ‘creeds’ but suggests that we now need another about ‘deeds’. But we are not saved by deeds but only by Jesus. The truth is that when people really understand the gospel of grace, who Jesus is, that God has forgiven our sin through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ, and have been given his Holy Spirit, we will naturally want to live our lives in a way that pleases him.
This new life of worship will inevitably involve passing on the message of how our sin can be forgiven and therefore how we can be reconciled to God. In this section of Paul’s letter the idea of being made right with God, of reconciliation through Christ, is repeated five times. Notice how reconciliation with God is associated with the forgiveness of our sin, which itself is associated with our being given the status of being made righteous.
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
There is no more pressing task than that of urging people to get right with God by turning away from their old self-centred life to a Christ-centred one and so accepting his forgiveness.
Going on with Christ
At an inter-church youth event in our church, the youth leader of a local church came with a couple of youngsters. Not knowing her, I sat next to her to try to make her feel welcome. I was staggered at her opening line,
“You know the trouble with your church - you speak too much about Jesus!”
How should that be answered? I showed her the opening ten verses of Paul’s first letter to the troubled church at Corinth that talks about Jesus in every sentence. Jesus is always the answer when churches are going astray. We could have looked at other passages such as Philippians 3:7-11 where Paul emphasises that his background and noble works count for nothing – it is only depending on Christ and living to please him that matters.
It is so easy for Christians to acknowledge, in the background, that Christ’s sacrifice is how we have been admitted to God’s kingdom but then to leave him behind and think that it is our good deeds that somehow satisfy God. What a tragedy such thinking is. Everything we do should be to glorify Jesus. Churches that run social activities such as food banks and youth activities and encourage people to be upright members of society have missed the point if they are not promoting Jesus through these noble activities. The only righteousness that counts before God is the righteousness that has been credited to us because we in Christ. All we do subsequently should reflect this fact. We, like everyone in the world, are only given this status of being righteous because of our faith in or our relationship with the Lord Jesus. How easy it is for religious people to drift from this fundamental understanding. Paul wrote about this, the Jews thought they were righteous because they kept, or outwardly tried to keep, God’s law:
“What shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as it were by works. They stumbled over the ‘stumbling-stone.’” Romans 9:30-32
The ‘stumbling-stone’ is Jesus the Messiah. A personal relationship with Jesus is not just the way into the kingdom, it is also the only way to live when in God’s kingdom. We allow our relationship with Jesus to drift into the background at our peril. Today there are many who hope that the good caring lives will somehow gain them credit with God. The bible is clear – those things, without Christ being central, won’t benefit us in God’s eyes.
So every morning a Christian should start the day with a prayer such as,
“Thank you Lord for saving me and accepting me into your Kingdom. Today will be lived for you. Please help me to do this effectively.”
Implications of this Christ-centred life
In the West, churches are in decline and most people no longer understand what the Christian message is. Many young people brought up in churches are now no longer involved with Christ or his church. Instead of reaching the lost, we are losing the reached. This can only be because we are trying to compete with the world and are failing to persuade people about Jesus and his Word.
However vibrant and exciting we make our church services, however loud and rhythmical the music to try and mirror the popular scene, and however beautiful the liturgy and the singing, people are drifting away from churches. This must mean that they were either never ‘in Christ’ or have turned their backs on him and his message. They clearly don’t understand his message!
A recent study in the United States questioned a wide range of people about their knowledge of the Bible and of Christian doctrine. This revealed that those calling themselves atheists and agnostics knew most, Jews and Mormons came second and evangelicals were barely ahead of those with ‘No religious affiliation.’ Those claiming to be ‘Bible-believing Christians’ had not, as a general rule, bothered to get to know know the Bible that they claimed to be the very Word of God! What does that say about such an insubstantial faith if,
“Faith is the substance of what we hope for . . .” Hebrews 11:1
No wonder people drift from Jesus Christ if they are not clear what they are leaving behind. When Paul writers to Timothy, shortly before Paul’s execution, he gives this urgent injunction,
“Preach the Word . . .” 2 Timothy 4:2
Why must this be the priority?
“ . . . for the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4
So a Christ-centred life is one lived under the authority of Jesus Christ because he or she is so grateful to Jesus for his forgiveness and the status of righteousness that he has given them. Christ’s people hold fast to God’s truths that Jesus, his Old Testament prophets and his apostles have given us in the Bible. Paul reminds us,
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16
So when we are trying to explain the gospel to others, let us ensure that they clearly understand why Christ came.
Everyone must understand,
a. Who Christ claimed to be, the only Son of his heavenly Father, and that he came to die as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sin. It is because of him that we can be forgiven and adopted into God’s family.
b. That he offers all people a new start as one of God’s people, with the forgiveness of our sin and having the status of being righteous before God.
c. That he has promised all who are committed to him the gift of the Holy Spirit, to help us live closely with Christ and to support the work we do for him.
This is an amazing privilege which must be enthusiastically accepted and certainly never trifled with or treated half-heartedly.
Are you clear about all this? If you are committed to Christ or have just made the decision to be so, why not learn the passages mentioned in this article by heart and then teach them to someone else?
BVP
