Belief is everything
James Denney was a brilliant 19th century New Testament scholar in the Free Church.
In one of his books he wrote that the greatest theology and the simplest faith could be expressed in a single word‘credo’, I believe.
The influence of the Christian church in modern society is rapidly diminishing.
Evidence of this varied ecclesiastical decline has been frequently reported. But I am disturbed by a deeper and hidden malaise.
This is an increasing lack of understanding about Christianity.
Does society know about or want to understand Christianity?
Through a lack of knowledge Christianity is disappearing from the consciousness of this nation.
For the next few weeks, let us try to explain in simple terms our Christian faith to contemporary society.
Christianity is a faith for people. Just like the other major religions, the Christian faith flourishes best when it lives in the affairs of ordinary men and women.
That is why Christianity is focussed on one Person, the One we know, love, and trust as Jesus Christ.
When he returned to his Father God, Jesus left his 12 followers with a raft of puzzles and problems to solve. I bet Jesus was chuckling all the way back to God.
Above all, who really was this Jesus with whom they had shared three years of their lives?
Jesus had been a real person, that’s for sure.
He spoke their Aramaic tongue. He was so tired that on one occasion he fell asleep in the boat.
He was hungry and his followers had to go searching for food.
He grew up in a home with a family. His brother James actually became one of the leaders in the community Jesus created.
He was a real flesh and blood person, so the Early Church gave him a title. They described Jesus as the Son of Man.
But there was something else about this Jesus of Nazareth.
It was not the way Jesus spoke about God, it was the way he spoke to God.
He addressed God as his Father. Jesus called God ‘Abba’. In his Aramaic language‘Abba”virtually means‘Daddy’.
That was unheard of, and a lot of people were angry. But Jesus went further.
He started doing and saying things that belonged only to God. – such as forgiving people’s sins.
So the first Christians had to work out Jesus’relationship with God.
They came to realise that their Jesus of Nazareth did have a different relation with God.
Jesus was aware of God as his Father. So the first Christians called Jesus the Son of God.
The 12 close followers of Jesus were coming on. They still struggled with Jesus’teaching, but who wouldn’t struggle with someone like this Jesus.
Then disaster struck and their whole world fell apart.
Jesus went too far. He upset the religious establishment and got the Roman governor jittery.
After a fairly dubious trial, Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion.
Crucifixion was horrible, but it was a common occurrence.
These 12 followers were spaced out. One of them, Judas, had actually betrayed Jesus, while leader Peter denied him. The rest were in shock.
Then something different did happen. Jesus came back to these same broken followers. Jesus did live again.
Christians called this the ‘resurrection’. People today have difficulty in accepting the resurrection, but it did happen.
Actually, the reality of the resurrection can be supported by modern scientific thinking. So it is not such a unlikely idea after all.
Nobody knows how it happened and the New Testament never gives a description of the resurrection, which is different from the crucifixion, which is described in graphic detail.
The first Christians came to realise that God was behind the resurrection. We’ll think about Jesus’God next week.
Jesus is still the same as he was in Galilee. Jesus is like us so we can talk with him. But Jesus is also like God so we can talk with God. Sure, you are in touch with God in Jesus.
A word of warning about this Jesus. If you come too close to Jesus he will catch you with his magnetic attraction, and you will never escape. Not that you would want to.
Jesus said:“Come unto me and I will give you rest”(Matthew 11.28).