20190320 – Wednesday – God’s Message really is for you! By Peter Schwartkoppf

20190320 – Wednesday –  God’s Message Really is for You! By Peter Schwartzkoppf

One of the catchcries of the modern person is that “Religions are irrelevant”. Yet one of the most outstanding messages of Christianity is that death can be overcome. What could be more relevant than that? Deathis for all of us the great equaliser!

Anyone who has heard anything about Christian beliefs would have heard about the resurrection. They would know that when Easter is celebrated what is being celebrated is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They would be familiar with the story that he was crucified by the Romans and allowed to die. He was put in a tomb and three days and three nights later he rose from the dead. Now if there is any truth in the so called Easter story then the whole world is given hope. The clear message to all mortals from this religion called Christianity is that there is some hope of solving the problem of death. In Paul’s letter to the Roman Church in the first century he says “Jesus Christ is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” In all the world’s religions there is no similar claim!

Resurrection is truly an astonishing claim. To some people it may be unbelievable but the claim does not lack relevance at all. How can such claims be said to be irrelevant to our condition in the 21st century? Without something like resurrection all men and women are doomed to a cessation of existence. No wonder for a true Christian a belief in resurrection is vital. Paul says if there is no resurrection then any attempt at faith is futile.

Going hand in hand with this bold assertion is that Jesus Christ is alive – right now. He is immortal. Accordingly, the Bible makes some tremendous statements about Jesus Christ and what he is about. Here are some examples:

In Acts of the Apostles the Apostle Peter stands up in the temple at Jerusalem and speaks to thousands of Jews from all over the Mediterranean. He tells them that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, has been crucified, he has been raised from the dead, and has been made Lord and Christ and is sitting at the right hand of God. This poetic last phrase indicates that he has been given all power in heaven and earth with principalities (governments) and angels being subject to him. (cp 1st Peter 3:20, 21)

If this statement is taken at face value then what it issaying is that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he has the power to direct the affairs of this world and more particularly the day to day lives that we individually live.

When we continue to look at the other key beliefs of the Bible we will find even bolder claims. The New Testament claims that Jesus will return to the earth physically, bodily and “every eye will see him”.

When he was ascending from the Mount of Olives fortydays after his resurrection, two thousand years ago, angels told the disciples “This same Jesus will come just as you have seen him go”

This teaching is often referred to as the Second Coming.

Now what is Jesus Christ going to do when he returns to the earth?

Here are some of the things the Bible says he will do:

How could such claims be irrelevant to you? They sure don’t sound irrelevant! If they are true then they will necessarily shape the lives of everyone who has ever lived and who is yet to live. However over time people have become ignorant of what the claims of the Bible are. Most orthodox Christians do not even know that the Bible teaches the sort of things mentioned above. Although if they cared to look, they would find that in their church denomination’s statement of faith many of these ideas would appear. Instead of being believed and taught they simply gather dust.

Now in addition to all of this we can add another bold claim from the Bible. It is this. The God of heaven who raised Jesus Christ from the dead and who will instigate a world wide government over the people of planet Earth is interested in you and me – as individuals. He is seeking reconciliation with all people on earth. There is directed at God a great deal of hidden hostility. Sure there are quite a number of people who claim to worship God – but they are in the minority. Most others reject God. They either claim he doesn’t exist or that he is guilty of being unfair. If you probe most people they get very uncomfortable with the notion of God and even openly hostile. Start talking about God, and the topic of conversation doesn’t stay there long. So when God says he aims for reconciliation it’s possible to see that if God does exist then there is room for reconciliation.

Now this is where most people will start drawing the line. They cannot see that they are separated from God. Nor can they accept the reason for the separation. God says the reason for the separation is Sin. Now that is a very politically incorrect word in this modern world. The idea of sin is very foreign to most people. They live their lives as they see fit without any acknowledgement of teachings about behaviour from a God. Most people see themselves as the masters of there own destiny.  Nevertheless, the Bible says people do sin – that is they transgress God’s commandments. They show no respect to his wishes. They trample over his edicts. Sin however has consequences. It destroys lives so that people eke out miserable existences – in suffering, in fear, in constant distress, fighting with other people, hating, and being hated, being disappointed with life. In the worst case scenarios it leads people to dreadful damaging actions: rape, murder, kidnapping, stealing, paedophilia, and adultery. The claim that sin destroys lives cannot be dismissed as a trivial thought either. If one cares to look around at our society without rose coloured glasses and if one is willing to give an honest assessment, then the conclusion is that human society is in trouble. If one looks at human history we will see a history littered with wars, illness, suffering, and hardship. The evidence if confronted clearly favours the idea that people do not behave well.

Whatever your attitude is the notion of sin and however you live your life, you know there is one certain thing about your life; it ends in death. The message of the New Testament is that God wants to save men from what comes as a consequence of sin – death. He claims that he so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe would escape everlasting death and be given everlasting life. The hope of everlasting life is certainly not an irrelevancy. Neither is the statement by God that he loves the world. It is fair to say that every person on earth yearns to be loved. They pursue that for most of their lives. Just think of the thousands of songs and poems that have been composed in the name of love. Yet here in the Bible God has a message of love. He wants to save all people from death and he is prepared to be constant in that love.

The things the Bible says God wants to do with men and women on this planet match the needs of the human condition like a hand in  a glove.

The Elephant in the Room

What has been written about so far, sounds wonderful. The crucial question is this “Is the Bible reliable and credible?” How can we know that what it claims is actually what will happen? Well the answer might not completely satisfy. Ultimately one has to decide to believe what it says or not. The claims of the Bible are not provable in the sense of say a Mathematics question or even a Science Experiment. That does not mean there is no evidence for what the Bible has to say. There are a number of things which support the Bible; things like fulfilled prophecies, archaeological evidence, and even the complexity of the natural world around us.

Firstly, once you’re ready to ask the question, “does God exist?” here are a few observations to consider as you begin your search for an objective answer:

Discoveries in astronomy have shown beyond a reasonable doubt that the universe did, in fact, have a beginning. There was a single moment where the universe – space and time – came into existence.

The modern nation of Israel is a fantastic example of fulfilled prophecy. The Old Testament made many prophecies (eg in Deuteronomy, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) about the nation of Israel. The main thrust of these prophecies was that the Jews would be exiled to all nations of the world and later in the last days would be returned to the Holy Land. This is exactly what has happened in the last century. And if one considers the events that surrounded this return; pogroms, World War I, and the Holocaust then Israel’s existence is nothing short of a miracle.

In archaeology, there are mountains of evidence. Archaeologists have discovered the following:

All these things are referred to in the Bible. In fact the amount of archaeological evidence is almost embarrassing to those who claim the Bible has no credibility.

Fourthly nature itself shouts out that there is a creator. The astonishing complexity of living cells, proclaim God. Cellular life is driven by the genetic code; a code based on the sequences of purine and pyrimidine bases in the DNA molecule. This code is huge and equates to several million pages of code written on paper. This code controls and organises all the metabolic processes that occur inside a cell and indirectly most of the processes that occur at a body system level as well. A code has to be conceived intellectually by someone and given the complexity of the DNA code the one who came up with it must have an awesome intelligence. (God, maybe?)

Furthermore, the copying, reading, and translation of this code needs the existence of many different enzymes and co-enzymes and the backing of an already existing set of cellular structures. This produces a conundrum. The conundrum is this that these things are themselves the product of the copying and translation of the DNA code. The code cannot be read unless these complex chemicals exist yet they themselves scan only be produced by the reading of the code. It’s another chicken or the egg scenario. Biochemists and mathematicians have calculated the odds against life arising from non-life naturally via unintelligent processes. The odds are astronomical. If life did not arise by chance, how did it arise?

The debate about evolution and creation is not over just because Evolutionists won the Scopes trial in 1925 in the USA. The debate does not stop just because mostscientists accept evolution. In fact, in the history of Science, it has often been the case that the minority view often ultimately wins the day. Furthermore, evolution like the Bible is not provable. In the end, anyone who accepts Evolution is doing so on the basis of faith not absolute proof.

Why does it have to be this way?

If you are thinking that accepting the Bible is a faith issue then you are right. There is no escaping it. The Bible cannot be proven to be true. God is asking you to take him at his word. He is asking you to trust him. In seeking a relationship with individual people God starts at the key issue: trust. So, it is that the message of the Bible is that you cannot please God unless you believe he exists and that you believe that he will reward those who do good.

There are according to the Bible many benefits from believing:

There is a reason for all this and Romans Chapter 4 makes it very clear as to what God’s thinking is. It is a matter of God not wanting men to feel pride in themselves. He says salvation is based on belief and trust in God so that men and women cannot boast in what they do. God does not want people saying that they are the source of good thoughts or actions; claiming the glory to themselves. Instead God wants men to acknowledge God as the source of all things good. God is the source of truth. God is the source of life. God is the source of love and mercy. There is nothing good in man.

This is the message of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. In Genesis Abraham becomes the father of the faithful because he believes God. In the New Testament Paul says the gospel is the power of God for salvation for all those who believe.

So instead of being a weak link, the issue of belief and faith becomes the very gateway to the blessings of God. God makes belief the pivotal condition to gaining acceptance with him. He does not shy away from the notion. He simply leaves it up to individuals to make up their own mind on things. It’s the way God wants it to be.

Consequently he as God has tended to hide himself. He has rarely openly intervened in human affairs. Instead he has worked behind the scenes. He has made it look like he is not there, as if everything is driven by the laws of Science. If he operated openly with obvious shows of power then there would be no opportunity for men and women to learn trust. In fact the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt saw countless miracles yet that generation is noted in the Bible as being totally unfaithful. The dilemma is this “if it is by sight then it cannot be by faith”. And God for the sake of producing the sort of people he wants demands that people acccept him by faith.

There may be a crying need to explore the life of the Son of God a little more fervently. A closer look at that dusty old Bible beckons. You never know you just might start believing!

Problems

If you have ever contemplated looking into the Bible more closely a number of questions may have cropped up in your mind.

Do I need to join a church to be a Christian?

The New Testament says that you cannot be a Christian in isolation. The Bible says Christians are to meet together in fellowship. In fact, the New Testament would not make any sense if this was not the case.

What denomination should I join?

That is your decision, but remember that God is a God of truth. There is only one God, one Lord, one faith, one gospel, and one church.  The church that you think is teaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God should be the church that you join. There is a lot of error around in the religious world. Note too, that the Bible warns against having anything to do with a false Christian Church and its daughters. That Church is identified in the Book of Revelation.

Aren’t there a lot of hypocrites in Churches?

Yes. There are some. There are and have always been. But just remember, inconsistency is not necessarily hypocrisy. It may just be human weakness.

Many people have, and are put off belief in Christ because other people who claim allegiance act in a manner which they feel dishonours God. This has always been a stumbling block to people. However, if one looks at the situation rationally you would have to accept the fact that an all-knowing God is not going to be tricked by fakes within the Christian Church. He can see what they are up to and they won’t get very far. They ultimately have to face his judgement. Jesus warns his followers that there will be false people amongst them. They are not to try and seek them out by a witch hunt. Instead they are asked to let God deal with them. It’s all a matter of faith.

Sometimes other people cause offense. They say insulting things and occasionally they may lack the sort of warmth you might be expecting from another believer. Remember though that first and foremost belief is in the Father and his Son. We should not let that belief be destroyed by others. It does not make sense to walk away from God because you do not like some other personwho says they believe in God.

What do I need to do?

The Bible clearly says that there are certain things that need to be done:

Put like that, things sound a little trite, but if you start believing and taking God seriously this becomes only a beginning to a lifetime of getting to know God and the Lord Jesus Christ. That life will have its twists and turns and won’t be without its own troubles but in the end, it will reward you greatly.

In fact, the New Testament says that eye has not seen what God has in store for those who love him.

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