The Matter

EV Training – Jesus

Today is Good Friday. This day is observed in remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross. Sunday is Easter and signifies Christ’s resurrection from the dead. I totally did not plan for this day and my blog post to line up, but I’m going to be writing about Jesus as the next lesson from my church’s evangelism training. The lesson focused on two primary questions about Jesus: “Who is Jesus?” and “What has Jesus done?” (Also, Jesus and Christ are synonymous if you didn’t already know that)

First of all Jesus is God. I think the Bible does the best job in testifying Christ’s deity. The Bible gives accounts of Jesus’ life that point to Him being God, and there are explicit verses that talk about Jesus as God. Here’s a few of those verses :

John 1:1,14 says “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.… 14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Isaiah 9:6 says “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

You may be wondering why it matters that Jesus is God? What is the significance? If you remember from my last post, man has offended God. When you offend somebody, reconciliation needs to happen from the person who is offended. Since God is the One that we offended, He is the only One who can forgive us and save us from our sins. Jesus is God, and He was the only One who could save us.

Jesus also came to earth as a sinless man. The Bible clearly states Christ’s sinlessness in 1 John 3:5. “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.” The Bible also clearly talks about Christ’s humanity in Phil 2:6-7 says “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men”. 

So, if Jesus is already God, then why is it necessary for Him to come to earth as a sinless man? Could God not have just said “you’re forgiven” to mankind? Jesus came as a man, so that He can represent humanity and be the mediator for humanity between us and God. This is explained more in what Jesus has done.

Jesus did a lot of things. He taught God’s truth with authority that would only come from God. He healed many people of their sicknesses. He did so many things that John wrote at the end of his gospel account that if everything that Jesus did was recorded, then the world could not contain those records (John 21:25). However, regarding the context of evangelism, there are two main things in Jesus’ life to help someone understand: His death and His resurrection. 

Jesus died for two reasons and one amazing motive. Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and to restore us to God. What Christ has done addresses the judicial and relational penalty that man is supposed to receive. (from the “Man” post if you didn’t read it). When Christ died on the cross, He took the punishment that we were supposed to receive for our sins. Jesus was sinless and was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 1 Peter 2:24 says “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

Jesus’ death also restores us to God. If Christ only took away our sin and did not restore us, then we are most likely to continue sinning. Our sin has still separated us from God. To paint a picture of this, imagine you did something super horrible to a family. Let’s say you killed a family’s only child. The family takes you to court, and they want you to pay for your crimes. All the evidence clearly points to the fact that you killed their child. There’s absolutely nothing that you can do to get out of it, but the judge declares, “Not guilty!” Dang you’re free! Good for you right? But, what about the family? They’re still suffering over the loss of their child, and they get no reconciliation. You’re also free and will probably continue to just go kill people’s kids. How dare you..

Okay, thankfully, Christ’s death does SO MUCH MORE than forgive us of our sins. His death also restores us to God. Jesus’ righteousness (sinlessness) was put on us so that we could be with God. He took on our sin, and we took on His righteousness. 1 Peter 3:18 says “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;”. Because of Christ, our relationship with God is restored, and we are able to be His righteous children.

Now, you might be thinking, “No way.. This sounds way too good to be true. You’re telling me that we offended God to an infinite degree, and He willingly sacrificed His Son for us so that we could be with Him? Why would God do that for us?” Honestly, this truth blows my mind too. Logically speaking, no human would ever do this for other people, but the reason God did is clear in John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Christ was sacrificed for us out of a love for us. He loved us. He went to incredibly great lengths to show His love for us.. He wanted to restore us to Himself.

Christ’s death did a lot for mankind, but He did not just die. Christ rose from the grave so that we would have new life, and He is still alive today. 1 Peter 1:3 says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” The verse talks about how we are “born again to a living hope”. This is only made possible because of Christ’s resurrection. We have new life because of Christ. We no longer live as dead men walking in our trespasses but as children of God practicing good works (righteousness). We have hope that we will see Christ, because He is alive.

Okay that was a lot.. I’d want to write more, but I think this is an adequate place to stop. To recap and summarize, here are the points again. There are two main questions to remember regarding Jesus: “Who is He” and “What did He do”. Answer those questions.

Who is He? Jesus is God. Jesus came as a sinless man. 

What did He do? Jesus died to pay the penalty of our sins and restore us to God out of His great love for us and rose from the dead so that we can have new life in Him.

Okay thanks for reading. I hope you all have a Good Friday and a Happy Easter as we remember Christ’s death and resurrection!

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