Is Jesus God?

Gentleness and Respect

1 Peter 3:15 says to always be “ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence”.

What attitude are we supposed to go about giving a defense for Christ? (Gentleness and respect)

Author William Lane Craig says this, “Apologetics is not.... the art of making someone sorry you’re a Christian!”

Why are gentleness and reverence (respect) essential when we talk with non-Christians about what we believe? Have you ever seen a Christian do this without gentleness and respect? What happened?

Scripture doesn’t only tell us what to do, but how to go about doing it.

Read verse 8-12

Verse 9 says “not returning evil for evil or insult for insult...”

In the same way, Jesus tells us to love our enemies… Matthew 5

James (James 1:26) tells us to bridle (or control) our tongue...

Context: The entirety of 1 Peter 3 is about Christian Living in the midst of suffering.

It’s has a verse about apologetics, but it gives far more time to HOW we go about defending our faith.

This is the word we get Apologetics from.

Apologia can also be translated argument or explanation.

When you hear the word argument, what comes to your mind?

1. an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one.

When told to defend our faith, this isn’t what were being told to do!

Argument can also mean this...

2. a reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong.

Presenting arguments for the Christian faith is not quarreling.

If you have good reason for what you believe, then instead of anger you’ll feel a genuine compassion for the unbeliever, who is often so misled. -William Lane Craig

Good apologetics involves “speaking the truth in love”.

Point: We can present a defense of the Christian faith without being defensive.

Point: We can present arguments for Christianity without becoming argumentative.

3 Reasons Why Apologetics Is Useful

1. Shaping Culture’s Opinion of Christianity

How might apologetics help change the conversation about Christians in America?

The perception of Christians would slowly change. Christians would be seen as thoughtful people to be taken seriously rather than as emotional fanatics or buffoons. The gospel would be a real alternative for people to embrace.

The arguments and evidence wouldn’t be what saved anyone, but it would help create a culture in which Christian belief is a reasonable thing.

2. Strengthening Believers

Why do you think so many students abandon the faith during or just after high school? Who or what is to blame for this?

How could apologetics help you?

3. Winning Unbelievers

Faith saves. Not knowledge alone. but God has given us evidence for our belief. Apologetics can definitely help in someone’s unbelief.

Is Jesus God?

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Began in 1870s.

According to the JW.org website, there are 8.4 million Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide, including 1.2 million in the U.S.

The leaders are a group of men who head an organization called the Watchtower Society, in Brooklyn, New York.

These men are the absolute spiritual authority. They could not have come up with a scarier name....

Illustration: Bad guys in Gi Joe… cobra… you know they’re bad.

Why are people attracted to JWs?

They claim to have the answers to life’s problems.

Disfellowship

Claim: Jesus Christ was the first creation of God, The Archangel Michael. They believe that He ‘had a beginning’ and was actually a creature of God.

Read p. 68 of Cult Watch.

What feelings happen inside of you when you hear something like this?

JWs believe that Jesus is Michael (Archangel) [one of two angels named in the Bible], the other being Gabriel. Michael is first mentioned in Daniel 10:13.

By believing this, the Witnesses reject the Bible’s teaching about Jesus.

Illustration: I was witnessing to a guy in a park one time, and got first hand someone using this line of thinking to discredit Jesus.

Biblical Response to JW’s claim

Although Jesus is fully man, He is also fully God. (Not an angel!) (John 1:1, 5:18, 10:30, 20:28, Titus 2:13, Colossians 2:9, Philippians 2:1-8).

It teaches that, as God, Christ is eternal, not created. Therefore cannot be Michael, who is only a spiritual being. (Micah 5:2, John 1:1-3)

The New World Translation DISHONESTLY mistranslates all of these verses that teach Christ’s deity.

H.A.N.D.S.

Honors

Honor of Worship

Matthew 14:33

Matthew 28:17

Honor of Prayer

Acts 1:24-25

Attributes

The NT regularly ascribes attributes to Jesus that only God has.

Preexistence

John 8:58

Bonus:

John 17:5

Hebrews 1:2

Omnipotence - all powerful

Eph. 1:21

Omnipresence - all present

Mark 7:24-30

Omniscience - all knowing

Matt. 9:4

Names

Bridegroom

OT: Isa. 54:5 / NT: Mark 2:19

Savior (used in OT to refer to God) - John 4:42; 1 John 4:14;

King of kings and Lord of lords

name above every name

I am

first and the last

Deeds

Jesus Created All and Sustains All

1 Corinthians 8:6

Acts 17:25

Acts with God’s Authority and Power

Miracles

Jesus’ miracles appear in the earliest sources about Him.

Jesus’ opponents of the day acknowledged that he was a miracle worker.

Forgiving Sins

Will judge all

OT: Pss. 7:11 / NT: John 5:22

Seat

“Someone sitting on God’s throne and exercising God’s ultimate prerogatives is, in at least a very practical sense, God. He occupies God’s position and in doing so has the rightful expectation that we respond to him as to God himself.” -Bowman and Komoszewski , Putting Jesus In His Place

Exercises rule over all and is exalted

Jesus is pictured sitting on God’s throne.

Rev. 22:1, 3

Jesus is said to be exalted above all of God’s heavenly ‘court,’ such as angels and other supernatural powers.

Eph. 1:21; Phil. 2:10; 1 Pet. 3:22

In an online forum, a person asked, “Is there a Christian denomination I fit into or do I have to find another religion? I agree with everything except the whole Jesus is God thing.”.