Week 2 – Christ is the Center of Christianity

I .  INTRODUCTION –

JESUS was His name.  JESUS IS THE KING

 (Luke 1:31-33)  The Angel Gabriel:  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

JESUS the CHRIST Is His Title

        Greek form of Joshua

meaning    "Yahweh is salvation"

                "the anointed one"  or

                "Messiah"

The title "Christ"  = OT prophetic hopes = Jesus, Man of Galilee--Man of sorrows.

Jesus is the clearest picture of God the world has ever seen

I.  There was no doctrine called "Christology"  - The historical reality of what God was doing occurred among humanity.

             Christians see The Name of Jesus

               as the conjunction of God and humanity.

Christology – the study of the Christ --- moving from from His preexistence to parousia (final coming).

They were caught up in the historical reality of what God was doing for them and all the world through Jesus Christ.

       John the Baptizer prepared God’s People for the Christ.

(Luke 3:7-17)  John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? {8} Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. {9} The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." {10} "What should we do then?" the crowd asked. {11} John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." {12} Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" {13} "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them. {14} Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." {15} The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ. {16} John answered them all, "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. {17} His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

II.   God Taught Us about Priorities.

He Taught, Directed, Encouraged, and Corrected His People’s Beliefs about God, Righteousness, and Religion.

(Mat 6:19-34)  "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. {20} But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. {21} For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. {22} "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. {23} But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! {24} "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. {25} "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? {26} Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? {27} Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ? {28} "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. {29} Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. {30} If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? {31} So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' {32} For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. {33} But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. {34} Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

III.   Finally, the NT Centers Around the Redemption in Jesus

PURPOSE of the Christ = make a deliberate sacrifice of Himself for human sin

        He did something sinful people could not do for themselves.

        He brought hope to sinners = redemption from sin and fellowship with God

How did Jesus enact God’s Redemption ?

He purchased the church with His own blood

(Acts 20:28)  Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

Gave His flesh for the life of the world

(John 6:51)  I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

Laid down His life for His sheep

HE PREPARED THE CHURCH

Mat 16:18   And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

HE OFFERED HIMSELF TO US

(John 1:29)  The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

 (John 10:11-15)  "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. {12} The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. {13} The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. {14} "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me-- {15} just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.

HE PAID THE PRICE FOR HUMANITY’S SINS—WITH HIS LIFE

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.  1 John 4:4

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  Rom 3:25-26

Conclusion – Christ is Still the King  

In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

1 Tim 6:13-16

_____________________________________________

REFERENCE MATERIALS

Resurrection Jesus' resurrection grasped the early believers. The walk of the risen Christ with those burning hearts en route to Emmaus, the appearance of the risen Christ first to Mary Magdalene, the appearance and commissions of the risen Christ to His disciples--these things which no other experience can duplicate nor any other religious movement validate claimed the Christians' attention in an unforgetable way. People of the first century had seen people die before. None before or since had seen a person bring God's resurrection life to bear on this world's most pressing problem, death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the center of the Christian gospel (1 Cor. 15). 

(1 Cor 15:1-9)  Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. {2} By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. {3} For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. {9} For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

The Death of Jesus Christ He who was raised on the first day of the week was the same as the One who had died three days earlier. His was not simply a natural death. It was a ritual murder carried out by the authorities of Rome, engineered by the religious leaders of that day, but made necessary by the sins of all who ever lived. Jesus was delivered up by His own people and put to death by a cruel political regime, but the earliest New Testament communities saw in this tragedy the determinate will of God (Acts 1-12). Paul connected Jesus' death to the sacrificial ideas of the Old Testament and saw in the giving of this life a vicarious act for all humankind. Jesus' death was a major stumbling block for Israel. How could God's Christ be "hung on a tree" and fall under the curse of the law (Gal. 3) when He did not deserve it.

Jesus as Doer of God's Mighty Works This One who was raised, the same One who died, had performed the miracles of God's kingdom in our time and space. John testified that in the doing of God's mighty works Jesus was the prophet sent from God (John 6:14). He healed all kinds of persons, a sign of God's ultimate healing. He raised some from the dead, a sign that He would bring God's resurrection life to all who would receive it. He cast out evil spirits as a preview of God's final shutting away of the evil one (Rev. 20). He was Lord over nature, indicating that by His power God was already beginning to create a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1). The spectacular impact of His mighty works reinforced and called to mind the power of His teachings.

Jesus' Teachings "Never man spake like this man" with such authority (John 7:46; compare Matt. 7:29). His teachings were about "the Father," what He wanted, what He was like, what He would do for His creation. Jesus' teachings required absolute obedience and love for God and the kingdom of God. He dared claim that the kingdom had begun in His ministry but would not be culminated until Christ's final coming. Until that coming, Christians were to live in the world by the ethical injunctions He gave (Matt. 5-7) and in the kind of love He had shown and commanded (John 14-16). To help earthly people understand heavenly things, He spoke in parables. These parables were from realistic, real-life settings. They were about the kingdom of God--what it was like, what was required to live in it, what was the meaning of life according to its teachings, what the kingdom promised. One of the promises of the kingdom was that the King would return and rule in it.

Jesus' Ultimate Coming Just as the first coming of Jesus Christ was according to prophecy, so the final coming of Christ is to be by divine promise and prediction. The earliest Christians expected Christ's coming immediately (1 Thess. 4). This must be the expectation of the churches in every age (Rev. 1-3). It was the same Jesus who ascended who will return (Acts 1). His return heralds the end and brings an end to the struggle of good and evil, the battle between the kingdoms of this world which must become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15). In the meanwhile His followers must work to eat (2 Thess. 3). His followers must go and tell; His followers must unite the hope of eschatology and the life of ethics in a fashion that will share the gospel with all the world (Matt. 28:19-20). The time of His final coming is not a Christian's primary concern (Acts 1:5-6). Natural calamities, man-made tragedies, and great suffering will precede His coming (Matt. 13; Matt. 24-25). All of these will find His people faithful, even as He is to His promise--found faithful even as God was to God's promises in sending this Child of promise to the world.

The Birth of Jesus Christ The Gospels began in the heart of God and in the resurrection faith of the writers, but Matthew and Luke begin with the story of Jesus' birth. His conception was virginal. His advent was announced by angels. His actual birth occurred in a place and time that seemed to be no place and time for a baby to be born. Angels announced. Shepherds heard, came, and wondered. Magi came later to bring gifts. A wrathful and jealous King (Herod) killed many innocent children hoping to find the right one. The "right One" escaped to Egypt. Upon returning, He went to Nazareth, was reared in the home of the man Joseph, was taken to Jerusalem where His knowledge of His Father's business surprised and inconvenienced them all--the doctors and the parents. At birth He seemed destined for death. At baptism He was sealed to be a suffering Messiah. Those were times in which He and the Father were working things out, so that when ministry came Jesus could "work the works of him that sent me, while it is day" (John 9:4). But Bethlehem was not the beginning of the story.

Jesus' Preexistence Eternity began the story. If this one is the Son of God, then He must be tied on to the ancient people of God. He must be in the beginning ... with God (John 1:1). Preexistence was not the first reflection of the early church about Jesus Christ, nor was it merely an afterthought. The purpose of Jesus' preexistence is to tie Him onto God and to what God had been doing through Israel. Matthew 1 established by His genealogy that Jesus is related to David, is related to Moses, is related to Abraham--one cannot be more integrally related to Israel than that. Luke 3 established by His genealogy that Jesus is vitally related to all humans. Jesus came from Mary; but ultimately He came from God via a lineage that extends back to Adam, who was the direct child of God. Paul spoke of the fully divine Son of God who came down from God, who redeems us, and who returns to God (Eph. 3). This heavenly Christ emptied Himself and became like us for our sake (Phil. 2). God determined, before the foundation of the world, that the redemption of the world would be accomplished through Jesus, the Lord of Glory (Eph. 1). John began a new Genesis with his bold assertion that "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God" (John 1:1). This Word (Greek, logos) has become flesh (John 1:14) so that qualified witnesses can see, touch, and hear the revelation of God (1 John 1:1-4). It may have been in this way from resurrection to preexistence that early Christians stitched together, under the guidance of God, the story of Jesus. But His story lay also in His names, His titles, what He was called.

The Names and Titles of Jesus Jesus' own proper name is a Greek version of the Hebrew "Joshua," salvation is from Yahweh. His very name suggests His purpose. "He shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). This One is Immanuel, God with us (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23). Mark began his brief Gospel in some manuscripts by introducing Jesus as the Son of God (Mark 1:1). Luke's shepherds knew Him as "a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). John pulled out all the stops in his melodic introduction of Jesus Christ: the Word who made the world (1:1-3), the Life (1:4), the Light (1:5), the Glory of God (1:14), One full of grace and truth (1:17), the Son who makes the Father known (1:18). Paul addressed Him as "the Lord"--the earliest Christian confession was that Jesus (is) Lord. The lordship of Christ is tied to the reverence for the name of God and is an assessment of Jesus' worth as well as Paul's relationship to Him. Since Christ is Lord (kurios), Paul is servant (doulos). The Gospels herald the message of the Son of Man, He who was humbled, who suffered, who will come again. Hebrews cast Jesus in the role of priest, God's great and final High Priest, who both makes the sacrifice and is the sacrifice. Thomas, known for his doubting, should also be remembered for faith's greatest application about Christ: "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28). The metaphors of John's Gospel invite us to reflect on Jesus Christ, God's great necessity. John portrays Jesus as the Water of life (4:14); the Bread of life (6:41); the Light (8:12); the Door (10:7); the Good Shepherd (10:11); the Resurrection and the Life (11:25); the Way, the Truth, the Life (14:6).

Summary Christ is the way to God. His way of being in the world was a way of obedience, faithfulness, and service. The earliest Christians saw who He was in what He did. In the great deed of the cross they saw the salvation of the world. The inspired writers offered no physical descriptions of the earthly Jesus. The functional way the New Testament portrays Him is found in the statement that He was a man "who went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). The good that He did came into dramatic conflict with the evil all mankind has done. This conflict saw Him crucified, but a Roman soldier saw in this crucified One (the) Son of God (Mark 15:39). God did not "suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Acts 2:27). With the one shattering new act since creation, God raised Jesus from the dead. See Christ; Christology.

J. Ramsey Michaels