Discipleship – Church Planting – Networking – University Chaplaincy – Refuge: It all hinges on this….
Hi,
At the university, in diversity forums, in cafes and churches, I speak to Christians and nonbelievers alike about whether there are many paths or just the one. “Aren’t all religions equal?” they ask, trying to be inclusive and kind at the expense of truth.
If there were many ways of getting into heaven, our eternal restoration and rest with God, then what Jesus did was useless. USELESS! We don’t often take it to that conclusion when we’re trying to be inclusive and polite and when we water down the fact that Jesus is the only way.
John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one can come to the Father except through me.
Do you want to tell Jesus, “Thanks for all you did. Really grateful, but at the time you probably didn’t know that you were ONE of the ways to God. Ooops! Kinda embarrassing, really, when ya take into consideration all the trouble you went through for us.”
Others of us try to get in by being good enough. That’s doomed to failure too. It’s either law OR grace, but not BOTH/AND!
“18 Rather, I am a sinner if I rebuild the old system of law I already tore down. 19 For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law—I stopped trying to meet all its requirements—so that I might live for God. 20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.” Paul in a letter to the Galatians, chapter 2.
Thats where the USELESS part comes in. (It’s powerfully phrased in the chiShona Bible in Zimbabwe.)
– Everything hinges on the life, death, burial, resurrection & ascension of Christ Jesus.
“2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. 9 For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.
10 But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. 11 So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.
12 But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? 13 For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 15 And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. 16 And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. 18 In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! 19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
20 But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead…” 1 Corinthians 15:2-20 New Living Translation
It all hinges on the life, death, burial, resurrection & ascension of Christ Jesus. Everything hinges on this fact.
We must develop our gospel fluency to bring the good news of Jesus’ transformative love & power into nearly every conversation we have.
Happy Easter! He is risen indeed! He’s our message, our purpose, our hope and our joy!
Jill Shaw in Auckland, New Zealand
SOUTH PACIFIC CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Discipleship – Church Planting – Networking – University Chaplaincy – Refuge
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