The Gospel in a nutshell
Text: 2 Timothy 2:8
Today we begin a series of messages on the “the basics we need to know”
Can God be found? The Bible seems to be a rather big book with many pages, is God really in there? There seems to be hundreds of ways to God in our marketplace. So why place our lives in one "narrow" way? Is there really good news or the gospel truth?
If I were a newcomer to the Bible, I think I would be lost. Where do I go to find the basic things I need to know about God? Furthermore, over time it seems things get tend to get a bit more complicated. For instance, pages in 1891 basketball rule book: 2. In current rule book: 114, according to 1991 U.S. News and World Report. There must be more now in 2002.
I wonder at times, if we have made Christianity a bit too difficult and complicated, just as it was when the Bible was out of bounds to anyone who could not read Latin before the time of the Reformation in the 1500’s. As I look at the Bible it seems to me it is quite clear what the good news is all about. Look at the Bible will you, specifically at 2 Timothy 2:8? (NIV)
Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel
(Amplified Bible)
8Constantly keep in mind Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] risen from the dead, [as the prophesied King] descended from David, according to the good news (the Gospel) that I preach.
These are incredible words. Because of the author. The Apostle Paul wrote these words. Here we have a man who, at one time in his life, was committed to another religion and keen on destroying the church. He was filled with rage and hatred for Christians. Here is a true skeptic. So look at his testimony -
1 Cor.15:9 (NIV)
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
Gal.1:13-14 (NLT)
13You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion--how I violently persecuted the Christians. I did my best to get rid of them. 14I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age, and I tried as hard as possible to follow all the old traditions of my religion.
Philippians 3:6 (NLT)
6And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault.
Yet his life was changed and he died, a changed man, preaching this good news of Jesus and believing it with all his heart. You have to remember he believed and preached and lived out this Christ-centred message in a time when the belief in many gods is fashionable, just like our time, especially with the Mediterranean world of his time. What changed him then, that his whole structure of belief is turned upside down?
As 2 Timothy (4:6-7, NIV) tells us that Paul in end still did not give up the faith:
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. 7I have FOUGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, I have FINISHED THE RACE, I have KEPT THE FAITH.
So now instead of him persecuting the church, he is the one who got persecuted for being part of the church. He is one who will die for his faith. He could easily denied the Lord Jesus, his God, and explained it was all a big mistake, a misunderstanding and relied on his previous record of persecuting the church to get out of death row. But he “kept the faith” and was beheaded by order of Nero.
And in his dying days, he says to Timothy… “remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David”
1. Why did he give up his life for Jesus when he was once a violent persecutor of the church?
a. Resurrection
“Jesus Christ, raised from the dead”
þ He could not deny the power of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead
14And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. 15And 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. 16If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.
þ He confirmed others who testified the same.
1 Cor.15:5-7 (NLT)
5He was seen by Peter and then by the twelve apostles. 6After that, he was seen by more than five hundred of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died by now. 7Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles.
"seen by James" he too a tough skeptic, a brother of Jesus, then became a pillar of the church and then martyred for the faith. The lives of these original followers of Jesus were remarkably altered, once cowards, suddenly turned into heroes for the faith.
þ He testified he saw the resurrected Jesus
1 Cor.15:8 (NLT)
8Last of all, I SAW HIM, too, long after the others, as though I had been born at the wrong time.
Today the empty tomb of Jesus speaks loudly to us who are of the faith that the resurrection of Jesus is real. And the empty tomb is God’s visual aid to all who is seeking the truth. Where’s the body?
1 Cor.15:17-19(NLT)
17And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. 18In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! 19And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world.
Practical Implications:
1. There is a God: Jesus came in a very earthy and concrete way and visited us, died for our sins and now raised from the dead.
Today, atheism is out of fashion. Nietzsche once said: “God is dead” but as someone else wrote “Nietzsche is dead, God” People are searching for meaning, for God. They are turning to all sorts of religions. Sept. 11 proved that spiritual search for truth is on, with the numbers of people crowding religious services. There must be right and wrong as the evil of 9/11 shows. We need the good again to have hope, evil cannot be allowed to have its way and win! Just as C.S. Lewis once argued , since there is a universal code of what is right and what is wrong, it indicates that God exists. This is called the “moral proof” of God’s existence. If he exists, we want to find Him, we do not want to be hopeless, something in us just wants to hope, to have faith in the future.
Scientist Robert Jastrow gave proof to the “cosmological argument” that the world could not have created itself but must have a first cause. Behind the “Big Bang” was God who is the first cause. Then there is the “teleological” argument which says because there is a design or order to the universe there must be a Designer, or One who ordered the universe into being (watch – must have a watchmaker) But can God be found? The resurrection says with resounding hope - YES!
2. We have a useful faith: No condemnation for our sins. If the resurrection did not happen, we are dead in the water. There is nothing to give us hope that evil can be conquered. Usefulness of faith in seen in early Jewish believers, who radically changed their thought and worship and social structure - no longer do they go and sacrifice animals, no longer do they insist on circumcision, or insist on attending Sabbath day observance instead they changed it to first day of the week honoring the resurrection.
3. We know there is life after death: The choice is up us to receive this good news and be with God forever or to face judgment. You can’t fool the kids in Sunday school; they are way too smart...
"If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale, and gave all my money to the church, would I get into heaven?" I asked the children in my Sunday school class.
"NO!" all the children answered.
"If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into heaven?"
Again the answer was, "NO!"
"Well," I continued, "then how can I get to heaven?"
A five-year-old boy shouted, "You gotta be dead!"
The thing about Resurrection is Jesus died and went to heaven and booked a place for us. There is a hotel reservation with our name on it for us who believe.
4. There is meaning for life: God created us to know Him. We were created for joy, to enjoy God, a relationship of love with God forever, not just live a while, then die and be forgotten. There is an answer for the emptiness we feel in our hearts! Practice of communion and baptism - celebrate death of Christ, why? Because their lives changed by resurrection hope!
5. There is a GREAT way to do away with Christianity: The BEST way you can discredit Christianity is to prove the resurrection of Jesus was a hoax, a total fraud, con job. Think for a moment would Paul, who had it made as a learned privileged, Jewish Pharisee, change his whole life for a hoax, and died for it? He could have retired rich and be in Club Med. Why then, would he spent so much time writing w/o a word processor what would amount to almost half of the New Testament, traveling in rickety ships that are prone to pirate attacks, and go around dangerous terrain with no SUVs and no air-bags no life or health, travel insurance, and be placed in a dungeon where he was writing 2 Timothy? Yet he endured sickness, rejection, and repeated attacks on his life to bring the message of God’s grace and forgiveness to many and he defended God’s Word before kings and emperors of his world.
Historian Philip Schaff wrote: "The Christian church rests on the resurrection of its Founder."
b. HUMAN DESCENT: “Jesus Christ, … descended from David”
þ Messiah – is fully human, therefore he could represent all humans to God.
þ Prophesied – predicted Messiah from the Davidic line. That the Bible recorded and predicted the events of Jesus as Messiah and all of it fulfilled in one person, what are the chances of that happening? What is the statistical probability that all the predictive texts of the Messiah can be fulfilled in one person? Mind-boggling! Apparently one scholar said there 574 direct references in the OT to Jesus and if the law of compound probablitites are applied to all 109 references of Jesus 1st coming - the result is one in billions that all of 109 prophecies can be fulfilled in one human being.
Practical Implications:
1. He knows exactly how it feels to be human: Heb.2:17 (NIV) “he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”
2. Faith is not without reason: It is not a leap in the dark to believe in Jesus. There is historical basis for Jesus is a historical figure, His human ancestry can be traced way back.
3. Our will: It is then our will not our reason that stands in the way of faith.
4. This has to be true: Paul knew this was not made-up human story as he wrote in Gal.1:11-12 (NIV)
It is just too fantastic, too well-planned over the centuries to be man made.
11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
What’s the point of Jesus?
Jimmy Ng, the Richmond RCMP officer who died because a car was speeding in a street race slammed into his cruiser. Apparently thousands were there at his funaral yesterday (sept.21, 2002), We see that death as senseless. But we remember him as a hero, and tears were shed. But when Jesus died, his death it seems was senseless too. And he died as a zero not a hero, it was thought. He died as a criminal hung between two criminals. That was the end or So they thought of him that way until the RESURRECTION... the zero has become a hero. Lives were changed... cowards became heroes of the faith!
Remember Jesus, raised from the dead - To show us a clear way to God, there is no clearer picture than the one seen in the death and resurrection of an earthly figure who claimed to be God, the way to God and it shows us there is more mystery to life to death and power of death no longer applies!
A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter say’s, "Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in."
“Okay, " the man says, "I was married to the same women for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."
That’s wonderful," says St. Peter, "that’s worth three points." Three
points?" He says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service." Terrific!" say’s St. Peter. "That’s certainly worth a point." "One point?
Well I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans." Fantastic, that’s good for two more points, " he says. "Two points!" The man cries. "At this rate the only way to get into heaven is by the grace of God!" St. Peter smiled.
"There’s your 100 points! Come on in!”
Jesus is the 100 points! It is by the grace of God… We as fallible, mistake prone, weak, death destined human beings cannot earn enough points! That’s the point that Paul carried to his grave, believing and he staked his life on it.
I too have been changed by grace, by the events of resurrection of this man who claimed to be God.
There’s no more secret mystery about the way to God. Do you have this faith? What about you?
Take out the slip of paper, make your decision to commit your life to Jesus, mark it down. Or perhaps u need time to think it over. It is a life-changing time.
Race car driver Bill Vukovich won the famed Indianapolis 500 race in 1953 and 1954, a record of success few other drivers had matched. Asked the secret of his success in Indianapolis, Vukovich replied, "There’s no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and steer left." That’s the same with Christianity. Press on Jesus Christ, trust Him alone and steer on the course of life with the facts of His resurrection power to give you life and hope for today and into the future. There’s no secret to explain the spread of Christianity and the changed lives of millions, other than resurrection of Jesus and His human descent coming down to get us to heaven, where we belong.
Will u remember Jesus Christ in your life?
