INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
* Many people today reject the organized church, yet claim to be followers of Christ. Perhaps His appeal to them lies in the fact that He was anti-establishment and His teachings were revolutionary. But do they really believe that Jesus is the Savior of the world?
* No study of Christianity can begin without an acceptance of Christ as a historical figure. He was a man, He grew,worked, sweated, rested, slept, ate, drank, suffered, and died just like every other man. Yet the key to believing in Christ is believing that he was more than just a man He is God! If He was not God in human flesh then Christianity is destroyed.
* Historical evidence of the deity of Christ exists which include: His own claims, His strength and gentleness, His righteousness and compassion, His care for children and love for out-casts, and His self-mastery and self-sacrifice. Compelling circumstantial evidence exists to show that once He died He did not stay dead, but rose to live again.
* Suppose it is accepted that Jesus is the Son of God, is that all there is to basic Christianity? If not, what more needs to be known?
1. He came into this world to save sinners. He is the heaven sent Savior, who can restore us to fellowship with God the Father.
2. Christianity is more than just a creed, it is a system of belief that demands action. Our beliefs must be translated into deeds.
* To begin a study of basic Christianity and the Christian claim that we can find God in Jesus Christ, we must first agree that God is seeking us and we must ourselves be seeking God.
LESSON 1 THE RIGHT APPROACH [Chart: Lesson 1]
I. INTRODUCTION
A. "In the beginning God..." We cannot anticipate God, because He has always made the first move. The Bible does not show man looking up for God as much as it shows God reaching down to man. The God of the Bible is not remote, aloof, uninterested, or indifferent to the needs of mortal man. He is not sitting in Heaven waiting on us to pester and nag Him into action. His plan for us is already in place.
B. This characteristic of anticipating man's every need can be seen:
1. in creation it was He who brought this universe and its contents into existence. (Gen. 1:1.)
2. in revelation through the prophets, Apostles, and Jesus. (Heb. 1:1,2.)
3. in salvation through His Son. (Lk. 1:68.)
C. Our study concerns itself with revelation and salvation. God has spoken and acted through His Son Jesus Christ to bring His religion (Christianity) into this world. A religion that is not just pious talk, or a collection of rules and regulations, but is instead the "gospel" (Rom. 1:1-4); a declaration of what God has done for man through Christ!
II. DISCUSSION
A. God Has Spoken
1. Man was born to ask Why? But God cannot be explained to man's satisfaction, because He is infinite and we are finite. He is out of our reach, as Job asked, (Job.11:7) "Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?" No way!
2. God has chosen to show everyone a glimpse of Himself (Ps. 19:1; Rom. 1:19,20) This is His general revelation.
3. God has further determined to reveal even more of Himself to His Chosen people, first the children of Israel, and now followers of His Son. This revelation is specific and inspired and is chiefly expressed in the birth, baptism, life, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement of Jesus Christ.
4. God has made himself known through His Word namely Christ (Jn. 1:1,14). Salvation will come through this Word, even though His ways will seem foolish to man. (1 Cor. 1:21.)
5. Since God today is neither audible, physical, or tangible, the empirical, experimental methods of modern science, sociology, and psychology fail to reveal Him. Yet there was a time when He chose to clothe Himself in a human form and walk this earth. (1 Jn.1:1)
B. God Has Acted (not just spoken)
1. Man is not only ignorant, he is sinful. While His Word can dispel us of our ignorance, action on the part of God is needed to remit us of our sins.
2. Preparation for this salvation was begun with Abraham and had its culmination in Christ. (Mt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 1:15; Lk. 19:10, 15:3-7.)
3. The non-Christian religions have nothing to compare with a God who loved, came after, and died for a world of lost sinners!
C. Man's Response
1. To many today the Bible is history if not myth or fable. God has left it to us to help spread His Word, but mainly He has left it up to the individual to "seek." Man's refusal to seek has always been God's chief quarrel with us. (Ps. 14:2,3.)
2. Jesus tells us, Seek, and you will find." But how should we seek?
a. diligently (Heb. 11:6.) Apathy is a hindrance.
b. humbly Pride is an even greater hindrance than apathy. Jesus loved the little children because they were teachable. They were not full of pride, self-importance, and a critical mind, but possessed minds that were humble and receptive.
c. honestly our prejudices must be set aside, our minds must be open. (Jer. 29:13.)
d. obediently we must be prepared to reform our lives repent. God's promises to us rest on a moral condition, that is we must take action. We cannot just believe, we must be ready to obey. Most people do not reject Christ on intellectual grounds, but on moral grounds. They will not live up to His standards.
III. CONCLUSION
A. If we are truly seeking God, we must set aside apathy, pride, prejudice, and sin and ignore the consequences of persecution, ridicule, and scorn.
B. The hardest obstacles for us to overcome are our intellectual prejudices and our moral self-will because they are expressions of fear, and fear is the greatest enemy of the truth.
C. The search for God is inconvenient because we must rethink our entire outlook on life and readjust our lives accordingly. It is a combination of intellectual and moral cowardice that makes us hesitate. We do not find, because we do not seek, we do not seek because we are afraid of what we might find.
D. We must open our minds to the fact that Christ may be true. If we are diligently, humbly, and honestly seeking God, then we must come to the Book that reveals Him to us, find His will for us, and become obedient to that will.
E. Sit down tomorrow and read the gospel of John, then begin to reread it a chapter a day. Before you read from John, read Acts 10 and go to God in prayer and tell Him you are an honest seeker of the truth and are in search of the Savior of your soul. This type of prayer worked wonders for Cornelius, it can do the same for you. God will reward all honest seekers, the promise of Christ is plain: "Seek, and you will find."