Life of Christ: Jesus is God

A Study of the Person and Life of Jesus Christ

Lesson One: Jesus is God - John 1:1-18

Warning - You will need your Bible

Discover: Jesus is the Christ. He is the eternal God, Creator, Light of men, giver of Life, and the Savior.

Do: Realize who Jesus is, receive Him as Savior, and follow Him in awe.

The Word – Vs. 1:1-5, Realize who Jesus is

Vs. 1-2

These verse reminds me of creation. We realize by studying the whole passage that the Word (logos) is figurative for the person of Jesus (1:14, 17).  John is showing the preexistence and full Deity of Jesus. He did not come into existence at His birth and He did not begin along with the rest of creation. Jesus was in the beginning with the Father and has always existed with Him. He is also equal in Deity and unity with the Father. Not only was Jesus with God at creation, He was God. The past tense is referring to the time of creation; Jesus is, always has been (eternity past) and always will be (eternally future) God.

Nature of Jesus

Jesus is 100% divine and 100% human. Theologians refer to this as the Hypostatic Union (cf. Luke 1:30-35, 2:11-20), the miraculous bringing together of humanity and divinity in the same person, Jesus Christ, such that He is fully God and fully man. The divine nature and human nature concur in the person of Jesus Christ with no intermingling or mixing of the two natures.  The one person Jesus Christ exists with two natures in perfect unity yet without confusion, without change, without division, without separation.

Place in Trinity

This is an important lesson on the person of Christ and also to the doctrine of the Trinity. It’s important to understand as we consider the identity of Christ that God exists eternally as one in nature and being, yet as three distinct but equal and perfectly unified persons who even indwell one another yet without ever intermingling or confusing the distinct persons – The Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Trinity are God as they are divine and share the nature of God’s being, but they at not each other and exist as distinct and separate persons of the Godhead.

Jesus is eternally God.

 

Vs. 3

In the beginning is a reference to creation of earth and everything of it. Jesus was present and is the source of all things created.  Paul reaffirms this truth in Col. 1:15-20.

Jesus is Creator.

 

Vs. 4-5

As God and Creator we learn that In Jesus is Life. This is speaking to spiritual life in relationship with God, not physical life in the flesh. In the Bible, if you do not have a relationship with God through Christ, if you have not been born again, if you do not have the regenerate life of God, you are considered a dead person, even though you are living physically (John 17:3; Eph. 2:1-10; Titus 3:4-8). We will see this more clearly in the next section.

Jesus is the Light – revelation of spiritual life

Jesus is the giver of life – regenerate, born again spiritual life in a relationship with the Father

Jesus is the light of men and the giver of life

 

The Witness – Vs. 1:6-13, Receive Jesus as Savior

Vs. 6-9

We see the ministry of John the Baptist. He came to give a testimony about Jesus as the Christ, the Savior of men, and tell all that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but receive eternal life (3:16).

Christ or the Spirit of Christ, the Light, enlightens every man to the truth that Jesus is the Savior. We learn in John 16:8-11 that the Holy Spirit convicts man of their need of a Savior and their sin of unbelief, the sole think keeping one from being born again and to receive eternal life (3:17-19).  The acceptance or rejection of this revelation will be the basis of each mans judgment.

Similar to John, we are to be a witness to the Light that enlightens people to the truth that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior. Paul explains this in 2 Co. 5:18-20.

 

Vs. 10-13

The response required to the revelation of the Light is to receive Jesus as Savior by believing (being persuaded and convinced of this truth and to trust in or depend on) Him. We learned earlier that eternal life is defined by John as a life in relationship with God, to know Him. Here we have a deeper understanding of this relationship; it is a life lived as a “child of God.” Its not just knowing God but its being a very child of God and all its privileges of love, discipline, and security! Something we will see throughout our study.

Jesus is the Savior.

 

The Revelation – Vs. 1:14-18, Follow Jesus in awe

Since we have been enlightened to the truth and adopted as children of God we should live in light of this glory – in light of Jesus who came full of grace and truth, who came and poured out grace upon grace. We have been set free from the Law of Moses but are now bound to the person of Christ (see Ro. 3--4; Galatians3--5).

Christ, who is “the only begotten God,” has “explained” the Father to us through His life and teaching.

“Begotten” means to be of the same substance of the Father (Jn. 3:16). Jesus was begotten, not made (or created). Being begotten means Jesus shares the same Divine nature as the Father. He is of the same substance and essence of the Father.  That which the Father begets shares the same nature as the Father.  The Father is God and has a Divine nature; therefore, Jesus sharing the same nature with the Father, being begotten of Him, also has a Divine nature.  The term “begotten” affirms and clarifies that Jesus is God. He shares the same substance, essence, and nature as the Father.

Illustration

As a human begets a human and a dog begets a dog, one begets that which is of the same nature as them.  A human begets one with a human nature, they share the same human nature, a human cannot beget a dog.  In the same way God the Father begets God the Son.  God the Father begets that which has the same nature as Him.  The Father is a divine nature and begets the Son with the same divine nature as Him. 

What about the Holy Spirit?

As Light proceeds from a light bulb, the Holy Spirit proceeds from God.  The light is of the same essence as the light in the bulb, yet it is distinct from it. The Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father and God the Son, all share the same essence and substance being God, yet they are distinct in person.

 WOW!

This was a heavy lesson. If you are still with me we are to the main challenge I see in the text. Christ “explained” God, John “testified” of Christ…

We should imitate Christ and testify about Him through who we are and what we do. Let us be people who testify of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ with our whole lives. Let us follow Him in awe!

 

Israel Day Three: Committed to the Text

Day Three – Committed to the Text

One of the most interesting things we did the whole trip happened on day two and I forgot to mention it. We visited a place called Tel Arad located in the desert of the Negev in southern Israel. Not far from here live the Bedouin people who are known for their hospitality. We walked three miles across the rocky desert to visit where they live, learned about their history, eat some bread and drank some tea they prepared for us. It was a really cool experience and a great example of hospitality. The lifestyle of the Bedouins was practiced in the Old Testament. "People in Old Testament times believed guests were sent to them from God.  Abram and Sarah prepared a meal for their guests (Gen. 18:2-8). One of the first things a host did was to offer a guest something to drink (Gen. 24:17-18) and then a meal (Gen. 26:30)" (Omar Garcia). It was a blessing to experience this. It helps give a real picture of life and practice of the Patriarchs.

Day three we had three big stops. We first went to En Gedi where we hiked the Wadi Argot. Here again we saw the Bible come to life. This is where David hid from Saul, spared his life, and where David snuck up on him and cut the corner of his shawl.  We see the heart of David and his passionate obedience to God. We also got to see first hand how God supplies water from a rock in the desert. Rather than relying on our supply of cistern water we should rely on the “Living Water” that God supplies. 

We then went to one of Harod the Great’s fortresses at Masada. He built this palace of refuge on top of a rock plateau. It was crazy and impressive to see the engineering, supplies, strategy, and luxury of that place. It was a huge hike up but awesome to see what Harod had built.

Our last stop was at Qumran. This is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We saw the cave where the book of Isaiah was found as well as many other caves. It was a challenging hike to the top but a great view. From the top we could see “Bethany beyond the Jordan” where John the Baptist taught about the coming Christ and where he baptized Jesus. On the other side we could see the Judean Wilderness and we were close to the spot where Jesus was led by the Spirit and tempted by Satan. 

We learned about the Essences and their commitment to be people of the text.  We too made this commitment, to be men and women of the scripture.   

As I blog about our day it is hard to find what stood out to me most or describe the most significant thing God taught me. Its pretty overwhelming to see where the Bible took place and to learn the lesson God taught there. Probably the things I think of 

most today have to do with people. The Bedouin people were a cool experience and it was a blessing to meet them and to learn from their hospitality.  It was even more significant for Holly and I to be atop of the Qumran Mountain and commit to being people of the text. The moment, the hike, the history, the view, the Bible, the day, the scripture, and us together…it was great to commit to the text together in just that way.

As a people of God’s own possession, a people He desires to reveal Him, to glorify Him, to fulfill His purposes…we must be people committed to the text!

 

Colossians: An Introduction

Be Grounded in Christ: A walk through the book of Colossians

Blog 1- Introduction to the letter (Vs. 1:1-2)

I am excited to blog about Colossians because of the focus on the supremacy of Christ. Paul shows how the believer is complete in Christ and needs nothing more than to be fully clothed in Him to grow spiritually and be protected from heresy.

I plan to give a summary explanation and challenge of the text covered rather than a full exegesis of the passage. However, if you are interested in a fully explanation I would be glad to post it or send it to you.

We begin where every good book study should, with the three A’s- Author, Audience, and their Association.

Author- Paul (and Timothy)

Not only does the scripture directly attribute this letter to Paul (vs. 1:1, 23; 4:18) the personal details the author gives of himself, his life, and his relationships fit perfectly with the apostle Paul. Although there are some 55 Greek words used in this letter that are not found in any of Paul’s other books, we know that Paul was well educated and had a wide vocabulary, plus this was a unique topic that would require words not needed elsewhere.

Audience- Believer’s in the city of Colossae

Colossae, once a powerful military and commercial city, was now a minor city on the decline and surrounded by cities that outgrew her. There was a very mixed audience of people in this city. Jews, Greeks, Romans, military families, and people from many differing ethnic backgrounds who settled there for commercial interests.

Association

Paul did not plant this church; in fact we have no written revelation that Paul even ever went to the city. However, while Paul was on his third missionary journey he spent about 3 years in the city of Ephesus that was located about 100 miles east of Colossae. While there it seems that he discipled a man named Epaphras (or at least Epaphras was saved by listening to Paul’s teaching). Epaphras then took Paul’s gospel of Christ to them as well as other neighboring cities. So Paul had their respect because he was the one whom discipled the man who brought them the gospel and could therefore write a letter they would appreciate and respond to. (1:7-8)

After Epaphras spread the gospel to these cities he went to visit Paul in his Roman imprisonment. Since Paul was only under house arrest he could have visitors and Epaphras reported to Paul everything he observed and experienced which then prompted Paul to write this letter of warning and encouragement to the Church in Colossae.

 Date- _A.D.60-61

Paul wrote this letter during his first Roman imprisonment when he was under house arrest, the same time and place he wrote the other letters we often refer to as The Prison Epistles that include Ephesians, Philippians and Philemon.

Some say the since the theology of this book is more along the lines of John’s writing about Christ as the Logos in the gospel of John, which reveals Christ as God and Creator, that the author of this letter must have borrowed from it and been written after John’s gospel which was written near the end of the 1^st century about 90 A.D. However, we know that Paul had been given special revelation about who Christ was from both Galatians (1:12) as well as the book of Philippians (2:5-8). So Paul had no reason or need to “borrow” from any other NT author.

These people also say that one of the heresy’s Paul is refuting in the letter is the Gnosticism of the 2^nd century and therefore give it a very late date.  However, heresies don’t just appear one day out of the blue they are developed over years, especially heresies popular enough to warrant a letter from God through the apostle Paul. So it can easily be seen that Paul is dealing with the early stages of a heresy that would later become full blown Gnosticism.

Paul’s Purpose for writing this Letter

To refute false teaching in and around the church and bring a new focus on Christ. We don’t have the false teachings directly stated but we can deduct from the truths that Paul so strongly emphasizes what he is arguing against. Some of the heresies the church faced include:

• Secular philosophy- Human traditions based on the principles of this world
• Jewish Legalism- Observance of dietary laws, religious festivals and celebrations, the Sabbath
• Mystical teaching- Worship of angels and Personal visions
• Asceticism- The body is evil and should be physically punished to discipline it to overcome sin

The primary thing all these heresies have in common is that they undermine the preeminence and sufficiency of Jesus Christ alone.

 Some of what we learn about Christ

• The head of all principalities and powers (2:10)
• The Lord of creation (1:16-17)
• The Author of reconciliation (1:20-22; 2:13-15)
• The basis of the believer’s hope (1:5, 23, 27)
• The source of the believer’s power to live the new life (1:11, 29)
• The believer’s Redeemer and Reconciler (1:14, 20-22; 2:11-15)
• The embodiment of full deity (1:15, 19; 2:9)
•   The Creator and Sustainer of all things (1:16-17)
• The Head of the Church (1:18)
•  The resurrected God-man (1:18; 3:1)
•   The all-sufficient Savior (1:28; 2:3, 10; 3:1-4)

The Letter

The letter is neatly divided up into two main sections. The first half has to do with the doctrine of Christ; the second half has to do with us living our Life in Christ. We learn that the believer knowing of their secure position in Christ is the foundation of their successful growth in Christ.   This again is Paul’s consistent philosophy of sanctification and spiritual growth, the believer’s position and freedom in Christ.

The thrust of this letter and the application Paul hopes for is based on a truth we must all realize, that in Christ we have everything we need for life and Godliness. There is no need for anything else and everything else actually hinders our spiritual growth by taking our attention away from Christ. Paul didn’t want the Colossians practicing both, it is Christ and Christ alone who is sufficient and therefore should have sole preeminence in our lives.

This is why “We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That's what I'm working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.” (Col. 1:27-28)

My prayer is that we would first understand the sufficiency of Christ and then live in submission to Him. I believe this book will help us to do just that and will result in us living in such away that the glory of Christ is better revealed through our lives and you would experience the joy and benefit that comes from focusing solely on Him for everything.

Israel Day 1-2: Smooth Stones

This is a first in a series of blogs I plan to post about our trip to Israel. Check back each week for an update. 

FYI, I also plan to start a weekly series on the Life of Christ and the book of Colossians. I am teaching both right now and plan to include a summary thought of the truth and challenge as a blog. 

Smooth Stones

Today, our first full day touring and studying Israel, has been a great day. God is at work in my heart and mind. I am seeing places and touching things I only imagined existed from reading the Bible. As I write this blog I don’t even know where to start. Not only are we literally walking as fast as we can from place to place we are reading the scripture and seeing it “in context” like never before. It’s a fire hydrant of information that I will be processing for a long time. 

It’s hard to choose the place that impacted me most so far. Last night we stoped at Gezer and learned about Cannanites and their dead stones of pagan worship. But today, weather it was Beth Shemeh where we learned about Sampson and his “slippage,” Lachish where we learned about Hezekiah and his passionate faithfulness to God, or taking a swim (more like a float, literally) in the Dead Sea, its hard to choose the place that impacted me most.

I have decided to share about a place where a very familiar story happened. It’s located in the Shephelah, in the Valley of Elah, in the city of Azekah. It’s the story of David and Goliath.  As we sat on a hill looking over this valley, reading the story from the text…I saw the story come to life. I can’t share all that I learned but I understood in a new way how a young boy, full of trust in God, aware of his talents and how he was gifted, with the passion for God’s glory, and the motive to make God of Israel know in the world can have a huge impact.  He was not focused on his own glory like Saul but focused on the glory of God and was used in a huge way.

Beyond the story that took place there was what we got to do after our study. As you know, this valley was a common place for battles between Israel and the Philistines and this

 valley was naturally between two mountain ranges, Israel on one mountain and the Philistines on the other with the battles taking 

place down in the valley. You remember how David killed Goliath. He took five smooth stones from the stream, put them in his pouch along with his sling, and aggressively approached the line of battle with Goliath. He took out a stone, slung it at Goliath hitting him in the forehead and killing him (2 Sam.17). 

Here is where we come in. There is only one stream in this valley and it sits at the bottom of the mountain on the Israel side. This is the only stream for David to collect five smooth stones…Holly and I walked through this stream today. It’s crazy because this had to be where David came down the mountain to get his stones to fight Goliath…we were in this exact same spot! We even pick up stones from the dry steam bed. I can’t believe it…as we looked onto the valley where David killed Goliath Holly and I pick up stones from the exact same stream that David did. Totally cool! 

There are many lessons I learned from all our studies today that I could share, but I am so blown away that God has given Holly and I this blessing that I can’t get it off my mind. The blessing of being in Israel and seeing where the Bible originally took place is unbelievable. I can’t wait for what we will see and do tomorrow!

Impact

It’s been a while since my last blog about China. I am still processing everything God is showing me and transforming in me from that trip but also have not taken the time to get it down in writing and I feel its slipping away. 

As I stated before, the last few mission trips I have taken have really impacted my life and heart. I feel really close to God, useful for the kingdom, filled with passion to be effective from mission trips. I have been thinking about why these last few trips have hit me this way and I realized a common thread - I have felt used by God in a meaningful way. I then realized something:

The times I am impacted the most are the times I feel I am making the most impact. 

We all know that the best place in all the world is to be right in the center of God's will; to be used the way He desires and has planned; to be living out the very purpose of your existence and salvation. Ro. 12:2 tells us that God's will is good, pleasing, and perfect. Eph. 2:10 tells us that as believers we are the work of God's hands and we have been regenerated with spiritual life to live out the things God has planned for us. As we live our lives in His perfect will we then experience the pleasure God intends and desires for us to know. For me, this happens most when I feel used by God to make an impact in the life of another. 

So I am thinking I need to find how I can be making a significant impact in the lives of people where God has me on a regular basis. I want to make sure this is what I am working towards because that is when I feel most impacted and transformed by God. Serv

ing others enhances and stimulates my personal sanctification, which is one of the primary goals of the Christian life.

It's magnificent to see God's design work in such perfect harmony. His greatest desire is for us to love Him and love others; He desires for us to grow in our reflection and glory of Him (sanctification). To be and do what God has saved us for works together in a divinely ordered way. We must serve others to know and love God deeper, we must love others to grow in our reflection and glory of Him, we must impact the lives of others to experience a greater impact from God. In God's system everyone wins. He is glorified, people are served, and believers are sanctified. Awesome!

I want to experience this on a daily basis. I want what I do everyday to make an impact in the life of another. Why? To experience and reflect the love of God, to grow in sanctification, to experience the perfect and pleasing will of God. These recent mission trips have show me that I might not be focused on that which is actually making an impact quite enough. 

My goal today is to increase my productivity and have a greater focus in the areas that actually make an impact in the lives of others. I want to participate in my sanctification by cooperating with God's design and purpose. Love God, love others = be transformed!