03 Aug, 2015 4. God’s plan is put into action through Jesus
Discussion Questions
Related content from 10DayChallenge.co.nz/faithqa
Did Jesus claim to be Divine? Click for Answer
Is there really such a thing as ‘truth’? Click for Answer
How is Christianity different from other religions? Click for Answer
Could all roads lead to God? Click for Answer
Is it enough to just be sincere? Click for Answer
Is believing you are right intolerant? Click for Answer
The resurrection — fact or fable? Click for Answer
Getting started
Have you ever heard someone make a crazy sounding claim? What was it, and how did you work out whether their claim was true or not?
A look at the Bible
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life… Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
John 3:16, 18
Some view Jesus’ claim to be ‘the only way to the Father’ negatively, because they don’t want to have to say that any other path is not true.
However, contradictory things cannot both be true. This is an inconvenience we cannot avoid. Understood correctly, God’s provision of a path on which we can be saved from the just consequences of our sins is an unbelievably good thing. John 3:18 (the verse in the discussion guide) clarifies that Jesus didn’t bring any bad news for unbelievers that wasn’t already true. We were all already ‘lost in our sins’. Jesus didn’t create the problem.
He brought the solution to the problem! Because of what Jesus did God will accept any person who places faith in Jesus to ‘cover’ their wrongs and who then turns to follow God’s ways, irrespective of their background, and irrespective of all the bad thing they might have done. He freely forgives, adopting us as his children, and promises us eternal life in perfection (which is like the original creation as he intended it) beyond this life.
In what ways can you see that Jesus is unique?
Does it make sense to you that contradictory things cannot both be true (like a God existing and not existing at the same time)? What does this mean for how we view the world’s many different religions?
How should we relate to people with different beliefs to our own? How could we positively explain our belief that religious truth exists? Read 1 Peter 3:15-16. What points does it make about this?
Our Response
What did you learn from today’s tutorial and discussion? What is your own response to the religious claim that our society often makes that all religions are same, and that all paths lead to God?
Prayer
Dear God, thank you for providing a path on which we could be saved from the consequences of our own wrongs. We don’t deserve any of what you have so freely offered to us through Jesus. Thank you! We apologise for our unclear thinking, and the perception we sometimes have that it is cruel of you to not be found through all religions. We can see the illogic of our thinking — yet we struggle with the voices of our culture that seek to deny the that spiritual truth exists, or that any real kind of logic can apply to spiritual things.
Help us to see you as you are — having gone further than any of us would have to provide a path to salvation for any person on this planet who is wiling to come humbly before you to ask your forgiveness, and follow your teachings. Help us to tell others about what Jesus has done for us. Thank you for the great hope you have enabled, and given.
Amen.
