On August 8th 2005 The Jesus, All About Life marketing campaign was launched in Adelaide. The message that Jesus really is “all about life” was splashed across roadside billboards, and beamed into homes on TV and radio. It was described as the largest promotional campaign ever undertaken by Christians in Australia and has since been repeated in many Australian cities. The theme of the campaign was based on Jesus’ words in the second half of John 10:10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The campaign was considered a great success. People from all walks of life across our city were engaging in conversations about Jesus and Christians were encouraged to share the hope that they have in Christ. It was great to be able to publicly identify with the ads and with the picture of Jesus that was being presented to Adelaide. It was a privilege to stand with Christians from churches all across the city and say, “Yes, I believe that Jesus is all about life.”
I wonder though, if our lives agree? Does the way we live suggest we really do believe that Jesus is all about life?
This coming week sees “Jesus Week” unleashed across the university campuses on North Terrace, Adelaide. Jesus Week is a week of heightened evangelism which takes place during Week 4 of second semester each year. ES, the evangelical students group, aims to be sharing the good news of Jesus on campus all year, but this week is the focus of the year’s evangelistic efforts.
This year’s Jesus Week theme is “If There is a God …” and the week involves a range of events and activities, from themed jumpers (bright purple this year!) to cold-contact evangelism, hand-out cards, Bible Talks at lunch time daily and a debate with a representative from the university philosophy department.
Does the Old Testament really have anything to teach us today? Is it simply a prologue to the real story, that we might skip over to get to the good stuff? How have I been ignoring three quarters of the bible? I’ve been grappling with these questions as I bite the bullet and properly read through it this year as part of my studies.
So far, there have been three features that have stood out for me:
1. My knowledge of God was stunted by my lack of reading it. The promises fulfilled in the New Testament, in Jesus, can only be understood in reading the promises made in the old. My desire to learn more about Jesus has to go beyond the boundaries of Matthew to Revelation to gain a fuller understanding of who Jesus is and why he came.
Our currents series in the book of Habakkuk has raised a question for some in our community: How do we as Christians read and understand the Old Testament? We often find it easier to make sense of the New Testament; it was written closer to our time and in the same era of salvation history as we live in – between Christ’s first coming and his second. But the Old Testament seems a bit more foreign, it was written down longer ago and in a time when people were still looking forward to Christ’s incarnation.
Below are a few things to bear in mind as we read the part of God’s Word that is the Old Testament.
The Bible is full of covenant language. A covenant is a relationship between two parties, perhaps best illustrated by our covenant of marriage. The Scriptures employ a whole host of different words to describe covenants and the participation of people within covenant relationships.
Isaiah 42:6 includes perhaps one of the more unusual covenant references. In speaking to his servant, the Lord God (LORD in most English translations, indicating the covenant God of Israel) says to his servant, “I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people.” Or as the ESV translates, "I will give you as a covenant for the people.”
There’s one line of dialogue in John 7 that has got some people quite perplexed! In verses 6 - 8 Jesus tells his brothers that he’s not going to go up to Jerusalem with them for the Feast of Tabernacles, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right … You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.”
But then in verse 10 John tells us, “However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.”
Peter’s declaration about Jesus “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68) is a high point, not only in the chapter, but a high point of the whole gospel account.
So many people have so many different ideas about Jesus. So many want him to be and do different things; feed crowds, heal the sick, provide bread every day, lead the nation against their enemies, and right at the end of the chapter we hear Peter’s acknowledgment of Jesus’ true identity. He is the one whose words are “spirit and life.” He is the Holy One who has come from God.
I’m not very good at waiting. Just ask my wife! For her, anticipation and expectation are among the most enjoyable pleasures of life. For me, anticipation is simply a fancy word for frustration!
I can remember though, as a young child, the anticipation and expectation that grew as Christmas approached. There was a “feeling” that Christmas was coming, good things were approaching and though I could not yet see them, I knew they were coming and I waited with bated breath.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” Micah 5:2
Centuries before the birth of Jesus, Isaiah the prophet spoke these words:
A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed” Isaiah 40:3-5
When I was a university student I was quite enthusiastic when it came to discussing (or maybe arguing!) with people about the Christian faith.If there was an argument to be had about the nature of God, justification by faith, Scripture, guidance or baptism, I’d be there!Jumping in with both feet.Probably both feet in my mouth a lot of the time but I was always keen for what I felt was a rigorous theological debate.
One of the people I used to debate with a lot was a young man named Scott.And my debates with Scott were usually about the person of Jesus Christ, especially about his deity.You see Scott was a member of a common, but non-Christian sect, and he didn’t believe that Jesus Christ was God. Unfortunately, I think that perhaps the harder I tried to convince him, the more firmly he resisted the truth.
This Sunday is the 2nd of week of our “If I Were God…” series. As we’re doing for each of the statements in our series, we’ll spend some time reflecting on our own experiences and then we’ll hear what the Bible says about, and to make sense of, those experiences.
For some though, there may be a prior question. How do we know the Bible accurately records the life and teachings of the man at its centre, Jesus Christ. And most of us are not entirely pragmatic; simply the fact that the Bible makes sense of my experiences is not enough. It’s not sufficient to know that something works, but is it true? Is the Bible reliable? Can the Bible be trusted?
About 20 years after Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostle Paul, one of the leaders of the early church wrote to a group of Christians in Greek city of Corinth. These Christians had become confused about the resurrection, so Paul reminded them:
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins and those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 1 Corinthians 15:14
The truth of the resurrection of Jesus is the point at which the Christian faith stands or falls.
Imagine that I think I’m the solution to the world’s problems. I might tell people “I can forgive your sins. I can make you right with God! I can give you eternal life. I can conquer death!” And let’s pretend that you believed me and were convinced that I forgive your sins. And let’s keep pretending that tomorrow I get flattened by the proverbial bus.
When you hear the news of my untimely death, how do you feel? A bit nervous maybe? Worried you put all your eggs in the wrong basket? Thinking, “Well if he’s dead, what does that mean for the eternal life he was promising?” If I’m dead you would have absolutely no confidence that I could overcome death or offer you anything beyond death!
If Jesus had stayed dead, the human verdict passed against him would stand. He must have been just a rabble-rouser, a religious nut. When those sorts of people die they stay dead. But in raising Jesus from the dead, God reverses the human verdict passed on Jesus. So Jesus’ claims about himself, his claims about God, his claims about us and the forgiveness he offers us are all true.
The resurrection is God’s way of saying, “Jesus is who he said he said he is.”
The resurrection is God’s endorsement of Jesus. The resurrection is how we can be certain that our sin - our declaration of independence against God - can truly be dealt with.
He is risen indeed!
aims to be sharing the good news of Jesus on campus all year, but this week is the focus of the year’s evangelistic efforts.
Our currents series in the book of Habakkuk has raised a question for some in our community: How do we as Christians read and understand the Old Testament? We often find it easier to make sense of the New Testament; it was written closer to our time and in the same era of salvation history as we live in – between Christ’s first coming and his second. But the Old Testament seems a bit more foreign, it was written down longer ago and in a time when people were still looking forward to Christ’s incarnation.
