Steve was awakened at an awful hour to help search for an eight year old girl separated from her parents during a hike in the mountains. Steve met a policeman at the girl’s home, where they broke into the house to obtain various objects for the search. The fun of legally breaking into houses is one of the often overlooked benefits of rescue work. Their mission: to obtain dirty clothing worn by the girl (for the bloodhounds) and photos (for the searchers). This quite easy: the policeman did the dirty work of breaking a window and keeping watch to allay the fears of dutiful neighbors. Steve emerged from the house with the desired loot. He showed the policeman a framed photograph of the lost girl, her arms around a trusting golden retriever. He slapped a flashing light to the top of his car (so he could speed legally) and raced to the mountains to join the foot search before the girl got hypothermic or became something's dinner. The search scene was chaotic, with a large volunteer force assembled to find the girl before sunrise at any cost. Steve's photo was eagerly passed from hand to hand. Finally the photo was handed to the girl's father. For him it was the end of a long and stressful day, filled with self recrimination and endless questioning. He stared blearily at the photo for almost a minute, tilting it this way and that to get a better view in the sea of headlamp beams. Steve approached and trained his own headlamp on the photo. "This isn't my kid ... we don't even have a dog!" the father gasped. We broke into the wrong house! Steve thought to himself. Now the bloodhounds were completely off track. Had they messed up the address? Why hadn't he thought to double check the name on the mailbox? Then the mother arrived and soon the entire crew erupted in laughter. “I just bought that picture frame last week,” she said. “I haven’t even put one of our photos in it yet!” Had Steve looked carefully, he would have seen the price tag still on the glass. So they’d broken into the right house after all. The rescue had a happy ending, when the little girl was found cold and terrified, but uninjured. Steve had never been happier to see someone that he had helped to rescue. [show less]

Is our reality friendly or antagonistic? It’s easy to conclude that this universe isn’t a friendly place. Earthquakes, floods, epidemics and other catastrophes take a high toll on human lives. Whether we go to a desert, the North pole or fly into space -- our very existence is in danger because of the environment, viruses or bacteria. It would be easy to assume that nobody cares. Yet Christianity maintains that there is a God, a God of love. A good God who is like a gentle Father to us. How do we know? Hard to believe based on observation alone. The Bible says that one day this God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ to live among us as one of us, so that we get a better grasp of who he is. When Jesus lived on this earth he asked his disciples an interesting question, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"112 The basic question in Christianity is not what people say about Jesus’ teaching. Sure, the element of teaching is important in Christianity (as in other religions). But the most important aspect of Christianity is to find the right attitude towards the person of Jesus. We could say that Christianity=Jesus. The significance of Christ’s teaching is based on who he is. Almost always when people have hard time living out a biblical teaching, it is because there is a deficiency in experiencing the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s have a look at who Jesus is. In Matthew 16:17 Christ says that if our knowledge is to be correct, it needs to be based on God’s revelation, not only our thinking or other people’s understanding. the person of Jesus Christ Early Christians believed that God himself came to our earth in Jesus.113 This explains why they saw and evaluated everything about their lives from the perspective of what this first century Jew said and how he lived and died. They were willing to give up everything for him, even their lives. So who was Jesus? Who was Jesus Christ? First and foremost he was human. His disciples never doubted the humanity of this man from Nazareth. From childhood to adulthood, he grew in height and strength,114 and in wisdom.115 Through suffering he learned obedience,116 he was hungry,117 thirsty,118 he was tired and needed sleep.119 As a man he lived in full dependence on God,120 was tempted,121 and needed to sustain his relationship with God in prayer.122 In all these aspects, Jesus was very human, vulnerable, and had experiences just like we do. But Jesus was not just human, he was also truly God. He existed before his birth in Bethlehem.123 The apostles stated that Jesus created everything.124 He has the right to forgive sins.125 Forgiveness comes from him as much as it comes from God,126 which puts him on the same level as the Father.127 He expected that his listeners will believe in him128 and this faith, or lack of it, determines their eternal destiny. He is due the same honor as the Father.129 Christ’s self-understanding is clearly seen from the fact that he uses statements like, “I am”: the bread of life,130 light of the world,131 resurrection and life,132 way, truth and life.133 It would be very difficult to make it plainer than this. The connection between Jesus and the great “I AM” which was the name of Yahweh in the Old Testament134 cannot be overlooked. When Jesus said, “Before Abraham was born, I AM,” he made things so plain that his listeners picked up stones to kill him. They understood that he just stated that he is God.135 What the Old Testament ascribes to Yahweh, the New Testament applies to Jesus.136 The conclusion is clear: In Jesus, God himself came to this world. The implications of this are clear. Either Jesus is who he claims to be (God Himself) or he cannot be a good man, a teacher of morality. That’s why Christians came to accept him as the true God, fully divine. work of Jesus Christ Once we are clear on who Jesus is, we can understand and appreciate what he came to do. He could not have accomplished what he did, if he was not who he claimed he was. So what did Jesus do? In Christ, God himself took care of our sin and its consequences. The Apostle Paul said it this way: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself”.137 To accomplish this, it was necessary that: 1) Jesus’ birth into this world was unique – supernatural. It was not possible to solve the problem of sin by divine proclamation, command or power. John says that “the Word became flesh”.138 God in a miraculous way entered our world and started to exist as a human being.139 His virgin birth is seen as a part of the mystery of godliness which cannot be explained by using the usual laws of human reproduction. This event shows that God loves us and enters our situation because he wants to serve us, not to rule over us. He wants a relationship of love, not blind submission. 2) Jesus’ mission in this world was unique. Jesus is our Saviour not only because of who he was (God himself) but also because of the way he lived his earthly life and what he accomplished. With his words and deeds he proclaimed God’s kingdom – a new quality of life under God’s rule. He introduced God’s offer of salvation to all people even those who have been rejected, marginalized, and ruled out of salvation in the minds of religious people of that time. His ministry transcended all human barriers. His teaching explained the principles of God’s kingdom – that everybody is invited into it. His deeds illustrated God’s character and attitude toward people. The Greek word for “salvation” and “healing” are the same. Jesus’ miracles of healing were signs of salvation. Health is not just an absence of illness, but harmony of body, mind and spirit. Through Christ God wants to renew His original image in us, marred by sin, thus to “restore” us to the way he intended us to be at creation. 3) Jesus’ life in this world was unique. Because Jesus came to “save his people from their sins”140 he himself must have been without sin.141 It is remarkable that even his enemies were not able to refute this fact and produce evidence to the contrary. The New Testament writers confirm this fact repeatedly.142 Jesus was not sinless because somehow, thanks to his nature, he was above temptation. Rather, his temptations were very real and cruel.143 His temptations are another proof of his humanity and his victory in them is the result of his continuous dependence on his heavenly Father.144 It is true that Jesus used to say to his potential disciples: “Follow me”,145 and that by his grace and in his power we can and should follow his footprints. It is also true that Jesus showed that in total dependence on God it is possible to be victorious over sin and temptation. But we need to keep in mind that he is our Saviour and we are his disciples. He is first our Saviour and only then our Example. Our life on this earth will never equal his sinlessness as our sinful nature remains till the second coming.146 His mission was to become a sinless and perfect sacrifice. That’s why he did not need a Saviour; he is the Saviour. We have been born in sin, so we will never be “little Christs”. There will never be a time that we do not need him. 4) Jesus’ death was unique. Christ came not only to live on this earth but to die a sacrificial death.147 In spite of the fact that he was sinless, he died the death of separation from God, the death that sinners will die at the end of ages.148 This happened because he was “delivered over because of our transgressions,”149 “died for our sins”,150 tasted death for everyone.151 So Christ death was substitutionary, unique and unrepeatable.152 The immediate cause of his death was not that he was nailed to the cross (others died that way too, yet they are not our saviors), but that God forsook him.153 This way Jesus became the reconciliation, proof of God’s justice for the whole universe.154 The cross is at the same time the proof of God’s inexpressible love towards us. Jesus did not die to convince the Father to start loving us, for the Father himself “gave” Jesus because of his great love towards us.155 God proved before the whole universe that death is the result of sin. Separation from God, who is the only Source of Life, unavoidably brings death. In the Garden of Eden, Satan said to our first parents: “You surely will not die”.156 On the cross God supplied proof that Satan was wrong and God was right. His words: “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."157 were not a threat but a loving warning about the consequences of a broken relationship of trust and dependence on God. The cross shows God’s true character and that we can serve God on the basis of selfless love not fear of punishment or thought of gaining a reward.158 On the contrary, those who sent Jesus to the cross where those who did not know God’s character.159 5) Jesus resurrection was unique. When the apostles talked about the death of Jesus they added immediately also the fact of his resurrection. “Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised.”160 “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”161 The fact the Christ was resurrected belongs to the essence of the apostolic faith. If Christ was not resurrected, our faith, our hope, our preaching would be in vain, our life would not have the right perspective.162 It was the resurrection of Jesus that completely changed the perspective of the first disciples on Jesus’ life and death. The feeling of a defeat and failure suddenly disappeared. The fact of the resurrection was for them the decisive proof that God was behind Christ and his death on the cross was not a sign of God’s rejection and curse.163 When Jesus is called “the firstborn from the dead”164 it does not mean the he was historically the first resurrected person in time. All other people who have been resurrected (with the exception of Moses), were actually just revived back to life and then they died again. Jesus’ resurrection is a true resurrection because he “lives forever,” he is able to save completely those who come to God through him”.165 Jesus’ resurrection proves that death will not have the last word in human existence. There is a future that goes beyond the grave.166 His resurrection is a guarantee of our resurrection. “He who believes in me will live even if he dies; and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die”.167 The centre of the Christian religion is the person of Jesus Christ. Christianity is not based on acceptance of some kind of creed or minutely defined set of fundamental beliefs. In its essence, Christianity means to have positive relationship with the person of Jesus. To be a Christian means to say “yes” to Christ, a “yes” which is unequivocal, total, and unconditional, because in Christ God said to us his unequivocal, total and unconditional “yes”. In Christ we see that the problem of sin was never in God’s relationship with us. Sin only changes our relationship with God. God who went after Adam & Eve asking, “Adam where are you?” comes to each one of us today and says: "I love you, I accept you the way you are." His love is never: "Yes, - but..." That’s why the response of a person who understood and experienced God’s unconditional, total and unequivocal acceptance will be a total, unequivocal and complete yes to God. If your heart sometimes longs to really know God the way he is, if He does not seem real to you because of all that you have done or in spite of it, if God still seems distant to you, then focus on his Son who is the “the exact representation of His [God’s] nature”168 and you can be sure that if you get to know Jesus you will know the Father. And to know him means to have eternal life.169 Pilate asked the right question: "Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"170 If you find the right answer, just like Thomas, “My Lord and my God”,171 you will truly experience joy. [show less]

Who is the person you feel closest to? Why do you connect with them? How do you make your relationship with that person grow stronger? Share an experience where someone made a sacrifice so that you could have/do something that was important to you? How did it make you feel toward them? When did you recognize the sacrifice they had made for you? Have you ever spend time with Jesus? Why or why not? What would it take for you to get to know God better? What is standing in your way? [show less]

Are you ready to open up a relationship with Jesus as your Saviour?