LifeBuilder

 Facing the Fundamental Questions
 

1. Origin and purpose
What you believe about how you got here has a tremendous bearing on how you perceive your purpose and the meaning of your existence. If you believe you were a product of purely natural forces and random chance, it is only logical that you pursue a do-whatever-feels-good philosophy. After all, if there is no one greater than we are, to whom we are accountable, then there is also no right and wrong, no moral absolutes. On the other hand, if we were created by someone for some purpose of lasting significance and to whom we will someday give account of our lives, we should be living in light of that day of accounting and pursue that purpose with diligence. Most of us spend our lives in between these poles, not allowed by our society to pursue all our desires, yet not sensing any lasting purpose to what we are doing. At the same time, in periods of quiet reflection, we feel there must be more to life than we are experiencing. Blaise Pascal, the 17th century mathematician, said that man is created with a 'God-shaped vacuum,' and that nothing but God can fill it.  But if I acknowledge the possibility of a higher power, how can I sort through all the competing claims as to who He might be?

2. If there is a God, we can only know Him if He reveals Himself to us
If we are truly dealing with a being that is all powerful, it is obvious that we can't by our own intellect understand Him, unless He somehow makes Himself known to us. And if we are truly to be accountable to Him, it is not reasonable that a God with a normal human sense of fairness would hide Himself so that we could never learn how we can be acceptable to Him. So it stands to reason that God, if He exists, has left us some way to know about Him and to understand how we were intended to fit in His plan for mankind, whatever that plan may be.

Many will agree to this point, then go off in 100 different ways, each claiming to have a unique revelation of who God is and how we can know Him or be acceptable to Him. Many would also say that there are multiple ways to God, each one as acceptable as the others. But the problem occurs when you actually start to compare these proposed ways to God, and find that they are diametrically opposed to each other. Logically, it is more reasonable that they are all wrong than that they are all correct! Whether we think about it or not, we all operate under the law of non-contradiction, which states that two opposites cannot both be true at the same time and in the same relation.  As an example, I can be both a father and a son, but not at the same time in relation to the same person. Similarly, it is not possible that opposing claims to revelation of the same God can all be true. How is it possible to make sense of competing claims about how to know God?

3. The God of the Bible must be considered
Even if one believes there are many ways to God, one can hardly reject out of hand the Bible and its claim to be the words of God. This is a book that has much to recommend it. Written over 1500 years by over 30 authors on 3 continents, it exhibits a remarkable consistency of theme and purpose throughout. It has withstood enemies bent on its destruction and been demonstrated true by internal and external evidence. It is not my purpose to present that evidence here, just to state that it does exist.

4. The Bible points to one called Jesus
The Bible carries a theme of mankind fallen into sin and redeemed, or bought back, by God Himself. That theme starts early in the book of Genesis and continues throughout, focusing on one named Jesus, the Son of God. In fact, the predictions of His birth, life and manner of death were made as long as 700 years before they occurred, and are powerful evidence of claims about Him and by Him.

Fine, one may say, I will acknowledge that Jesus was a good teacher and one of the prophets of God, but nothing more. I believe that is an intellectually indefensible thing to say. One must deal with the fact that He claimed to be God! He invited worship, claimed to forgive sins, and applied to Himself the 'I Am' title that the Jews of His day knew was reserved for God alone. They understood His claims to be God well enough to have Him crucified! The writer C. S. Lewis proposed that Jesus' claims put us on the horns of a 'trilemma.' Lewis rightly observed that a man who said the kinds of things Jesus did is either a liar, a lunatic, or is in fact Lord. Make your choice, Lewis says, but let's not have any nonsense about Him being merely a good man. He did not leave that option open to us, nor did he intend to. (See Lewis's book Mere Christianity.)

5. He claimed to be unique
So unless you are willing to say that Jesus was a liar or a lunatic, you must deal with His claims to deity, and specifically with His claim to be the only way to God the Father (John 14:6). The prophet Isaiah stated 700 years earlier of the coming One, "All we like sheep have gone astray and have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6) Here the prophet is making the astounding claim that the death of the coming One was to be a substitutionary atonement, where the guilt of many was paid for by one. This was possible only because Jesus lived a sinless life as both God and man and was thus uniquely able to take the penalty for the world's sin upon Himself. His claim to be victorious over sin and death was validated by His resurrection 3 days later and appearance to over 500 people. But is intellectual agreement about the events of 2000 years ago all that is necessary?

6.  Beginning a new relationship
The Bible makes it clear that a head knowledge of the facts of Christ's life, death and resurrection is not adequate to claim forgiveness and be reconciled to God. Two scriptures make that clear.

In  John 3:16, Jesus said that one inherits eternal life when that person 'believes in Him.' The word translated 'believe' is more than intellectual agreement. It involves an active trust in and reliance on another, in this case Jesus and His sacrificial death. There is a presupposition, clearly stated elsewhere in scripture, that we come to God with a repentant attitude, recognizing that we have violated the requirements of a holy God.

Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that, "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, lest anyone should boast." The 'grace' is God's gift that I could not earn nor deserve; the 'faith' is believing that God's offer of forgiveness is true for me, not just for the world at large.

When we do claim His death as being both necessary and sufficient for the forgiveness of our personal sins, God places His Spirit within us, filling that vacuum within. This is the beginning of a new relationship, one so different that the Bible describes such a person as 'a new creature' (II Corinthians 5:17). Jesus called the transition being 'born again' (John 3:3). God begins to change us from the inside out, recreating our desires and motives and enabling us to progressively display the very character of Jesus Christ. We will come to understand that we were created by God and for God, and find our purpose and joy in glorifying Him.

7. God's ultimate purpose
The Bible states that at the end of history, God will take unto Himself all those who have entered into this new relationship, where they will enjoy His presence forever. Although it is hard for us to accept, the Bible also makes it plain that those who reject this gift of eternal life will be forever separated from Him. Romans chapter 1 makes it clear that no one will be able to claim ignorance of God on that day. As someone has stated it, heaven will be populated by those who said to God, "Thy will be done." Hell, on the other hand, will be filled by those to whom God has said "Thy will be done." The Bible tells us that God is not willing that any should perish and has given enough light to all mankind for each to either reject Him or turn to Him.

8. What have you done with this gift?
Even if you never heard it before, you now have enough knowledge of who God is and what He requires to willfully choose to accept His gracious gift of eternal life, or reject it. There are no magic words that earn us favor with God. He asks us simply to agree with Him about our sinful condition and accept His gracious gift of forgiveness, free to us but won at great cost by Jesus. A simple prayer like the following, expressed from your heart, is all God is waiting for to change your life forever!

Dear God,

I admit that I have sinned and have no claim to favor with You. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross in my place. Please forgive my sins, come into my heart and make me the kind of person you want me to be. I believe by faith that I am now a new person by your Spirit.

Through Jesus,
Amen

The Bible tells us in I John 1:9 that, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When you come to God in the heart attitude expressed in the prayer above, you enter into a relationship where your sins are paid for through the death of Jesus Christ. At the same time, God's Spirit causes you to progressively understand all that new relationship means. You, however, have the responsibility to help make that relationship grow by:

• Listening to God by reading and studying the Bible, God's love letter to you
• Talking to God through prayer
• Worshipping with like-minded believers

If you would like further information about making this critical decision and some help after you begin your new relationship with God, go to http://www.needhim.org, or call 888-NEED-HIM (888-633-3446). And if you do enter into this new relationship with God through Jesus Christ, I would love to hear about it and possibly be an encouragement to you. Email me at Glenn@ur-in-business.com or call at 972-943-9853.

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