How to teach God’s good news

in EasyEnglish

A guide for church leaders

 

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How a church leader can explain about Christ’s death

It should be clear that people cannot save themselves. To do that, they would need to give themselves a right relationship with God. They have done many wrong things against him, and they have become his enemies. So of course they cannot now become his friends by their own efforts. They cannot force God to accept them. Only God is able to save people.

The Bible is God’s own account of what he did to save people. That is its subject, from beginning to end. But we cannot ask people to study the whole Bible before they trust Christ. That would be too hard for almost anyone to do. Instead, a church leader should use his knowledge of the Bible to select an important passage or verse. He then uses that passage or verse to teach how God can save people. So, although perhaps the leader only reads one verse, he uses that verse to explain the message of the whole Bible.

The church leader must select that verse very carefully. Each verse belongs in a longer passage. The leader must consider the meaning of the whole passage before he selects the verse. Although he might not read the whole passage at the meeting, he himself should study it carefully.

One especially useful verse for this purpose is John 3:16. However, because the whole Bible is about this subject, many other verses are useful for this purpose. John 3:16 explains why God acted to save people. It was because of his great love. It explains how God acted. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ. And it explains who benefits from God’s kindness. God saves the people who believe in Christ. Finally, John 3:16 tells us the results of God’s action. Those people will not suffer God’s punishment. And they will always live with him.

That is a wonderful verse, and people can learn much from it. But John 3:16 does not explain everything that people need to know. In particular, it does not tell people how to believe. And it does not explain what Christ did to save us. Those two subjects are essential knowledge for anyone who desires to have a right relationship with God.

So let us think about Christ. First, we need to understand who he is. If Christ were merely a man like other men, then the Christian religion would be like any other religion. Its beliefs would merely be human ideas. It would be unable to give anyone a right relationship with God.

Christ is, and always has been, God (John 1:1-2; Hebrews 13:8). He is God the Son, who, with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, created the world (John 1:3). The Father, Son and Spirit are the one and only real God (Deuteronomy 6:4; John 17:11). At a future time, all will recognise Christ’s greatness (Philippians 2:9-11). And Christ will rule both earth and heaven (Psalm 2; Luke 1:32-33; Revelation 19:16).

The Bible records that God saw the terrible state of people on this earth. He saw that they had become his enemies. He saw their evil deeds and he knew about their evil nature. They did not care about God, but God cared about them. People deserved only punishment, but God wanted to save people.

God is completely good; his nature is perfect. Because he is completely good, he always punishes evil acts. So, he is the perfect judge. However, because he is completely good, his love is very great. So, it is his desire to save people.

Those two statements may seem to be opposites. It seems impossible both to punish and to save. But the Bible has always insisted that that is God’s character – Exodus 34:6-7. And in the life of Christ, we see how God did both, together.

Christ is God. But he chose to be born as a human baby. God was living among us (Matthew 1:23), but the people did not recognise him (John 1:10-11). His life as a boy and a young man was like the life of any other young person. He studied. He learned a trade. He worked with his hands. But there was one important difference from us. Unlike us, Christ never did any wrong thing that was against God’s law (1 Peter 2:22-23). That fact matters. Christ did not deserve the punishment that he would later suffer.

As a man, Christ began to teach the people about God, and to do God’s work among them. He cured people who were ill. He declared God’s good news, even to the poorest people (Luke 4:18-19). Everything that he did was good. But still, people hated him and they wanted to kill him.

And in the end, that is what happened. Christ, the perfect Son of God, suffered a slow, painful and cruel death that he did not deserve.

As we have already said, there is much cruelty in this world. It is a terrible fact, but many innocent people suffer in the most unfair manner. We do not remember Christ’s death just because it was so unfair. We remember Christ’s death because, by it, God was carrying out his promise to save his people.

In order to save his people, God must punish their evil acts. When Christ died, he himself suffered the punishment on their behalf. God the Son took upon himself our evil deeds (1 Peter 2:24). The punishment that can bring people a right relationship with God was upon Christ (Isaiah 53:4-6).

Christ’s death had a powerful effect on some of the people who saw it (Mark 15:39-43). But, at the same time, something astonishing was happening that people could not see. Strange events happened across the city (Matthew 27:50-54).

The first people did not obey God, and we still suffer from the results of their evil deed today. But Christ obeyed God completely, even in his death. And the results of his good action can save us now, and always (Romans 5:17). That one event – Christ’s death – can give us a right relationship with God that never ends (Hebrews 9:28).

God wants us to trust him. So he has provided evidence that Christ’s death did achieve these things. There is the evidence in the Bible (Luke 24:27; John 20:31). There is the evidence that Christ became alive again after his death (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). There is the evidence that God has given Christ the place of greatest honour in heaven (Acts 1:9-11; Hebrews 1:3-4). There is the evidence of the people whom God has sent to declare his message (Matthew 28:18-20; Hebrews 2:3). And there is the evidence of the astonishing things that still happen after the prayers of Christians (Mark 16:20).

For all these reasons, people should believe Christ. They should confess their evil deeds to him, and they should invite him into their lives.

Next part: How much should a church leader say about Christ’s death?

Index: How to teach God's good news in EasyEnglish

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This article comes from the book: ‘How to teach God’s good news in EasyEnglish’ by Keith Simons, available as a free download below:

 

© 2013, Keith Simons.