At the heart of the Church of Scotland is our love and dedication to following our Lord God through his son, Jesus Christ. Born in a country town to a teenage mum, Jesus worked until the age of 30 as a carpenter. He then began a very brief public career as a travelling preacher until he was executed by the state three years later. Today more than 2 billion people call him God. Who is this man, Jesus Christ, the most famous man who ever lived?
The Bible and Jesus
There are those who speak of Jesus the political revolutionary, the religious guru, the mystic, the faith healer, the hypnotist, an occultist, a magician.
The Gospels teach us that Jesus was no ordinary man, but was in fact God in human form.
In the Bible, each of the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, point towards God interacting with us. They reveal a Jesus who came to bring a new dynamic kind of life that brought with it intimacy and peace with God through having our sins forgiven and receiving a transformed heart and soul.
The resurrection of Jesus
The death and resurrection of Jesus, when he rose to heaven from the grave, sum up the most important moments in the Gospels as it allows people to come to terms with their own sin, God’s love for them and to seek his forgiveness, trust in him and understand what it means to believe in him and follow him. It is not an easy step to take; to admit that you have sinned, to realise that Jesus was crucified for your sin and to seek his forgiveness is possibly one of the most difficult steps you will ever take, but it is undoubtedly the most important one which leads to a new and transformed life. For those who do take this step of faith they find and sense the power of God at work in their lives and are never the same again.
One of the most dramatic stories in the New Testament is found at the end of Luke’s Gospel. It tells of two of Jesus’ first followers who were devastated by his death.
As they walked home on Easter Sunday afternoon Jesus walked along side them but they did not recognise him. In the course of their conversation Jesus explained who he was and introduced them to the Old Testament stories which pointed towards the significance of his own life. At the end of the story when they finally realise who he is and recognise him, they say they sum up their own experience by saying: “did not our hearts burn within us, when he talked to us.”
Relevance today
Today, 21 centuries after his death, there is never a single moment in which less than several million people are reading what Jesus said and did and trying to apply the significance of his words and actions to their lives. Jesus said: “I have come to bring you life and life to the full” and the Gospels teach that a relationship with God is the most exciting kind of life that can ever be experienced. To know the purposeful hand of God in your life, to know His touch and forgiveness leads not only to purpose and meaning in life but peace with God and fulfillment in Him. For these reasons, the story of Jesus is still relevant for today.
Further Resources: Find out more
Through reading the Bible and attending church services you can discover that Jesus transforms the lives of individual people from within, and they come to the point of trusting him with their lives and recognising that they need his transforming love and forgiveness for their sins and then be willing to follow him the rest of their days.
-You can watch the Alpha Course films to learn more about Jesus and the Christian Faith.
-You can attend an Alpha Course in Nethy Bridge, usually run in the first part of the year.
-This website – Uncover – is helpful for finding out more about the Jesus and the Gospels.
Most of the contents of this page is taken from the Church of Scotland website.