Course 3: The Life of Christ

The Word of God is the authority and the foundation for our faith. This truth is reflected in our everyday lives.The way we view God’s Word impacts everything. In this session, we saw how God’s Word is legitimate and valid despite all the critiques and skepticism over the centuries and into the present day.

Our worldview, the way we see the world, is influenced by many things. We need to allow God’s Word to change our worldview. As it says in Romans 12, “let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” As we grow in knowing God and His Word better, it changes how we look at ourselves, how we look at others, and how we live. Our worldview gets in the way of seeing God’s Truth, but if we will allow God to bring our worldview into alignment with His, changing our beliefs and values, we will become the disciples that Jesus calls us to be.

How well do you know Jesus? This week we spent time getting to know Him better. We looked back to the Old Testament to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises about the coming Messiah. We also learned that Jesus is the Lamb of God – the sinless, spotless lamb – born of God not from the sinful seed of Adam. We see God’s Plan fulfilled through Jesus to be the final sacrifice that paid for the sin of all mankind. He is also the Word and person of God made flesh, an exact representation of God. In Colossians 1:15 it is written that “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.” As we continue on our journey through the life of Jesus we will get to know God better through His Son.

Jesus calls us to be part of the spiritual growth process in the lives of those He has put into our sphere of influence. His example of modeling, teaching, equipping and empowering his followers is the same discipleship process that He calls us to participate in today. How will you respond to His call to follow Him?

“Who do YOU say I am?” This question is personal in nature and requires us to respond either by demonstrating our faith by following Him or choosing not to follow Him. It doesn’t matter who other people say Jesus is. What matters is what each one of us chooses to believe, in faith, and then follow with our lives. We also learned that it is the work of the Father in our heart that opens our eyes to believing the truth about Jesus (Matthew 16:17).

As Christ followers we believe that Jesus is life. Our eternal life begins the moment we place our faith in Jesus’ death on the cross for the payment of our sins. Jesus now wants us to live our lives through Him and not try to find them in all the ways the world tells us life is found. These truths are an essential part of the Christian faith and if we are to lead others to Jesus we must understand them and believe them ourselves.

The Holy Spirit was present and active back in Genesis 1 all the way through to the life of Jesus in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit continues to be present and active today. These days the Holy Spirit dwells permanently within each and every believer sealing our salvation, convicting us of God’s truth, and giving us direction as we allow Him.

Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of our sin is death, but goes on to say that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. God chose to make atonement for sin by shedding the blood of His Son (Leviticus 17:11). On the cross, Jesus cried out, “It is finished”, meaning the penalty for all sin has been paid for completely and forever no more animal sacrifices. People are now made right with God by placing their faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross to be sufficient payment for their sin.