The Conversation Lesson 5 - Jesus

Introduction

Michael Bird is an Australian Christian teacher. As a child, he was not a Christian. In his words, “I was not from a religious home. I had no religious friends, and I regarded religion with little more than disdain.” (Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe, pg 96)

He said that high school was a particularly glum time. The last day of high school was a fitting monument to his misery. His high school graduation ceremony had three boring speeches. First, a local businessman gave a talk about success, how to be winners, and how to access the formula for achievement. The businessman went bankrupt a month later and accountants were going through the books at the time of the talk to salvage his business. Second, a local doctor encouraged personal healthy and hygiene. Third, a local Baptist pastor got up and said, “The most important decision you will ever make is whether you chose to accept or reject Jesus Christ as Savior.”

At the time he ignored the statement and even scorned it, but he remembered them later and saw them as preparation for his own consideration of Jesus. ((Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe, pg 96)

Today we do the same.

Getting connected

1. What has God been saying to you in his Word lately? Any obstacles, difficulties, and successes in hearing God?

2. Last week we considered sin. We closed with GK Chesterton’s famous answer “I am wrong. Until a man can give that answer his idealism is only a hobby.” Did you give that answer this week? If so, how did it go? If not, why not?

Teaching

Watch the brief video on the Son of God and take a few notes (What Christians Ought to Believe, Lesson 5, 1:00 - 12:00)

3. Jesus, the Son of God, is _____________________ ________________________ and ______________________ ___________________________.

4. Incarnation =

5. The _____________________ of Jesus is a _______________ _______________________. “What is not assumed cannot be redeemed” (Athanasius)

6. Jesus shares the same _________________________ as the Father.

7. We want to clarify how the two natures relate to each other in the person Jesus.

• NOT the divine nature replaces the human nature (ping pong ball replaces the marble at the center of a lump of clay; apollinarianism)

• NOT the two natures mix together to form a new nature or new thing (i.e. like mixing Ketchup and Worcestershire; monophysitism)

• NOT the two natures side by side (i.e. yin and yang; nestorianism)

• two natures together but not mixed in one person (i.e. iron and fire; hypostatic union)

8. Because of Jesus’ nature, he is called both “Christ” or “Messiah” and Lord. These terms mean

• Messiah = the anointed one, king

• Lord = the one at whom every knee shall bow

These terms summarize everything about Jesus’ life and ministry. Explain how he is both of these (Messiah and Lord). Which do you think we should emphasize more today?

Bible study

Read the following introductory paragraph, then read Matthew 22:41-46.

Please read Matthew 22:41-46.

9. Identify the characters of verse 44 then explain what Jesus is saying.

[Jesus] said to them, “How is it then that David ________________, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ____________ ‘Lord’___________? For he____________ says,

44 “‘The Lord ______________ said to my________________ Lord__________________:
    “Sit at my____________________ right hand
until I __________ put your ____________ enemies ________________
    under your __________ feet.”’[e]

10. We hear how the people responded to Jesus’ teaching in verse 46. Do people respond similarly today? What do we need to explain to help them see the same?

Application

11. We’ve already taken a little look at the secular creed summarized by this sign. That creed is very different from the traditional creed. Christians cannot entirely reject the secular creed. Even if we don’t accept the context, we agree with many of the statements. Is Jesus, the Savior and Lord, still relevant when we’ve got a contemporary creed? If so, how?

The Conversation Lesson 4 - Sin

Introduction

1. In the last lesson, we considered human beings. Human beings are unique because of their intellect, emotions, and will. They are most unique because they are made in the image of God. This lesson examines how they lost that uniqueness: sin.

The apostle Paul explains the two major forms of sin in Romans 1 and 2. He describes the sin of non-Jews (i.e. irreligious people) in Romans 1. He writes that because “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen” from the creation of the world, “people are without excuse” for the fact that “they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (Rm 1:20-21). Instead, “their thinking became futile”, “their foolish hearts were darkened”, “they became fools”, and “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (Rm 1:22-23). Only after they lost their ability to think and want and will did “God give them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity” (Rm 1:24-25). Irreligious people sin when they do not glorify God and their thinking becomes futile.

He describes the sin of Jews (religious people) in Romans 2. When they “pass judgment on someone else” you are “condemning yourself” (Rm 2:1). Their “stubbornness” and “unrepentant heart” means they are “storing up wrath” against themselves (Rm 2:5). Religious people sin when they pass judgement in the place of God.

Sin appears as judgment or hypocrisy for the religious person. It appears as foolishness and selfishness for the irreligious person. The first person says, “If I’m a good person, God will love me.” The second says, “It doesn’t matter who I am or what I do, God will love me.”

As we see in this lesson, they’re both in the same position.

Getting connected

2. What obstacles, difficulties, or successes did you experience in hearing God this week?

3. Follow up on last week - Did you have a chance to do the good we talked about?

4. Another follow up on last week - who are you? Did you have any insights about yourself this week?

Teaching

4. The doctrine of sin, called harmatiology, is often divided into many subpoints, such as the fall into sin, original sin, actual sin, unbelief, guilt, punishment, and sometimes death. We’re going to pull it together into 5 points

• what sin is

• the effects of sin

• the problem of evil

5. We best see the heart of biblical sin in Genesis 2 and 3.

Read first Genesis 2:16-17 and pay attention to the underlined portions.

“16 And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Then read Genesis 3:2-6 and pay attention to the underlined portions.

“2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

What did Adam and Eve get or do wrong?

6. The apostle Paul put it this way in another place, “and everything that does not come from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). On your own (privately), make a list of a few things in your life that have not come from faith. Then reflect: what does it look like for you to not live by faith?

7. Sin is any deviation from God’s will. At the same time, the Bible describes sin in a number of ways:

• as sin, a failure to match up with the standard; i.e Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”

• as trespass or transgression, stepping over the line; i.e. Romans 2:23 “You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?”

• as rebellion or lawlessness; i.e. 1 John 3:4 “4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.”

• as injustice; what needs condemnation in court i.e. Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.”

• as impiety or lack of reverence and respect; i.e. Romans 1:18 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness”

• there are other biblical descriptions of sin as well

Which way do you tend to see sin show up the most in your life or our culture?

8. There are three main effects of sin. What is each?

• physical death =

• spiritual death =

• eternal death =

But these are far from the only consequences of sin. Toil, conflict, sickness, and poverty are all listed as consequences of sin.

The complicated part of the consequences of sin is who experiences them. Options for this include:

• the sinner as punishment

• the sinner as discipline

• the entire human race because of universal guilt

• the children and grandchildren as discipline or punishment;

• or???

Let’s read the following 2 Bible passages. Explain how God can say both these things.

• Exodus 34:7 “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

• Ezekiel 18:18-20 “18 But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people. 19 “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. 20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.

9. The problem of evil is one of the most difficult problems related to sin.

It basically says,

“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able to prevent evil, but not willing? Then he is evil. Is he both able and willing? Then where does evil come from? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” —- paraphrase of ‘the Epicurean paradox’.”

There are a couple of responses to this point. The following is a short list from some of the best thinkers on the topic. Which speak to you?

#1————————————————————————————————-

“While you may find Christians on occasion offering “pat answers” about human suffering, you won’t find the Bible doing such a thing. The Bible offers a multifaceted, balanced, remarkably nuanced view of suffering. Some suffering appears to be a direct result of God’s righteous anger over rebellious unbelief (Gen. 19:1-16; Numb. 16:1-20; Acts 5:1-11). Some suffering appears to be corrective chastisement, altering the thoughts, attitudes, hearts, and behavior of God’s people (Jon. 1-2; Gen. 22:1-19; Job 42:1-6). Some suffering appears to come not despite, but directly because of our attachment to Jesus (Matt. 16:24; John 15:18,20; 1 Pet. 4:12-16). 

“While many Christians are inclined to confidently offer sentiments about suffering, often to alleviate the awkwardness of being in the presence of someone who is suffering, that Christian is often hastily assessing what he/she does not know.” ~ James Hein

#2—————————————————————————————————-

“My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?” ~C. S. Lewis

#3—————————————————————————————————-

“If God does not exist, then we are locked without hope in a world filled with pointless and unredeemed suffering.” ~William Lane Craig

#4——————————————————————————————————

If you’ve got an infinite God big enough to be mad at for the suffering in the world, then you also have an infinite God big enough to have reasons for it that you can’t think of. ~Tim Keller

Application

10. GK Chesterton (famous British Roman Catholic theologian of the 20th century) once wrote an editorial to the Daily News to answer the question, “What’s wrong with the world?” Chesterton answered, “In one sense, and that the eternal sense, the thing is plain. The answer to the question, “What is Wrong?” is, or should be, “I am wrong.” Until a man can give that answer his idealism is only a hobby.” Are you ready to give the same answer?

The Conversation Lesson 3 - People

Introduction

1. Today we’re going to look at human beings. This discussion assumes some idea on the origins of human beings. Two theories are the most common: creation and evolution. The following video presents some attempts to look at both the biblical evidence and the scientific evidence, and put the two together. Watch some of it, then po1int out some of the implications of these views as to what human beings are. (Afterwards, we’ll review a common Christian doctrine of what humans are.)

Getting connected

1. What good can we do around here?

2. Where did you see one of the following truths about God show up in life? Tell someone about it.

• There is one God, which is spirit.

• God is Triune.

• God is relational.

• God has many attributes: spirit, personal, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal,

• God is his will, revealed in his word.

3. What do you think makes you “human”?

Teaching

4. We’re going to look at 4 main points about human beings.

• what a human is: body and soul

• what the soul is

• Other human attributes

• what makes humans special: the image of God

5. “Adam and Eve were created with two essential attributes: they were created with body and soul.” (Deutschlander pg 163)

• “For the sake of convenience and simplicity we may say that the body is material, consisting of atoms and molecules arranged into physical organs” (Deutschlander pg 165)

• The elements of the soul include emotions, will, and reason (Deutschlander pg 165-166)

Scientists have been unable to identify the soul. Neuroscience increasingly narrows the gap between biological response and our actions. How would or do you explain to someone that we have a soul?

6. Deutschlander writes that the soul is made of reason, will, and emotions.

• emotions = “With our emotions we feel likes and dislikes, affection and aversion.” (pg 165)

• will = “With the will we make choices. We decide that we want or do not want this or that. To the extent that the will makes choices, love and hate reside in the will more than in the emotions.” (pg 165)

• intellect = “the ability to reason, to weigh out relationships of cause and effect, to ponder the questions of why and what for, to make judgments that claim to be rational or logical.” (pg 166)

What are some ways that explanation of what makes a human being (as opposed to saying animals only have bodies) help us to understand and explain reality? What are some ways this explanation falls down (fails to help)?

7. All other attributes of human beings are non-essential. That includes temperament, natural abilities, inclinations, state of physical health, and even many parts of the body.

8. “The image of God was the the greatest of blessings for the functions or organs of the soul. Since they were like God and in his image, emotion, will, and reason were in perfect harmony with God. … The most important component of the image of God, its very heart and core, was the holiness and righteousness.” (Deutschlander pg 168-169)

How do you explain the image of God in your own words? More importantly, what is its value?

9. Some of the hardest questions surrounding humanness deal with sexuality. If the group wants, now is a good time to discuss them.

Bible study

Read the following introductory paragraph, then read Genesis 1:26-31 and Genesis 2:4-24.

“You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.” (Nehemiah 9:6)

Please read Genesis 1:26-31 and Genesis 2:4-24.

11. We’ve covered the main points about the nature of human beings and many of those were drawn from this section. This section also highlights many ways that humankind is the crown or pinnacle of creation. Which ones do you notice?

12. When we notice how unique human beings are compared to everything else that exists, this can lead to problems. For example, Nazism elevated certain humans because of their unique features over other human beings. Some people are concerned that we’ve elevated human beings too much in the last 100 years and have destroyed creation. What are some ways that God restricts and redirects our uniqueness?

Application

13. Let’s keep our humanity in an eternal perspective. Read 1 Corinthians 15:42-49. Follow along with the apostle Paul. Compare and contrast people when we are created with our eternal nature. What speaks to you the most about the eternal body?

14. One of my favorite pictures of the end of the world comes from CS Lewis. He would have us remember that everything we are like now and go through now is a small piece of what we will be like then. Friends, do not sell out your humanity. Answer this: what makes you you? Who are you? Look forward to then end, for “then you will be fully known.”

The Conversation Lesson 2 - God

Introduction

Some of you might remember 1961 when Yuri Gagarin, the first Russian cosmonaut, orbited the earth. Everybody was very excited. Nikita Khrushchev, the premier of Russia at the time, said something like, “In Russia, our official religion is atheism. We are officially atheists. We have even more evidence for atheism now because we sent a man into heaven and there was no God there. So we have more evidence than ever.” (Tim Keller, "The Meaning of Christmas" sermon 2011)

"C. S. Lewis responded and said, “Well, think about it. If there was a God, you wouldn’t relate to him the way a person on the first floor relates to a person on the second floor. You would relate to him the way that Shakespeare relates to Hamlet. Shakespeare created Hamlet. The only way Hamlet can know anything about Shakespeare is if Shakespeare writes something about himself into the play.”

"Hamlet is not going to find anything out about Shakespeare by going up into the rafters of the stage looking upstairs. Only if Shakespeare, or only if the creator, by revelation, reveals something to the creature … You’ll only know something about your creator if he reveals or if he writes something into the world, into the play.”

Daniel Deutschlander goes one step further when he writes, “As soon as we begin to study God, we run into a problem. We might like to have a nice, simple, rational definition of God. But no matter how well we get to know and understand God on the basis of his Word, we can never fully grasp or define him. For God is above and beyond all possibility of human definition.” (Daniel Deutschlander, Grace Abounds, pg 95)

Getting connected

1. What conversations has God let you have lately with someone who is on their way to knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord?

2. Last week the assignment was to work on a creed. What does your creed look like? What did you learn?

3. In the late 300’s Augustine wrote, “Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you.” Martin Luther wrote in his Large Catechism (1529), “Now, I say that whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.” These definitions of God focus more on what he does for us and our souls than who he is. What are the benefits and drawbacks of understanding God like this?

Teaching

For a brief summary of God, we want to consider four areas:

There is one God, which is spirit.

• Evidence supports the claim that God exists. (Evidentialism)

• The claim that God exists better explains reality. (Presuppositionalism)

God is Triune.

• is three coequal, coeternal persons in one united essence/being

• We generally prefer to explain the Triune God by what he is not (negative over positive)

God is relational.

• we describe the relationships of the persons differently, depending on whether we are considering the internal or external

• this is origin of relationships, of love

• as relates to us…

  • First person, the Father is the creator

  • Second person, the Son is the redeemer

  • Third person, the Spirit, is the sanctifier

God has many attributes.

• spirit

• personal

• independent

• gracious and just

• transcendent and immanent

• omnipotent

• omniscient

• eternal

• omnipresent

• immutable

God is equated to his will, revealed in his word.

5. Take a few minutes and read this list. Choose one point from above and explain it to the person next to you. When you’re done, tell everyone else.

Biggest difference

There is a significant gap between orthodox teaching on God and common Western ideas on God.

The State of Theology

6. What do you notice about the beliefs of most Americans and the Bible’s teaching about God?

Bible study

Read the following introductory paragraph, then read Matthew 3:13-17.

[The writer] is giving us a glimpse into the very heart of reality, the meaning of life, the essence of the universe. According to the Bible, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit glorify one another. Jesus says in his prayer recorded in John’s Gospel, “I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glory me in your presence with the glory that I had with you before the world began” (John 17:4-5). … “in Christianity, God is not a static thing … but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama.” (CS Lewis in Tim Keller, Jesus the King, pg

Please read Matthew 3:13-17.

7. This is considered one of the best examples of the Trinity in the Bible. The Son is baptized. The Spirit of God descends on him. The Father speaks from heaven. What do you notice about the Trinity in this event? More specifically, what do we learn about the Father? What do we learn about the Son? What do we learn about the Spirit?

8. How would you describe the drama or dance of God at the baptism of Jesus?

9. What do you make of the fact that the dance takes place right in front of us and is “for all righteousness”?

Application

CS Lewis concluded his response to the Russians saying something like, “Ah, but God did something better than just write some information in. He entered the story.” We can see God’s entrance at many points:

• “We have moral instincts, and the best explanation is that these exist because the one who designed us is righteous.”

• “We can look at the universe and the world around us and see that it is littered with evidence of design.”

If you don’t want to believe the evidence, the onus is on you for proving God’s nonexistence, which is not as easy as it seems. (Clark, Mark. The Problem of God (p. 60). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.)

• “Lucky Us” hypothesis = “Yes, admittedly, the chances were extremely low that our universe would ever come into existence, but lucky us, here we are! Just celebrate it!”

• “Multiverse” theory = "while it is highly improbable that our one universe would ever come into existence given the number of variables, the odds change if there are an infinite number of universes.”

There is one more piece of evidence to consider.

“He who does not know Christ does not know God hidden in suffering.” ~ Martin Luther

10. Have you gotten to know God in suffering? If so, what did you get to know about him?

The Conversation Lesson 1 - Why Christian ideas?

Introduction

Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, describes his conversion.

“In the home where I grew up, faith was not something that was talked about very much. My father was a professor of drama, my mother was a playwright. When I went to college and those discussions in the dorm late at night about religion began to occur, I found no reason to attach value to a faith worldview. I assumed that any religious feelings that anyone held must be on the basis of some emotional experience—and I didn’t trust those—or on the basis of some childhood indoctrination, which I felt I was fortunate to have missed.

In medical school, I loved the experience of learning about the human body and all of its complexities. And I particularly loved being introduced to genetics. But then I moved on to the clinical training portion, learning to take care of patients with real diseases. This was no longer an abstract study of molecules and organ systems. These were real people with real suffering. One afternoon, I was with one of my patients, a wonderful woman, much like a grandmother, who had very bad heart disease. She had a particularly bad episode of chest pain while I was with her. She got through it, and at the end of that, explained to me how her faith in Jesus was the thing that helped her in that situation. She realized that the doctors around her weren’t really able to give her that much help, but her faith was. And after she finished her own very personal description of that faith, she turned to me. I had been silent, and she looked at me quizzically, and then she asked, “What do you believe, Doctor?” I was stunned. I said I didn’t really know. Her question had made me realize that as an atheist, I had arrived at an answer to the most important issue that we humans ever deal with. Is there a God? And I had arrived there without ever really looking at the evidence. I was supposed to be a scientist. If there’s one thing scientists claim they do is to arrive at conclusions based upon evidence. And I hadn’t taken the trouble to do that.

So I was determined to search for evidence. I was greatly assisted by a pastor who lived down the road, who tolerated my blasphemous questions and gave me a copy of CS Lewis’ wonderful book, Mere Christianity. Here was an Oxford scholar, a prodigiously developed intellect, who had traveled the same path. Within those pages, I realized for the first time that one can come to belief on a rational basis. In fact, I soon discovered that there are many pointers towards a creator that come from science itself. The universe had a beginning. It follows elegant mathematical laws. And it is fine tuned by the way all those constants that determine the behavior of matter and energy seem to have been set just in a certain, very precise range to make life possible. 

Later he reflected on this experience, "Challenged by one of my patients to describe what I believed about God...I realised my atheism was dangerously thin," Collins recalled. "I began a journey to try to understand why intellectually sophisticated people could actually believe in God. To my dismay, I found that atheism turned out to be the least rational of all the choices. To quote [G.K.] Chesterton, 'Atheism is the most daring of all dogmas, for it is the assertion of a universal negative.'"

As I searched for more evidence of what God must be like, I encountered the person of Jesus Christ. I was amazed to discover how much we know about his life. I had thought that Christ was as much myth as history. As I studied more, I learned there is a great deal of evidence for his teachings, and even for his having risen literally from the dead. The evidence was compelling, and it demanded a decision. That day at my patient’s bedside started a journey for me, a journey that I was reluctant to begin, but I felt I needed to. It was a journey that I thought would result in strengthening my atheism — but to my surprise, resulted in my conversion. I am now a follower of Jesus.” Francis Collins: A Testimony - Resources - BioLogos

Collin’s testimony does not just speak to his conversion. He speaks about a conversion from one set of beliefs - atheism - to another set of beliefs - the teachings of Jesus. He encourages all of us to consider and engage the beliefs that guide us.

Doctrine = a belief or a set of beliefs held by a religious group, a political party; or a stated principle of military affairs

Dogma = a slightly more generic word for doctrine, but also generally associated with only one group - not universal or general

Getting connected

1. What difficulties, obstacles, and successes did you experience in hearing God this week?

2. Have you ever done a systematic study of the main topics of Christian teaching? When? What impression did you come away with?

Teaching

3. Describe the last religious conversation you had. How did it make you feel? What impressions did you take away from the conversation?

4. Watch the first video from Michael Bird on “What Christians Believe”. Use the space below to write notes or make comments. Afterwards, feel free to ask questions and share those comments.

Creed = a group of doctrines, a summary statement of beliefs

Bible study

Read the following introductory paragraph, then read Matthew 15:1-20.

As Jesus progressed during his ministry, he increasingly experienced conflict with the Jewish religious leaders. The Pharisees, Sadduccees, and scribes all found reasons to disagree with him. They realized that he wasn’t just working miracles and serving people. He was actually challenging their interpretation of what we call the Old Testament and advocating for a different religious worldview. In Matthew 15, Jesus engages with a number of the assumptions that drive the current Jewish teaching.

Read Matthew 15:1-20 in your own Bible.

6. In verse 3, Jesus names two different kinds of teaching: tradition and the command of God. What do you understand each to be in this context?

• tradition =

• command of God =

7. What belief is Jesus advocating for regarding teaching (both the command of God and tradition)?

8. In this section, Jesus makes the surprising transition from “breaking the tradition of the elders” (verse 2) to “the things that come out of a person’s heart … defile them”. As a class, discuss the flow of thought or the connection. How does Jesus connect one idea to the other?

9. Based on this section and other parts of the Bible, what is the value of Christian teaching? What is the danger if your teaching is incorrect?

Application

10. Consider the following lists of teachings. There are slight differences in the way everyone organizes Christian teachings. Generally, people list 8 or so major categories:

• God

• People

• Sin

• Jesus the Messiah

• Salvation

• Faith

• The Church and Ministry

• The End

A fuller and more detailed list of Christian teachings might look something like this:

• The Word

• God

• Creation

• Providence

• Angels

• People

• The Will

• Grace

• Christ

• Salvation

• Faith

• Conversion

• Justification

• Sanctification

• Preservation in faith

• Means of Grace

• Baptism

• The Lord’s Supper

• The Christian Church

• The Public Ministry

• Election

• The End

Review the list of categories above. What speaks to you about it? What would you like to add to the list?

10. Pick one of the topics above about which you feel fairly confident. Tell a partner what the basic Christian teaching is.

11. Pick another topic about which you are not confident. Write below a guess on what the basic Christian teaching is.

Summary and take away

You’ve probably seen a sign similar to the following as you’ve driven around. I’ve seen a number of them. Pause for a moment and don’t focus on the individual statement. Instead, recognize this as what it is: a creed, a statement of beliefs.

Rebecca McLaughlin describes why it is important to retain ancient Christian beliefs if we want anyone of the statements on this sign to matter. She writes, “with our heads bowed to the earth, we’ll see that the very ground in which the yard stand signs is unmistakably Christian. Clear that Christian soil away and you won’t find solid, secular rock. You’ll find a sinkhole.” (McLaughlin, The Secular Creed, pg 2)

She means to point out that many of the most cherished beliefs we have as Americans, whether we are Christians are not, have grown out of Christian soil. If we clean away that soil, we’ll find that there is no firm foundation for many cherished beliefs.

As a take away exercise, spend some time journaling about your own beliefs. What is your statement of beliefs? You can use any of the topics listed above.