Rev. David J. Beguin, Pastor of the Pittsfield Evangelical Free Church
provides the following answers to your Frequently Asked Questions.
This Page is under Construction, more FAQ's
will be posted soon!!
- Who is Jesus ?
- Why do I need God ?
- Why did Jesus Come to earth ?
- How does God guide us?
- How can I be sure of my faith ?
Jesus is the most remarkable man who ever lived. He is the centerpiece of our
civilization. After all, we call everything that happened before him in history,
B.C. (before Christ) and everything that happened after, AD (in the year of our
Lord). It would be best to consider Jesus from the following three perspectives.
1. His Claims
Jesus claimed to be the unique Son of God, on an equal footing with God. He
assumed the authority to forgive sins. He said that one day He would judge the
world, and that what would matter than would be how we had responded to Him in
this life.
As author C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, "A man who was merely a
man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher, he
would either be a lunatic-on the level with a man who says he is a poached
egg-or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either
this man was and is the Son of God, or a madman or something worse& but
don't let's come up with any patronizing nonsense
about his being a great human teacher. He hasn't left that open to us He didn't
intend to."
2. His Character
Many people who do not profess to be Christians regard Jesus as the supreme
example of a selfless life.
The Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky, himself a Christian, said, "I believe
there is no one lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect than Jesus.
I say to myself, with jealous love, that not only is there no one else like him
but there could never be anyone like him."
As far as Jesus' teaching is concerned, there seems to be a general agreement
that it is the purest and best ever to have fallen from the lips of man.
As C.S. Lewis put it in Surprised by Joy, It seems obvious that he was
neither a lunatic nor a fiend; and consequently, however strange or terrifying
or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that he was and is God. God
has landed on this enemy-occupied world in human form.
You and I were created to live in a relationship with God. Until we find that
relationship there will always be something missing in our lives. As a result,
we are often aware of a gap. One rock singer described it by saying; "I've
got an emptiness deep inside."
People try to fill this emptiness in various ways. Some try to close the gap
with money-but that does not satisfy. Aristotle Onassis, who was one of the
richest men in the world, said at the end of his life, "Millions do not
always add up to what a man needs out of life."
Others try drugs and alcohol abuse, or sexual promiscuity. One girl said,
"These things provide instant gratification, but they leave you feeling
hollow afterwards." Still others try hard work music, or sports, while
others seek success. Although there is nothing wrong with these endeavors, they
do not satisfy that hunger deep inside every human being.
Even close human relationships do not in themselves s satisfy this emptiness.
Nothing will fill the gap except the relationship with God for which we were
made.
According to the New Testament, the reason for this emptiness is that men and
women have turned their backs on God. Jesus said, "I am the bread of
life" (John 6:35). He is the only one who can satisfy our deepest hunger
because He is the one who makes it possible for us to be restored to a
relationship with God. How does Jesus "fill the gap," satisfy?
Jesus satisfies our hunger for meaning and purpose in life.
At some point everyone asks questions like, "What am I doing on
Earth?" or "What's the point of life?" or "Is there any
purpose in life?" As the philosopher and author Albert Camus once said,
"Man cannot live withoutmeaning."
Until we are living in relationship with God we will never find the true meaning
and purpose of life. Other things may provide passing satisfaction, but it does
not last.
Jesus satisfies our hunger for life beyond death. Death seems a long way in the
future. We don't know what will happen, and to be honest we don't want to, or
like to talk about death. We do not want to face up to the reality that the fact
of the matter is that we will all die. The Bible says "He has also set
eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Many people do not want
to die. We long to survive beyond death. Only in Jesus Christ do we find eternal
life, for our relationship with God, which starts now, survives death and goes
on into eternity.
Jesus satisfies our hunger for forgiveness
If we are honest, we would have to admit that we all do things that we know are
wrong. Sometimes we do things for which we are deeply ashamed. More than that,
there is a self-centeredness about our lives which spoils them. Jesus said,
"What comes out of a man is what makes him unclean. For from within, out of
men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery
greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these
evils come from inside and make a man unclean." (Mark 7:20-23).
Our greatest need is for forgiveness. Just as a man who has cancer needs a
doctor whether he realizes it or not, so we need forgiveness whether we realize
it or not. Just as with cancer, the man who recognizes his need is far better
off than the person who is lulled into a false sense of security.
By His death on the cross, Jesus made it possible for us to be forgiven and
brought back into a relationship with God. In this way He supplied the answer to
our deepest need.
Jesus is the only man who has ever chosen to be born and He is one of the few
who has chosen to die. He said that the entire reason for His coming was to die
for us. The Son of Man [came]& to give us life as a ransom for many
(Mark 10:45). From what we know about crucifixion, it was one of the
cruelest forms of punishment known to man. Cicero, a first-century Roman
statesman, described it as "the most cruel and hideous of tortures."
Jesus would have been flogged with a whip of several strands of leather weighted
with pieces of metal and bone.
He says in the Bible that He will. In John 10:3 we
read that "He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out". In
verse 4 it continues by saying, "When he has brought out all his own, he
goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his
voice." God desires the best for each of us (look at Jeremiah 29:11) In the
25th Psalm, we read, "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches
them his way."
The Bible tells us quite a bit about how we should live. God speaks straight to
us, through the Bible, other people who love Jesus and sometimes by a still
small voice, as with Samuel (1 Samuel 3:4-14).
God gave us a brain to use. He gave us the ability to think and solve some
problems ourselves!
As I said earlier, other people can help us see the things of God more clearly.
Whenever you think that God is telling you something, it is good to talk it
through with someone else who knows Jesus.
Another way He guides us through the way events in our lives happen. He can
open, or close doors. Ephesians 2:10 states that "we are God's workmanship
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do".
God wants us to be sure of our friendship with Him.
Here are three foundational things that help us to be sure of our friendship
with God.
1. God's promises - He says, "I am always with you.." "No one
can snatch them out of my hand." "I will come into your life when you
ask." Take this by faith (daring to believe what God says).
2. God's accomplishments - Jesus died on the cross to bring us back to God!
Jesus loves us and died to prove it. The Bible says that "God so loved the
world that He gave His one and only son, that who ever believes in Him should
not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
3. God's continuing action - God changes us from the inside out!
He continues to forgive us when we confess our wrongs (sins) to Him (1John 1:9).
Revised: February 14, 2008
