The Significance Of The Work Of Christ For Christian Life And Ministry

Small group Activity(5-7 minutes)

1. Relevance of content: Is the content of your teaching material relevant to your chosen topic?

2. Length, structure and organization of content: Have you organized your material in a clear, logical manner? Is it the correct length?

3. Quality of analysis, critical thinking, interpretation of issues, creativity: Have you demonstrated awareness of alternative interpretations of key theological themes and concepts? Is your teaching material supported by evidence/examples drawn from the Christian tradition? Does your teaching material encourage others to critically engage with different points of views?

4. Level of knowledge of and engagement with a range of appropriate material: Have you engaged sufficiently with the theological literature? Have you referred to at least two theological textbooks? Are these correctly referenced in your teaching notes and presentation materials?

5. Level of understanding of subject specific terminology and concepts: Have you shown that you understand subject specific terminology and concepts? Does your teaching material show evidence of your ability to communicate these clearly and effectively?

6. Literacy: includes attention to style, spelling, punctuation and grammar.

7. Communication and teaching skills: Have you included a mix of input from yourself, discussion activities, possibly stimulus activities, and, engagement with Scripture and Christian theology?

Start the teaching session with a small video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjoU5KgP90 on how Christianity believes in Jesus today and how they are influenced by His work.

Today, in this meeting, the topic we are going to learn is ‘The significance of the work of Christ for Christian life and ministry’. To make this teaching session even more successful, we will first emphasize on how Jesus Christ sacrificed His life based on His active obedience and passive obedience.

This session further continues with the stimulus activities and the theological perspective of Christ’s work in favour of the common being. Ultimately, the session will be wrapped up with the awareness and the engagement associated with both the positive and the negative point of views on the selected theological perspective.

Begin the main teaching session by presenting an audio-visual clip on the active and the passive obedience in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifEp__PtEY.

Select some participants and ask them to portray their view of active and passive obedience like it is explained in John 15:4-11.

Ask the remaining laypeople for feedback to understand whether they are proceeding with the correct knowledge or not.

Christ’s work for Christianity and their ministry

Ask the people the purpose to study the life of Christ.

Present your view on the importance of Jesus’ work for Christian civilization and ask them to repeat along with you:

Realise the doctrine of union with the point of view point of the Lord. – Ask the people of the church whether they are united with Christ and follow the teaching of Jesus.

Make them understand about the Scriptural teaching with the work of Christ Tell them that Jesus raises the morality in Christians by sacrificing for the society who are in opposition to him and pray for their salvation.

Make the church people realize that Jesus works for the union of the humanity. He unites all the people even those individuals who are not aware of His existence. Furthermore, explain the fact to the people that according to The Holy Bible, one who follows Christianity and Jesus will achieve the ultimate salvation while the others can obtain the counterfeit to the redemption, thus making everyone aware of His existence and importance of his work (Macaskill 2013). The term “union” resembles the establishment of the relationship with the Lord through compassion taught by Christ.

Christ’s work for Christianity and their ministry

Make the laypeople knowledgeable about the importance of Jesus’ work by saving the relationship taken by grace, responsiveness, inter-relationships and interaction among one another. Tell them the importance relies on the fact that Jesus makes the Christian Ministry about their identity and the person they are becoming.

To recognize the knowledge of the laypeople, ask them what they learn from the aspect of personal union. Moreover, whether they agree on the essentiality of the two concerns – the God Himself and own self?

For the sake of saving the relationships, ask the laypeople to share their experience about the relationship of marriage thereby living together and sharing a life.

Discussion question:

What is salvation? Ask the laypeople about their understanding of “Salvation”.

The term salvation means how God made His judgement on the sinner. Some people believes that Salvation can be achieved by escaping from the Evil and bad things while God judges those people also who sinned in opposition to them.

Salvation can only be found in Jesus. You may teach the lay people about the verse 2 Cor. 5:21 that depict ‘He made him, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in him’. Teach the church people about Eph. 2:8 for a better understanding of the term salvation.

Ask people to identify the passage regarding salvation in the Holy Bible.

– What do these passages represent about the Human Salvation?

– Probable examples: John 1:12, John 3:16, John 14:6

Romans 1:16, Romans 3:9, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9 and Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 2:9

Jesus Christ dies for the sin of the people even though they crucified him until death. He rose from His grave after paying the penalty for their sins, hence saves them from ultimate punishments. This also resembles that an innocent person dies for the guilty people.

Question for discussion:

What do you mean by the Trinity?

Ask them whether they are aware of the fact of the three different figures or persons in one God in the form of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Ask the laypeople for repeating those three verses, which defines the above said Trinity aspects.

John 6:27 – ‘Jesus Christ referred to his Father as God’.

Isaiah 9:6 –“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, and The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end.”

Acts 4:10; Rom. 8:11 –‘After declaring that God raised Christ from the dead, the New Testament goes on to credit the Holy Spirit with the resurrection’.

The significance of the Trinity for the Christianity- Tell the laypeople about the importance of the Doctrine of Trinity for the Christianity and their ministry. Depict relevant theories relating to the concerned topic.

The first person “Father” sends His Son for sacrificing His life for the ordinary person so that the individual of the world may save from the curse.

The second person of the Trinity that is the “Son” can conquer death and sin through His glorious restoration by rising from His grave and make the people of Christianity saved from all kinds of devils. (Galatians 2:20) also says, “Son of God” has become “God of Son”.

Human Salvation

Ultimately, considering the third person of the Trinity that is ‘The Holy Spirit’, which comprise of: Having attributes that only God can possess (1 Cor. 2:10) Omniscience and (1 Cor. 6:19) Omnipresence. The Holy Spirit also has the power to control the life and death of people (Jn 3:5-6; Tit 3:5). (1 Cor. 6:11) depicts “The Spirit of our God” must have to be one “the Spirit, who is our God”.

Among numerous theological perspectives, the perspective that you may take is the Religious Pluralism.

Make the laypeople of the church aware about the theological perspectives on Religion Pluralism.

In Acts: Ask people about the essential primary Doctrines, which resemble the favour of the Christian faith.

Make your people understand about the doctrines explained in The Holy Bible:

John 8:58 with Exodus 3:14 (Deity of Christ)

Ephesians 2:8 (Salvation by Grace)

1 Cor. 15:14-&-17 (Resurrection of Christ)

1:8-9, NIV ( The Gospel)

Exodus 20:3, Isaiah 43:10, 44:6,8 (Monotheism)

There are in total 5 verses in the Holy Bible relying on the fact whether salvation can only be achieved by following salvation, when there are other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism through which salvation can be achieved.

Ask the laypeople to read aloud the reply to those quotations and identify the elements that they perceived concerning the theological perception of the religion plurality.

Roman 10:13 and John 14:6 ( Human Salvation, Christianity)

Acts 4:12 (Human Salvation, Christianity)

1 John 5:11-12 (Doctrine, Trinity)

John 10:7-10 (Human Salvation)

Mathews 7:13-15 (Human Salvation)

There are 3 other sayings where The Bible upholds the fact that, those who do not know the existence of Jesus follows can achieve salvation only by doing good to others . They can choose the path of helping others without any arrogance to gain the mercy of Jesus and hence can obtain salvation.

James 4:17 (Those who not do good to other, gained the Sin)

Ezekiel 18:32 (Getting rid form all the offences)

Psalm 87:4-6 (Mention of Rahab and Babylon)

Ask the laypeople about the Revelation, Religion.

Ask the people to distinguish between General Revelation and Special Revelation.

– General Revelation is knowledge of God that enables a person to perceive the knowledge of right and right. This knowledge is obtained through nature also resembles as basic morality.

1:18-20 (Knowledge of God)

2:14-15 (Knowledge of Morality)

19,20,21 (Only God as creator)

– Special revelation is a term that is followed by the Christian Theologians that resembles all the spiritual matter related to the knowledge of God which can be only exposed by the means of supernatural acts like miracles probably the disclosure of the God’s truth.

Matthew 28:18-20 (Living Under Christ’s Authority)

Ask the laypeople to repeat along with you “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on hearth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”

Teach them that Chapter 28 of Matthew focuses on Faith in Jesus and the hope of His disciples for His return after His death.

You may also make them knowledgeable about the two simple actualities presented in The Bible.

One- God is our only Creator and thus He has all the rights to direct the life of communal folks.

Two- Those people associated with Sin can never achieve their guiltless personality unless they will return to the Lord, with readiness to accept all their Sin.

Trinity

Discussion question:

Invite people to share their thoughts on the existence of Jesus and achieve salvation through Christianity.

You may ask to share any experience of their friends or acquaintances believes and disbelieves in the existence of Christianity.

Discussion Question:

Ask them to convey their philosophy on the concerned fact.

You may educate them with the Cultural and theological perspective of the religious pluralism.

There are many, who believe that there is only one religion, that is Christianity, and those who believe in Jesus will surely get the way towards the salvation. As mentioned in John 14:6, those who called Jesus will be saved and Jesus is the only way for commending the truth of life. Furthermore, James 4:17 mentions that for the person who is not aware of Jesus can choose the counterfeit for the achievement of Salvation.

You may ask your laypeople of the church about some of the moralizing doctrines related to the advancement of the Christianity Society and Ministry (Rom. 1:18-31). Teach the lay people that Christianity that they:

Worship as a God: The Trinity makes the Christian Faith a unique one and makes Christianity resist on a single Father, Son and the Spirit.

Worship as a Triune Creator God: Christian Theologians distinguish between the God’s general and special revelation.

Worship as a Triune Creator and Redeemer: Jesus revealed himself to the entire humanity in the universe. Romans 1:18-32 portrays that The Lord is considered as a Priori and a Posteriori that depicts The Lord was and will there before and after the life of any individual.

Comprehend out the quotation “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none another name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

John 11:25-25 also conveys that Jesus himself says that who believes in Jesus, even if he dies will never die; however, who live and believes in Jesus will never die and hence will work for the betterment of the Christianity by saving them from sin.

Conclusion

We have followed all the necessary aspects that Jesus has done for Christianity and their ministry. Moreover, theological perception on Doctrine of God and their efficiency in the life of the Common being is explained.

Discussed the Trinity of God that resembles the three forms of God’s existence and how they influence the Christianity.

Furthermore, in the Critical evaluation it is concluded that Salvation can be achieved from other religions as well; however, the only difference is by following any other religion, people may achieve the imitation of Salvation by doing good to the others and they will further be saved from all Sin.

References

Aslan, A., 2013. Religious pluralism in Christian and Islamic philosophy: the thought of John Hick and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Routledge.

Barrett, M.P., 2016. Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament.Ambassador International.

Bok, J., 2014. Symbolic Filtering: Selectively Permeable Evangelical Boundaries in an Age of Religious Pluralism. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 53(4), pp.808-825.

Campbell, C.R., 2015. Paul and Union with Christ: An Exegetical and Theological Study. Harper Collins.

Carson, D.A., 2012. Christ and culture revisited. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Corrigan, J., Denny, F., Jaffee, M.S. and Eire, C., 2016. Jews, Christians, Muslims: a comparative introduction to monotheistic religions. Routledge.

Daggers, J., 2013.Postcolonial theology of religions: particularity and pluralism in world Christianity. Routledge.

Kierkegaard, S., 2015.Training in Christianity.Princeton University Press.

Macaskill, G., 2013. Union with Christ in the New Testament.OUP Oxford.

McGrath, A.E., 2012. Historical theology: An introduction to the history of Christian thought. John Wiley & Sons.

Migliore, D.L., 2014. Faith seeking understanding: An introduction to Christian theology. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Niebuhr, R., 2012. An interpretation of Christian ethics.Westminster John Knox Press.

Pardue, S.T., 2013. The mind of Christ: humility and the intellect in early Christian theology. A&C Black.

Samartha, S.J., 2015. One Christ–Many Religions: Toward a Revised Christology. Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Stott, J., 2012. Basic Christianity.InterVarsity Press.

Van Voorst, R., 2014. Readings in Christianity. Cengage Learning.

Williams, M., 2012.How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens: A Guide to Christ-Focused Reading of Scripture. Zondervan.

Yong, A., 2014. Beyond the impasse: Toward a pneumatological theology of religion. Wipf and Stock Publishers.