William was a handsome young man who was proud of his physique. Before commencing university, he and a buddy agreed to have summer holiday at a popular beachside tourist location with the one intention of, as he put it: “scoring”. He met a very attractive young girl, who was also holidaying there with her friend. But William’s hopes of “scoring” were dashed when he discovered that she was a Christian. William was also intelligent and thought the easiest thing way to win this girl was also a very simple exercise: show this girl why the claims of Christianity were untrue. This presented him with an immediate problem however.
In William's circle of friends, none of them gave ‘God’ or Christianity a second thought. He realised that although he was raised by very nominal church going parents, he didn’t actually know what the claims of Christianity were.
Upon returning home he maintained contact with this girl and he maintained his quest to disprove Christianity. To do this, he reasoned, he needed to go to the source documents. Consequently he bought a Bible and began to read about the life of the founder of Christianity, Jesus the Christ. He was struck by what he read.
It wasn’t what he had been told or even thought about Jesus previously. He was somewhat shocked by the accurate historical account of Jesus in the Bible and stunned by what Jesus actually said. The Jesus of the Bible was authoritative, fearless, not swayed by popular opinions.
William was challenged by the one Christian he now knew to "try church". But William's sporting commitments clashed with church services - until he injured his shoulder. During his time off sport he decided to attend a nearby church. He saw people worshiping Jesus. He was moved. He heard people praying who honestly believed that there was a God who was listening. He describes this first time in church as a shock to all his senses. As soon as his first church service was over he dashed out of the building but involuntarily stopped in the doorway. He says he was gripped by an overwhelming urge to return into the building and talk with the pastor. He did. They agreed to meet through the week. William also decided that since he couldn't join his sporting team on Sunday mornings, due to his recovering injury, he would give church a couple more goes. The more he went and the more talks he had with the pastor, the more the claims of Christianity began to make sense.
But he had one question.
Shortly after this question began to weigh on his mind, he increasingly became aware of his own shortcomings. William said, "As I started reading the Bible, attending church, and talking with the pastor, without them directly raising the matter, it was as if my previously numbed conscience suddenly began working again. And I felt guilty. Very guilty." William then had an epiphany about the connection between his question and his guilt. He realised that Jesus Christ died in his place to pay the price for William' guilt and sin.
This discovery of the answer to this supremely important question resulted in his life being transformed. William became a committed Christian.
Why did Jesus die? This is the question that is answered every time we celebrate Easter. It is the most important question you could ever hope to answer because its answer has both a lifetime and an eternity of immense impact. Have you found the answer? Like William, many of us have also discovered why Jesus died. The answer has defined our lives - but the same answer is far too extravagantly good not to share. That's why we love the opportunities that Easter provides because it allows us to share its answer with people just like William. And in our city, there are thousands of Williams who need to know why we celebrate Easter.
In William's circle of friends, none of them gave ‘God’ or Christianity a second thought. He realised that although he was raised by very nominal church going parents, he didn’t actually know what the claims of Christianity were.
Upon returning home he maintained contact with this girl and he maintained his quest to disprove Christianity. To do this, he reasoned, he needed to go to the source documents. Consequently he bought a Bible and began to read about the life of the founder of Christianity, Jesus the Christ. He was struck by what he read.
It wasn’t what he had been told or even thought about Jesus previously. He was somewhat shocked by the accurate historical account of Jesus in the Bible and stunned by what Jesus actually said. The Jesus of the Bible was authoritative, fearless, not swayed by popular opinions.
William was challenged by the one Christian he now knew to "try church". But William's sporting commitments clashed with church services - until he injured his shoulder. During his time off sport he decided to attend a nearby church. He saw people worshiping Jesus. He was moved. He heard people praying who honestly believed that there was a God who was listening. He describes this first time in church as a shock to all his senses. As soon as his first church service was over he dashed out of the building but involuntarily stopped in the doorway. He says he was gripped by an overwhelming urge to return into the building and talk with the pastor. He did. They agreed to meet through the week. William also decided that since he couldn't join his sporting team on Sunday mornings, due to his recovering injury, he would give church a couple more goes. The more he went and the more talks he had with the pastor, the more the claims of Christianity began to make sense.
But he had one question.
“Why did Jesus die?”
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8)Andrew Corbett
* This story was adapted from an account told by STR's Greg Koukl.
No comments:
Post a Comment