If you were trying to explain what Christians believe to someone who has no background in church, there are lots of things you could include. You would want to explain that God exists, about sin, about Jesus. But what is most important? Ultimately, you need to explain about who Jesus is and his death and resurrection (as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15:1-8
). This is the ‘gospel’, the important news for the world.
Being a Christian is not just about believing certain facts, like Jesus’ death and resurrection, but responding to those facts. People in the Bible are often called to “repent and believe”, to change their direction in life and trust that Jesus is the King and Saviour.
Christianity is unlike any other religion. Instead of asking people to do something to be rewarded by God, Jesus gives people the reward first which no-one deserves and asks us to live in response to it. This is called ‘grace’. God loves people and saves people even though they have done nothing to deserve it. All we are called to do is accept this, trust in Jesus, and live in response.
Jesus is all-important. Christians need to tell others of this important news, for without Jesus people are lost and separated from God. We also need to live well in response to Jesus, otherwise we are saying that the gospel doesn’t really change us, only gives us more facts. How important is Jesus to you really?
(Based on Bible Cafe teaching, Friday 5 March 2010).