Use these lyrics to lead you into prayers of praise and thanks to God for loving us so much that he sent us a Saviour:
To God be the glory! Great things He hath done;
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son;
who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, let the people rejoice:
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done!
(Frances von Alstyne [Fanny J Crosby] 1820-1915)
Listen on YouTube to: ‘This I Believe Lyrics Hillsong’.
Please note that any of the lyrics I print in these articles can also be listened to on YouTube, just type in the first phrase, add the word lyrics and you will be offered videos which will also show the words to the song.
We continue to look at Paul’s assurance that we don’t need to take ‘a blind leap of faith’ but if we consider the evidence we will see that Jesus is the Christ (God’s Anointed One) and our Saviour.
Twenty-five years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul is living in Ephesus and writes a letter to the believers in Corinth. He has heard about divisions and disorder among the believers in that city so he writes to give them advice, and then towards the end of this letter Paul summarises the evidence there is for believing that Jesus is God’s ‘Anointed One’ (Messiah) and that he came to be our Saviour. Read 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
Our writer Paul ‘only’ saw a vision of Jesus, he didn’t encounter the risen Christ in the same way these other witnesses did. While we can’t interview any of those 500 who saw the resurrected Jesus, we can assume that these witnesses would have made sure that this letter didn’t survive if what Paul wrote wasn’t what they had seen and heard. So this letter offers us a direct link between the Good News (Gospel) which Jesus taught and what we now put our faith in as we declare Jesus the Christ to be our Saviour and Lord.
Fifty-five years after Jesus’ death and resurrection his disciple John, in his old-age wrote a letter where he also summarises the Good News which he reminds his readers he got directly from Jesus. This letter is not the gospel of John, but is found towards the end of the New Testament along with two other letters he wrote. Read: 1 John 1: 1-10
Once again we have in John’s letter a clear link back to the message Jesus preach while on earth, and once more we recognise this message to be the same Good News we have put our faith and trust in.
While these two bible passages simply summarise the same message we read again and again in the Bible, they also enable us to have confidence that the message we trust in, is the same message Jesus brought to mankind just over 2,000 years ago. While there has been, and continues to be, lots of discussion and even fallings-out about the way in which we should respond to this Good News which we read about in the bible, we need never doubt that God loves us and has shown us his love by sending his Son, Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and Lord.
Around 400 years after Jesus died and was raised to life again, there is evidence of a prayer being used by believers - which simply stated:
‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.’
Those first six words tell us that they understood Jesus to be who we too know him to be and the final four words point towards what we know Jesus did for us through his death and resurrection.
A couple of centuries later this prayer was still in regular use, but with the addition of the phrase ‘a sinner’ - making explicit what was implied in asking God to show mercy. Then around 400 years ago people started to add a further phrase ‘saved by grace’ which gives us a prayer that summarises the message we read in the bible:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner saved by grace.
Many people memorise this prayer and find it a helpful reminder of what is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. We often sing another wonderful summary of our faith; let these lyrics lead you into further prayers of praise and thanks:
There is a Redeemer, Jesus, God's own Son,
precious Lamb of God, Messiah, holy One.
Jesus my Redeemer, name above all names,
precious Lamb of God, Messiah, O for sinners slain;
Thank You, O my Father, for giving us Your Son,
and leaving Your Spirit till the work on earth is done.
When I stand in glory I will see His face,
and there I'll serve my King for ever in that holy place.
(Melody Green © Word Music)
Listen to (sing along with), a song which help will further focus our minds on what amazingly Good News it is to know Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. YouTube: ‘You alone can rescue lyrics’
MORE GOOD NEWS
Congratulations to Lucy, Philip & Lottie. They are pleased to announce that Lucy is pregnant and this new addition to their family is due to arrive in November.
I look forward to writing to you again on Wednesday - Stephen