Is Jesus God?

What is theology? It is simply thinking about what matters to Christians. And it is too important to be left to clergy or only taught in theological colleges. There is no more important theological question, for Christians, than who is Jesus Christ? We follow him. We identify with him. And today we gather to worship God in his name.

It has been said that in Hollywood, over-estimating the intelligence of the audience is a sure way for a picture to lose money! Do I follow this principle? Do I ‘dumb-down’ the four-sermon series on I plan to give on Christology? Sometimes I get feedback that I expect you, my patient listeners, to have a PhD in theology or psychology. Perhaps I risk that again, but I will do what I can to give a sophisticated argument on central themes relating to our faith. You will have a copy of the sermon on GUC website, I am happy for there to be questions and even controversy. I will address who Jesus is in terms of central doctrines of:

• Was Jesus God?
• What does it mean that “Christ died for us?”
• Did Jesus rise from the dead? Bodily or spiritually?
• Did God come to us in Christ (including the question of the Virgin Birth)

This first sermon is on whether Jesus was God.

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Unconscious Spiritual Learning

Verse: “In Christ every one of God’s promises is a ‘Yes’.” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

To be alive is to learn. This begins from birth (or arguably in the womb). Initially we learn without language. And this continues but is rarely noticed. For example can you ride a bike? Can you describe exactly how you ride a bike? Arthur Reber called this “implicit learning”, or learning without words, a term that is familiar in academic psychology.

I wrote a book called Before Belief: Discovering first spiritual awareness (Lexington, 2020), which argues that such learning helps to form our spiritual and religious attitudes. Unfortunately almost no one has read it – it was published Feb 2020 when COVID hit the world. In my frustration I bought 50 copies and sent them free to major libraries. So it is out-there but probably still unread. But you, my ‘captive’ congregation will hear something about why this largely unnoticed dimension of experience is important.

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Unconscious influences 2

Readings: Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16.

We hear the psalmist desperately seeking the Lord, “In thee, O Lord do I seek refuge, let me never be put to shame… Incline thy ear to me, rescue me speedily, be thou a rock of refuge to me, a strong fortress to save me!” (Psalm 31:1-2). But how do we know when God is there. Or if God has heard our prayer?

The obvious answer is through the same means as we know anything, through our five senses. Arguably while God remains unseen, the Holy One is tangible in the exactly the same way as anything else in our life. I know this is a provocative statement, but let me continue.

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Liz Morris – 18 September 2022

Good morning. As always, it is a privilege to delve into God’s word with you, and I wish to thank Brooke for her preparation and leadership of our service today. Welcome to all present and to those online to what is a challenging, but important topic.

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Verse: St Paul in Acts, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, educated strictly according to our ancestral law, being zealous for God just as all of you are today.” (22:3).

Why do I believe in God [or not]? How do I express this? You might think such questions are straightforward, but I think not. When it comes to who we are spiritually we tend to assume a lot. We dwell in our personal history and rarely stop to think about where we have come from.

Paul was clear in his identity: He was a Jew in the multi-racial Roman Empire, so he believed in one God not the many of Greek and Roman paganism. He was a Roman citizen which gave him many privileges. It is implied because he was born in a Roman province (If Jesus was a citizen he could not flogged without an appeal to Caesar. He would not have been crucified.) Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel a pharisee and leader in the Sanhedrin. Paul as a Roman citizen was free to travel through the empire and as an educated pharisee he could teach and preach in synagogues where-ever he went. We see this in the Book of Acts. Paul knew the OT scriptures and how to interpret them as a pharisee. It was a good start, but he had to re-think it all after becoming a follower of Christ.

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