Advertorial | Is Jesus’ God Your God?

The Bible teaches that there is one true God – “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 11:31). The one true God is Jesus' God – the one to whom Jesus prayed and said: “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3).

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and He is the Mediator between us and God – “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:15-17); “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5).

These are clear biblical teachings that are reiterated throughout the scriptures – “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things” (1 Cor. 8:6). Jesus, after His resurrection, said He was going back to His God and our God – “I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” (John 20:17).

Notwithstanding the clear biblical teaching that there is one true God, and biblical clarity as to who that one true God is, many other ideas are floated around and are popularly believed. This presentation is taking no issue with people's right to believe or not believe in the God of the Bible. It is, however, questioning the assertions that such other beliefs are biblical. Among such other beliefs are the notion that the one true God of the Bible is a three-in-one combination of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost – the Trinity; and the notion that the one true God is Jesus Christ Himself. The question is: Who is your God? Is your God the same as Jesus's God? Are you a follower of Jesus Christ?

Some truths in the Bible are as clear as one, two, three – yet many people will not accept them. Why? Perhaps the story of the emperor's new clothes might illustrate and suggest a possible reason.

Emperor's new clothes

 

As the story goes, the emperor's new clothes would supposedly be invisible to persons who were unfit for their office or who were unusually stupid. Since no one wanted to be considered unfit for their office, or unusually stupid, on the day of the parade, the naked emperor passed on in the procession, with everyone declaring how splendid his new clothes looked. The procession continued until a child said, “But he hasn't got anything on”, to which the child's father quickly responded to those who heard and turned to look, saying, “Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?”. But others started to whisper, “A child says he hasn't anything on”. Eventually, the whole town got brave enough to cry out, “But he hasn't got anything on”. As for the emperor, he suspected that the people were right, but simply held his head high and continued his procession, while his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all. Are many churches behaving like the emperor in our story? Could there be an issue of honesty here?

Can anyone honestly say that the one true God, as taught in the Bible – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Jesus's God, is either a three-in-one combination or Jesus Himself? Some people say that it is a mystery. Indeed, isn't it a mystery that pagan religions

had three-in-one concepts of God, while ancient Israel and the Apostles of the New Testament did not? Has paganism invaded Bible Christianity under the guise of intellectual philosophy?

Truth and religious establishment

 

Let us not make the same mistake, of placing religious establishment over truth as the Jewish leaders of Jesus's day did when they were confronted with the evidence of Jesus's identity as the Messiah by the miracle that Jesus wrought in raising Lazarus from the dead. The Bible says:

“Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done. Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.” (John 11:45-50).

For fear of being out of line with the religious establishment that God had set up, a multitude kept silent and watched as their religious leaders plotted and perpetrated the most horrendous crime of killing the spotless Son of God. How can anyone be excused for this? If you believe that your church is the true church and it refuses to accept the most fundamental truth of the Bible that there is only one true God – Jesus's God, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 11:31), you need not abandon your church, but you need to help them to see the truth.

Unity of the faith a work in progress

It should be remembered that perfection and unity of the faith is the end point for which gifts of the Spirit are given. We cannot pre-maturely claim these attainments while the maturity of the church is still a work in progress. We are told that Spiritual gifts are given “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 12, 13). We are not there yet, so, “(as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts” (Heb. 3:7, 8).

Further, the Bible tells us that “there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord” (1 Cor. 12:5). We should not elevate our preferred religious administration to the status of being considered the one true church of scripture, outside of which there is no salvation. Salvation comes by accepting Jesus Christ. It is not based on religious affiliation. The true church of the Bible is the invisible collective body of Christ, made up of all those who have the spirit of Christ in them – “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Rom. 8:9).

The true church or body of Christ is that which Christ gave Himself for. It is described as follows: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave

himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:25-27).

The true church is not a man-made organization that has established its own creeds and membership criteria – even though, in Christ, “there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord” (1 Cor. 12:5). If we seek to be a part of the true church of scripture – the body of Christ, we should, at the very minimum, start by accepting the one true God of the Bible – Jesus's God, “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 2 Cor. 11:31).

If you wish to be a follower of Jesus Christ, then at the minimum, you should accept Jesus's God as your God. As the songwriter says, “I have decided to follow Jesus . . . no turning back (Praise the Lord!), no turning back”. May this be your decision today.

“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matt. 11:15).

For further information, please visit Patience of the Saints at http://thecommandmentsofgodandthefaithofjesus.com/

Questions and comments may be sent by e-mail to: commandmentsofgodandfaithofjesus@yahoo.com