I AM – Introduction is the first lesson in our Bible class series on the person of Jesus. Jesus has been called a lot of things over the years. Trying to figure out the worst could be tricky. Some of the Jews accused Jesus of being the devil! That’s not very nice, but I think there are other names that can be just as damaging.
One fine day I was walking through a nursing home on the way to visit a valued member of our church. A Muslim woman had just dropped off a tract. I couldn’t help myself. Much to my surprise the tract informed me that my degree in theology and the witness of Scripture was wrong! This piece of paper said that there were others who said Jesus was God, but Jesus never made that claim about himself.
In doing research for this first lesson I wanted to get a good feel for what the internet thought about Jesus. This was difficult because the internet is a big place. I settled on this quote –
Teacher. Prophet. Philosopher. Healer. Preacher. Miracle worker. These are just a few of the words and phrases often used to describe a man who was born over 2,000 years ago. – wonderopolis.org
I think that this claim of Jesus (while not unique to wonderopolis) is even MORE damaging than the accusation of the Jews that Jesus was the devil himself. You see, soft pedaling a doctrine of the Christian faith sounds… reasonable. We wouldn’t want to appear extreme in any way, would we? Jesus was the most extreme person to ever live. He claimed to be God repeatedly! If Jesus did that, why would we be able to get away with calling him a great teacher. My high school math teach was a great teacher. Jesus is my God.
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s lesson from our Bible class series I AM – Introduction.
Please click HERE to find the rest of the lessons.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.