Yesterday we looked at how God doesn’t demand we have our lives together before he saves us. Another benefit of God’s abounding love is that it also doesn’t matter who we are—we are all invited into his kingdom.
I have recently been re-watching the televisions series, The Chosen. It is a portrayal of the journey of Jesus and his disciples from the beginning of his ministry. While based on scripture, it adds many fictionalized details to give us better insight into how people of the day lived, and how his ministry could have affected ordinary people.
One of the things the director emphasizes throughout the series is the Jewishness of Jesus. He wasn’t just born into the Jewish faith—he lived it and it shaped him and his ministry in many ways.
While Jesus was very much part of a particular religion, race, and culture, it was clear from the very beginning that his message wasn’t just for his own people, but for everyone.
The width of God’s love and message was clear all the way back to Genesis, when God told Abram (who was later called Abraham), “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
In the gospel of John, the familiar words of chapter 3 assure us that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus was sent, John said, not to condemn the world but to save the world. Or, as Jesus said in chapter 12, “I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
The broad inclusion of the Christian message is further emphasized in the letters of Paul, who makes the astonishing statement in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave or free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Jesus Christ.”
Christ’s church began as a movement among a handful of Jews looking for the Messiah, and spread rapidly across the Mediterranean regions of Africa, Asia and Europe. From there is has spread to every corner of the world.
Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t for a select few, but for all the world.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
From the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church:
57. Is Christ’s atoning sacrifice for all humanity?
Yes. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world.
Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”
Isaiah 56:8 The Sovereign Lord declares—he who gathers the exiles of Israel: “I will gather still others to them besides those already gathered.”
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 5:24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”
John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die…”
John 12:32 “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Romans 8:11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
1 Timothy 2:3-6 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Hebrews 2:9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Confession of Faith, Article VIII* We believe God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, redeeming man from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.
58. Does God require any other sacrifice?
No. Christ’s offering redeems us from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
Romans 3:21-26 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time.
Hebrews 10:12-14 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool.For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
Confession of Faith, Article VIII* We believe God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The offering Christ freely made on the cross is the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, redeeming man from all sin, so that no other satisfaction is required.
* From the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the Global Methodist Church.