Christ’s Life Elucidating God and Us

A Philip Yancey Chapter Summary

​Jesus was a friend to sinners, including tax collectors, a Samaritan woman with five failed marriages, and a criminal on a cross. But the church nowadays is increasingly seen as the moral police, where sinners don’t feel loved. We should focus on our own moral purity but reach out to others, caring for the oppressed and devoting ourselves to the sick and the poor.
 
Christ was a Galilean man with a family but declared Himself as God. He said: I forgive your sins; I am sending you prophets; I and the Father are one; anyone who has seen me has seen the Father; I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me; and before Abraham was born, I am.
 
Belonging to a monotheistic people, the disciples might have been startled and even offended by Christ’s supposed arrogance. For three years, they couldn’t understand Him. But weeks after His crucifixion, they worshipped Him as God, through whom all things were made.
 
Did God personally experience the cross? If not, Christ’s crucifixion could be seen as cosmic child abuse. Like the disciples, we need to decide if He is the Son of God, a madman, or something worse.
 
Jesus reveals the image of the invisible God. Through Him, we see God more clearly. In the Old Testament, God is seen as omnipotent, distant, and terrifying. But Christ demonstrated God’s loving and serving nature. Now, in view of the price Christ paid, we can call on God as Abba, the loving Father. 
 
Jesus reveals a compassionate God searching for us, a God desperate to get His family back. God wants us to love Him. This has been illustrated in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. God the Father demonstrated His love by sacrificing His Son’s life for us. Some may even consider His approaches reckless (1 John 4:9,10,16).
 
Jesus reveals what we, created as the image of God, were meant to be, and how far we have missed the mark. 
 
Jesus shows God enduring weakness, insults, hardships, and persecution to defeat sin, overcome death, triumph over Satan, and get His family back. We are healed by His wounds, not His miracles.
 
Summary of “The Difference He Makes,” Chapter 14 of The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey
 
 


基督的生命阐明神与我们的本相
 
耶稣是罪人的朋友，无论是税吏、有过五次婚姻失败的撒玛利亚妇人, 还是被钉在十字架上的罪犯。 但今天的教会越来越被视为道德警察，罪人感受不到教会的爱。 我们应该注重自己道德的纯洁,  但向他人要伸出援手，关心受压迫的人，为病人和穷人奉献上自己的力量。
 
基督是一个有家庭的加利利人，但宣称自己是上帝。 祂说：我赦免你们的罪； 我差遣先知给你们； 我与父原为一； 人看见了我，就是看见了父； 我就是道路、真理、生命； 若不是藉着我，没有人能到父那里去； 还没有亚伯拉罕就有了我。
 
门徒们属于相信一神论的种族，很可能对基督所谓的傲慢感到震惊甚至冒犯。 他们三年之久都无法理解基督，但仅在基督被钉十字架几周后却视祂为上帝，万物都是藉着祂创造的。
 
上帝亲自经历了十字架吗？ 如果不是，基督钉十字架可能会被视为宇宙性的虐待小孩的行为。 我们像门徒一样，也需要决定祂是上帝的儿子、疯子、 或者更糟糕的.
 
耶稣揭示了看不见的上帝之形象， 我们藉着祂更清楚地看到上帝。 在旧约中上帝被视为无所不能、遥不可及并可惧可怕的，但基督彰显了上帝慈爱和服侍的本质。我们现在鉴于基督所付的代价，可以称上帝为阿爸，那位慈爱的父。
 
耶稣揭示了一位正在寻找我们的慈悲上帝，一位不顾一切想要祂的家人回归的上帝。祂希望我们爱祂，迷失的羔羊、丢失的钱币和回头的浪子这三个比喻就说明了这点。 天父为我们牺牲祂独生爱子, 表达了祂的爱。 一些人甚至可能认为祂所使用的方法是恣意的（约翰一书  4:9,10,16）。
 
我们是按照上帝的形象被造的, 耶稣揭示我们应该成为何等的人，并我们离这目标有多远。
 
耶稣向我们展示了上帝如何忍受软弱、羞辱、艰难和受逼迫来战胜罪、击溃死亡、打败撒但并夺回祂的家人。 我们藉着祂的伤口，而不是祂的神迹得到治愈。