A Wonderful Plan for Your Life?

What is this page about?

The man who writes this site wanted to test an idea. Here is the idea. For about 1,500 years, the Church told people what God had done in Jesus. Today, many churches tell people what Jesus can do for them.

This page does not ask how a person becomes a Christian. Other pages on this site do that. This page asks about the message: what does the preacher say happened, what is wrong with us, and what does God promise?

Six points

1. It is good to change how we say it. Paul spoke one way to Jewish people and another way to Greek thinkers. But he always ended with the same news.
2. The first sermon was about what God did. God raised Jesus from the dead. God made him Lord.
3. The Creed kept this for many centuries. It talks about what God has done and will do.
4. Modern booklets keep a lot. They talk about sin and about Jesus dying for us. Most say he rose from the dead.
5. But they often leave out the end of the story. They do not talk about the judgment, the raising of our bodies, or baptism and the Church. They start with a better life now.
6. The old Church was not perfect either. Some preachers in the Middle Ages sold people forgiveness for money. That was wrong too.

The other side first

Some people say nothing important has changed. They have good reasons.

• Paul changed how he spoke for different people. With Jewish people, he talked about the history of Israel. In Athens, he talked about a Greek altar and a Greek poet (Acts 13 and 17).
• The Bible says God loves each person. Paul wrote that Jesus “loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
• Famous modern preachers like D. L. Moody and Billy Graham preached about sin and the cross.
• The Church in the Middle Ages also made mistakes.

All of this is true. But there is a question. Is changing how we say the message the same as changing what the message is?

Look at how Paul ended his talk in Athens. He started with a Greek altar. But he ended like this:

because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.

Acts 17:31 · World English Bible

In simple words: God has chosen a day when Jesus will judge the whole world. We know this is true because God raised Jesus from the dead.

Some people laughed at Paul for this. But he did not change the ending.

The first sermon

After Jesus rose from the dead and went up to heaven, Peter preached to a big crowd in Jerusalem. This is in Acts chapter 2. Almost every sentence is about what God did. God showed who Jesus was by miracles. God allowed him to be killed, as God had planned. God raised him from the dead.

Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

Acts 2:36 · World English Bible

In simple words: You killed Jesus. But God has made him the King of everything.

Peter did not tell the people they felt empty. He told them they had killed the one God sent. The people were very upset. They asked, “What shall we do?”

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38 · World English Bible

In simple words: Turn back to God. Be baptized. God will forgive your sins and give you his Holy Spirit.

About 3,000 people were baptized that day. Then they joined the Church:

They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and prayer.

Acts 2:42 · World English Bible

In simple words: They kept learning from the apostles. They stayed together. They shared the Lord’s Supper. They prayed.

Look at the two together. Both talk about Jesus dying. Both talk about forgiveness. But in the modern one, Jesus rising from the dead is missing. Baptism is missing. The problem is “feeling empty,” not sin against God. And the Church is only a “next step.”

What came “first of all”

Paul told the Christians in Corinth what was most important:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 · World English Bible

In simple words: The most important things are these. Jesus died for our sins. He was buried. On the third day, God raised him from the dead.

The book of Acts has eight sermons that tell the good news to people who were not yet Christians. All eight say that Jesus rose from the dead. Six of the eight talk about the day of judgment. None of them starts by talking about the listener’s life. None of them promises that life will get easier.

The Creed

In the year 381, Christian leaders agreed on a creed. We call it the Nicene Creed. Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and many other churches still say it. Here is part of it, in simple words:

Look at who does things in the Creed. Jesus does almost everything: he came, he died, he rose, he will come again. The person saying the Creed only believes, accepts baptism, and looks forward. The words “for us” are there many times. But the Creed is never about us. It is about God.

Teaching new Christians

Around the year 350, a bishop named Cyril taught people in Jerusalem who wanted to be baptized. First he taught them to turn from sin, and what baptism means. Then he taught every line of the Creed. He taught that Jesus will come a second time. He taught that God will raise our bodies. He said that hope in the resurrection is “the root of all good works.”

Around the year 400, a famous teacher named Augustine wrote a small book for a teacher of new Christians. He said: tell them the whole story, from the very beginning (“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”) to the Church today. And tell it so that they will believe, then hope, then love. So the old Church did care about the listener’s heart. But it did not make the listener the centre of the story.

The Church in the Middle Ages

Churches in the East liked to say that Jesus won over death. Churches in the West liked to say that Jesus paid for our sin. These are two ways of telling the same story. Many old churches in England had a big painting of the day of judgment on the wall, for people who could not read.

But we must be honest. Before the year 1500, some preachers sold “indulgences.” They told people that if they paid money, the souls of their dead family would be freed from punishment. In 1517, Martin Luther said this was wrong. He said the real treasure of the Church is “the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.” This mistake also made people, not God, the centre: what they paid became more important than what God had done.

Where the altar call came from

Today many preachers ask people to come forward or raise a hand at the end of a meeting, and pray a short prayer. This is called an altar call. It is not very old. It started about 200 years ago, at big outdoor meetings in America. A preacher named Charles Finney made it popular. In 1835 he wrote about an “anxious seat” at the front, where worried people could come and be prayed for.

Many people are told to “ask Jesus into your heart.” They often use this verse:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:20 · World English Bible

In simple words: Jesus says: I am at the door. If you open it, I will come in and eat with you.

But Jesus said this to a church, the church in Laodicea. That church thought it did not need anything. Jesus was telling the whole church to turn back to him. The apostles never asked anyone to “ask Jesus into your heart.” They said: turn back to God, and be baptized.

Modern booklets

Two famous booklets tell the gospel in four short steps.

The Four Spiritual Laws (1965) begins: “God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.” Then it says that we are sinful and separated from God, that Jesus is God’s answer for our sin, and that we must receive Jesus.

Steps to Peace with God (1954) begins: “God loves you and wants you to experience peace and life—abundant and eternal.” Then it talks about sin, about Jesus dying on the cross and rising from the grave, and about receiving Jesus.

To be fair, both booklets talk about sin and the cross. That is good. But both start with something good for your life now. And both leave out the day of judgment, the raising of our bodies, and baptism. The Church is only a “next step” at the end.

In 2005, two researchers studied what American teenagers really believed. Many believed this: God exists. God wants people to be nice. The most important thing in life is to be happy. God helps when you have a problem. Good people go to heaven. There is no sin, no cross, no resurrection and no Church in this list. Nobody taught it on purpose. It is what was left.

What is wrong with us, and what God promises

The Bible says our biggest problems are sin, death and the devil:

Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Hebrews 2:14–15 · World English Bible

In simple words: Jesus became a human being. By dying, he defeated the devil, who used death to make us afraid. Now we do not need to be slaves to the fear of death.

Many modern preachers say our biggest problem is that we feel empty. They often say there is a “God-shaped hole” inside us, and they say a writer named Pascal said this. But Pascal never used those words. He said that the emptiness is what is left after we lost our happiness because of sin. For Pascal, feeling empty was a sign of sin, not the main problem.

…through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom.

Acts 14:22 · World English Bible

In simple words: We will have many troubles on the way to God’s kingdom.

Paul also said: “If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:19).

Into the Church

In Acts 2, people were saved and joined the Church at the same time. They kept learning, stayed together, shared the Lord’s Supper, and prayed. The Church was part of the good news.

In many modern messages, the most important moment is the prayer. After that, finding a church is only a suggestion.

Where can you still hear the old message today? In churches that say the Creed every week, read the Bible in order through the year, and share the Lord’s Supper. Paul said that when we share the Supper, we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26, in simple words).

What does this show?

It does not show:

• that modern preachers are not Christians, or that they preach a false gospel
• that every preacher in the old Church was faithful
• that it is wrong to start with people’s needs

It does show:

• that the apostles preached what God had done in Jesus
• that they always preached the resurrection, and often the judgment
• that modern booklets keep the cross, but start with a better life now and leave out the end of the story and the Church

Check it yourself

1. Read Acts chapter 2. Who does most of the actions: God, or the people?
2. Read Acts 17:22–31. How does Paul start? How does he end?
3. Read 1 Corinthians 15:1–8. What did Paul say was most important?
4. Read the Nicene Creed. What does it say we look forward to?
5. Think of the last sermon you heard. Was it mostly about what God has done, or about what God can do for you?