THEOPHILUS

The Theophilus Letters

Letter 1

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LIVING THE CONNECTED LIFE - EVANGELICAL CHRISTIAN TERMINOLOGY TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED by Tom Sims

I am aware that many of the words and phrases that Christians use are a foreign language to people who have not been raised in our churches and are unfamiliar with how we speak about God. I do not believe that God wants His truth to be obscured to the average person because of words, so I have attempted here to provide a brief translation of some basic concepts. I have highlighted and underlined some key words that you may have heard often but which you may have never heard explained.

Life is a great challenge. Times are difficult . At best, we live under a cloud of uncertainty. At worst, we despair. Our message is one of hope. When we say that Jesus brings hope to our lives, this is what we mean:

Life in Christ is also a challenge, but it is a liberated life where God offers us something that is better than the best. In God's love and grace every challenge is purposeful and every dark cloud is filled with refreshing rain. In Christ, our attitude toward life changes and we begin to view our problems, defeats, and hardships from a different altitude. In Christ, the burden of guilt is lifted from our shoulders through God's own merciful sacrifice. In Christ, we are set free from awful power of constantly missing the mark. This, we call grace and mercy.

Jesus never promised a pain-free life, nor an easy life, and yet, people who have discovered the Jesus way of living are learning to cope, to hope, and to rejoice. They are beginning to embrace the Eternal Life which God gives to all who trust. This, we call peace.

In telling the story of Jesus - His death, resurrection, and invitation to life, Christians are telling their own stories as well. We have come to understand that missing the mark has become a way of life for us. This we call sin, and because of sin, we have consciously or unconsciously shut God out of our lives. In shutting God out of our lives, we have cut ourselves off from our true potential and have begun to tell ourselves that we are nothing, when in fact God loves us and has wonderful plans for us. We become discouraged with life, or perhaps compulsive, or addictive, in our behaviors; or maybe we drive ourselves and others too hard in the illusive search for acceptance. We long for direction and meaning. This is what we called being lost.

Whatever the symptoms, the cause is the same. We have severed from the source of our being, and therefore, being has no meaning apart from the external and superficial things we do to fill our empty days. We may even kid ourselves into believing that our lives are full and exciting. When we do that, no one but God can convince us otherwise, usually when we find ourselves burnt-out, discouraged, or when we begin to ask deep questions of ourselves.

We, as Christians, believe that unless something happens, the problem gets worse and worse and that the implications of our choices are forever. The more we understand the choices we have made, the more responsible we are for them. We call this responsibility judgment. When we live eternally severed from God by our own choices, we call that hell, and when God holds us responsible for our own choices because we are people with dignity and free will. When God gives us over to our own choices it is called wrath.

The first step of returning to the source of our being is opening. When we open to God we stop where we are, turn around, and come face to face with reality. This, Christians call repentance. It is a change of mind and direction toward God. Upon turning to God, we open ourselves to new possibilities. We open our minds, our hearts, and our lives. To do so is indicative of a dissatisfaction with our severing called conviction. We freely admit the folly of our ways. This we call confession of sin. When we come to God this way we find that we were always welcome.

Welcome Home! The Christian message is that Jesus experienced all the severing of sin, the death, the pain, and the indignation of it all when He suffered on the cross. For those who will trust Him for it, it was their severing that He not only experienced, but rendered powerless over us. It is no longer necessary for us to bear its burden of guilt, fear, and loneliness. This, we call redemption and salvation.

We believe that Jesus actually did this for us and then demonstrated His sovereignty over death by rising from the dead that we need no longer die apart from God. We believe that Jesus' resurrection is both our invitation to and reservation for eternal and overflowing life.

We believe that when we open to God through Jesus and trust in His death, and resurrection, we find that we are already accepted by Him and enter into His love and peace, receive His gift of life, are forgiven of all sin, and that He, through His eternal Spirit comes to live inside our lives to work inside of us that which has already become a spiritual reality. We become like new people inside with a new beginning. This we call regeneration or new birth.

It is then we begin a process of Christian growth, where we continue to make choices about opening and becoming and trusting. We learn to rely upon God's love, God's grace (undeserved favor and givingness toward us), God's guidance, and God's Word (the Scriptures). God's Spirit within us energizes us in ways we never thought possible. We discover new things about ourselves. We find that we can do and be much more than we ever dreamed possible as we continue to open, to connect, and to trust God. This process, we call sanctification.

Christians live with a persistent hope that has meant encouragement for every generation of believers. While many Christians disagree over how, or when, or what the circumstances will be, we believe that history, while in many ways circular, is also moving in the direction of culmination. Simply, we believe that at the end of time as we know it, Jesus will come in judgment and in victory to settle all accounts and to ultimately rescue His people. At that time truth will reign and all decisions of men and women

concerning their relationship with God will be finalized for eternity (a reality beyond time and space that never ends). At that time, all will, according to our understanding of the Bible, confess that Jesus is Lord (supreme King and ruler) to the glory (praise, honor, adoration, weight of importance)of God the Father and all of God's people will live with Him forever. Our very bodies will be transformed into something new and immortal and all that is evil and cruel and unjust, all that oppresses will be destroyed. This we call glorification.

We believe that all people have been created in the image of God and can have a personal, vital relationship with Him. We believe that God loves you with a perfect and complete love. We also believe that you are a person of dignity who, with the most complete information you can have before you, must sort out truth for yourself and make your own decisions. No one can make this choice for another person, but we share our faith with honest seekers and call it witnessing.

We believe that God is inviting all people to trust Jesus for life and be willing to open themselves to Him whether or not they understand completely by simply asking Him their lives at any moment, not with eloquent nor prescribed prayer but by a simple request, turning from avoidance of Him toward trust in Him. This, we call receiving Christ.

This is what we believe is the heart of our message. If you are ready and willing to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and to invite Him into your life. Simply pray , "Lord, Jesus, I confess my sin and need to You and need You and want You to come into my life. I trust that You died for me and a rose again and give you my life."