The Way The Truth The Light & The Life

As Christians Christ Jesus is our example, or model - the prototype of mankind restored to the image and likeness of his Father, the Creator. He is the one we are to pattern our life after; his words are to be our words - the spiritual weapons with which we conquer the Destroyer and the demons under his direction. He is our life, "For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of the poets have said, 'We are his offspring'" (Acts 17:28). Just over two thousand years ago, Christ Jesus of Nazareth walked the earth and upon his death introduced the New Covenant between God and mankind, often referred to as the church age. Today there are more than 33,000 Christian denominations boasting more than 2,200,000,000 adherents. Most of these 2.2 billion Christians, if asked, can tell you the name of the founder of their denomination, most referring to that person as the head of their church. However, this is not consistent with Scripture. Concerning this the apostle Paul wrote (Col 1:15-19) "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." . . . (Col 2:9-11) "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority." . . . (Col 2:9) Christ is] "the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow." . . . (Eph 1:22-23) "God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." In all of his letters to the various churches, Paul speaks metaphorically of the church as the body, and Christ, its founder, as the head. In 1 Cor 12 he identifies all Christians as being parts of the body with unique gifts distributed by Holy Spirit. Speaking to his apostles prior to his ascension into heaven, Jesus declared that he is "The Way, The Truth and The Life" (John 14:6). He came to earth to reconcile mankind to his Father, and restore him to the divine family, and is the pathway we must follow. He spoke not his own but just what the Father had taught him (John 8:28; 12:50). He is life, since as he declared, (John 12:49-50) "I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say." In this volume the authors seek to draw their readers into intimate relationship with their Messiah, and help church leaders pattern their ministry after his. This is critical since James in his epistle declared, "brothers and sisters, most of you shouldn't aspire to be teachers, for you know that those of us who teach will be held more accountable" (James 3:1 NIrV).