VBS Presentation

Posted by Chris on June 18, 2006 under Sermons

Benjamin: I want to welcome everyone this morning and as you can see this is the Sunday before VBS. I appreciate Brent taking the time to include the children and we do of course want to encourage all of you to be involved in VBS, but I really need to speak to you about some urgent matters. VBS is important, but there is still important business to discuss … so, would you please take your Bible and turn to Luke 18 which is the text we need to discuss? Now then, [ad lib] …

[Census Taker interrupts as he is walking towards the podium. He is looking out into the audience taking a head count, counting aloud, making notes on his tablet …]

Census Taker: [ad lib] 563 … 564 … 565 … wait, already got him … [census taker should be on the podium next to me paying no attention to me]

Benjamin: Excuse me? Can I help you?

Census Taker: No, I’m fine, carry on … [keeps counting aloud]

Benjamin: What do you mean carry on? I’ve got some important business to discuss here and you are sort of a distraction.

Census Taker: Very sorry, but I have some important business, too. (counts some more)

Benjamin: What might that be?

Census Taker: Well, haven’t you heard that Caesar Augustus has decreed a census of the entire Roman world?

Benjamin: Really? Even here?

Census Taker: The entire Roman world.

Benjamin: Uh-huh, sounds like you have a lot of work to do.

Census Taker: You’re not kidding. And this census requires everyone to travel to their hometown to register and so there’s people moving everywhere. I even had to set up a temporary booth in the local marketplace. Now if you’ll excuse I have important work to do. No time to talk! Remember to register – Caesar Augustus appreciates your cooperation! (faces the crowd) [Leaves the podium counting …]

Benjamin: [Watches Census Taker leave] I apologize about the interruption. It’s a shame to interrupt the serious business we have at hand for some census taking nonsense. He thinks he has serious business? We have serious business so let’s get to it. Now then if I can have your attention, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Luke 18 …

Carpenter: [Walking toward podium waving, carrying his travel bag] Excuse me! Sir! Excuse me!

Benjamin: Yes, what do you want?

Carpenter: Well, I was wondering if you could direct me to the local marketplace? I’m on my way there to register for Caesar’s census.

Benjamin: Well, if you could catch up to that census-taker he’d show you how to get there, but anyway, the marketplace you are looking for is right over there (points). So where have you come from?

Carpenter: Oh, I’ve come up from Nazareth in Galilee. I was supposed to meet my friend Joseph here. He’s another carpenter from back home and he’s supposed to be in town for a while so I thought I would set up shop here.

Benjamin: Wait, this isn’t the same Joseph that’s engaged to Mary is it?

Carpenter: Yeah! You know him?

Benjamin: Oh yeah, I’ve heard about him. Seems like I read something about him somewhere. . . . So, did you brought your tools and some of your craft with you? I kind of like woodworking, do you think I can take a look at some of your work?

Carpenter: Oh, I’d love to show you, but I really need to get to the marketplace and see if I can find Joseph. His wife is expecting a child you know. And I’m not sure if they’ll find a place to stay. But if you’ll come by the marketplace this week I can show you what we make.

Benjamin: Uh-huh, okay. Well, I’ll see you there.

[Carpenter says good bye and leaves]

Benjamin: Well then. Enough of that, let’s get back to business. Now then, turn in your Bibles to Luke 18 … [Read Luke 18] ¹⁵People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁷I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

The theme of VBS this year is “Making Room for the Savior.” Do you see how the Savior made room for children in the kingdom? So just what is the serious business of the kingdom?

The movie Finding Neverland tells the story of playwright J. M. Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. In one scene he is watching the first rehearsal of Peter Pan with his producer Charles Frohman who is rather nervous about the financial success of the play. Frohman seems disappointed and anxious with the play and when Barrie asks him about it Frohman replies, “Picture it James. It’s opening night and there will be doctors, lawyers, and businessmen in attendance with their wives – all dressed to the nines. They will come with expectation of seeing theatre – what we call theatre. Instead what we are giving them is fairies, pirates, crocodiles, and mermaids. I don’t even know what this is.”

Opening night comes and the aristocrats of London file into the opulent theatre in their expensive finery to see theatre and to be seen at the theatre. Barrie has asked Frohman to reserve 25 seats for special guests who arrive at the last moment. Twenty-five orphans are ushered into the theatre house and take their seats scattered around the theatre sitting amongst the London elite who sometimes scoff and sneer at the children who certainly seem out of place with this society gala. The first showing of Peter Pan begins with a man in a dog suit barking at the audience. What would be incomprehensible to the noble patrons of the theatre is an immediate hit with the children who laugh at the simple humor and thrill over the flying boy and his sword fights with pirates. In time, the stuffy adults are captivated and carried along by the amusement and wonder of the children. At the end of the play the nobles who marched in with their noses in the air are walking out holding hands with the children and laughing out loud.

Could there be any better illustration for what Jesus meant when he said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Did you notice what the disciples of Jesus were doing with the children brought to Jesus? They were rebuking the people who brought the children to Jesus. Rebuking – ever been rebuked? Ever rebuked? It means to reprimand or to criticize sharply.

I am sure that the disciples simply thought that Jesus was too busy to spend time on these children. After all he had to focus his attention on being the Messiah. And the business of the kingdom is important. It is serious business. Of course none of the adult disciples have a clue what the kingdom is really about.

Do we? In our “church work” are we too busy for the real “kingdom business?” The reason we spend all of this time with VBS and the children’s ministries is not simply because children are important, but because we need the children. Like that aristocratic audience in London, we need the wonder and imagination of children to lead us into the kingdom. We are caught up in their amazement which draws us into the story . . .Costumes, plays, marketplace. We enter into the old, old story so that the children can enter into it. But who’s leading who into the story? Who’s leading who into the kingdom?

The teaching of Christ: “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
The words of Christ: Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

The Bride of Christ

Posted by Chris on June 11, 2006 under Sermons

This is the height of the wedding season. Such a popular time for couples to get married. The festivity of a wedding is always a great occasion. We are fascinated by grand style weddings. The royal wedding of Charles and Diana was televised in America in 1981. Just a few years ago, the rather unceremonious civil wedding of Charles and Camilla was televised.

Weddings are big events, they are big news and they are big business. The Fairchild Bridal Group conducted a survey in 2006 and found that the average cost of a wedding was over $26,000. (Source: CNNmoney.com) Perhaps this is why the Royal Wedding of Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene has been big news and big business. (The DaVinci Code novel in its first year had nearly 7 million copies in print and Sony pictures paid $6 million for the rights to make the movie. Source: Christian Science Monitor March 19, 2004) With that sort of money, of course there are those who want to be a part of planning Jesus’ wedding …

Jesus’ Wedding Planners [View of The DaVinci Code, et al] – Where does this notion even come from? Part of is the thought that a married Jesus is somehow more down to earth. Part of it is actually a reaction to what some view as an oppressive church – i.e. Roman Catholic Church mainly without any serious distinction between RCC and other groups. The wedding planners include Dan Brown building on the earlier work of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail – who took their cue from Pierre Plantard’s Priory of Sion Hoax in 1956. They claim that it makes better sense to have a married Jesus because …
1. It would have been unnatural and against social decorum for Jesus, a Jewish man, to remain unmarried.
2. Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and the wedding was in Cana (John 2).

So the logic goes like this: A lot of people in Jesus’ day got married. Jesus went to a wedding, so he must have been married. And now that everyone is talking about Jesus being married, well it must be true. This is how urban legends get started – if it is consensus, then it is truth.

John 2:1 – – On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.
What sort of wedding is it when someone has to invite the groom and worse yet the groom’s mother? Jesus and his disciples are guests. Jesus is unconcerned with the lack of wine for the banquet. Jesus leaves with his family and disciples – and not his wife!

The Wedding Crashers [Invalid responses to above] – I mentioned that one of the reasons some of these people even “planned” a wedding for Jesus is part of a reaction against the the perception of a dominant church doctrine regarding the marriage of Jesus. This is the scandal and cover-up that is a big part of the plot of DaVinci Code – “A child of Jesus would undermine the critical notion of Christ’s divinity and therefore the Christian Church, which declared itself the sole vessel through which humanity could access the divine and gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven.” – The DaVinci Code, p. 254

So, there are some who want to defend the traditional position of an unmarried Jesus. They want to “crash” the idea of a wedding by pointing out that …
1. Jesus is divine so he cannot be married with children
2. Jesus is high preist of the church and priests cannot be married
3. Jesus ordained celibacy.
On both sides of this issue are those who feel that a married Jesus with children would somehow undermine the divinity of Christ and the church. The arguments given above are not valid arguments. That is not to say that we must concede that Jesus was married, rather there are some assumptions of the wedding crashers about human relationships and marriage and ministry that are just as distorted as the view of the wedding planners. I propose a different view altogether and we need to be aware of how this whole scandal is a red herring . . .

Red Herring Alert [There is no scandal!] A red herring refers to an irrelevant arguments that distracts you from the main point. The term apparently comes from fox hunting when a smoked red herring was dragged across the trail the hounds were on. The scent was misleading.

1. It is not a fundamental doctrine of the church that Jesus was unmarried. This is not a critical tenet for establishing the divinity of Jesus or the existence of the church. Jesus is divine because he is born of the holy spirit, he is divine because the Holy Spirit descended on him at his baptism and the voice of God said “This is my son!” He is divine and Peter, James, and John saw his divine glory on the mountain of transfiguration. He is not divine because he never married. Furthermore, the church is because Christ gave his life for the church, the church is because God is gathering those who have been baptized into Christ into his church.
2. Jesus would not have sinned if he had been married and raised children. Now here’s a real problem. The view of the scandalizers and the scandalized both assume that being married involves sin because of human procreation. This is also attached to the mistaken concept of original sin. Let’s imagine for a moment that Jesus had been married and had fathered children. If that were the case – there would be no sin. It would not change gospel, it would not change the nature of the church. Jesus lived out human life without sin. He lived out human life the way God always meant for us to. If he had taken wife and fathered children he would have done that God’s way. And there is a godly way to do that. Within the boundaries of marriage there is nothing sinful about procreation and the marriage relationship. However …
3. There is no evidence Jesus was married. The view of the wedding planners is an argument from silence. The NT writers did not go out of their way to establish the fact that Jesus was married, but there is much in what they do say that suggests that they simply understood that Jesus was unmarried. 1 Corinthians 9:5 – 1) Paul mentions nothing about Jesus being married. If Jesus had been married wouldn’t that have made his point? 2) Celibacy is not required for church leaders or for proclaimers of the gospel. Peter is married and Paul affirms this.

Jesus was unmarried, but in his teaching and in his life he has this to say about marriage … What Jesus Taught and Lived [Read Matthew 19:1-15]

1. Jesus affirmed marriage. He referred back to Genesis 2 to show his support of marriage. He declared that it was good for a man and a woman to be married. He appeals to God’s intent.
2. Jesus affirmed remaining single. Jesus did not always conform to the expectations of culture – he challenged culture with kingdom values. Jesus acknowledged that the call to the kingdom was so serious that he said things like . . . “Let the dead bury the dead.” Don’t look back but follow me. If your right eye offends you pluck it out. He held staying married in higher regard than justifying a divorce. He did not ordain celibacy, but he said that if someone remained single for the sake of the kingdom, that that was also blessed by God. (Matthew 19:10-12)
3. Jesus calls for devotion to the kingdom of heaven rather than social expectations.

The point is devotion and dedication to God. If married – devote it to God. There are too many marriages that are dedicated just to meeting individual needs. If single – devote to God. Too many of us view being single as being broken or incomplete. It isn’t marriage that makes a person complete – God does. And God makes a marriage complete.

What the world and the church need today are disciples who are so devoted to Christ and the Kingdom of God that we are willing to challenge the expectations of culture as Jesus did. Maybe not with marriage (although that is a possibility) but what about the way we use our time and money? What if we bought a $20,000 car instead of a $30,000 car and gave the difference to the poor or to the church? What if we decided to use our own time to help children do better in school? What if we decided to visit a lonely person in the nursing home instead of going to a movie – or what we rented a movie and invited friends to watch it with us? Not doing things so that we can suffer for Jesus … but truly changing our outlook on life and the world and seeing it the way Jesus does.

What about the way we live our lives. Are we conformists? Or are we Christians? Not just being different and peculiar for that sake of not being like others, but taking to heart the call of discipleship that Jesus utters.

In conclusion, there is no evidence that Jesus was married. But Christ does have a bride. He is engaged to his bride to be – the church. And the wedding day is always one day closer. You are invited to the wedding.

Encyclopedia Magdalena

Posted by Chris on June 4, 2006 under Sermons

I just found out that Mary Magdalene has her own website. Magdalene.org. The webmaster for the site is Lesa Bellevie, the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Mary Magdalene. Lesa has been interested in Mary Magdalene long before the DaVinci Code. Part of her fascination comes from the fact that there are plenty of differing ideas about Mary Magdalene and many more misconceptions. Some of these misconceptions are deeply rooted in church tradition. Mary Magdalene is at the center of the DaVinci Code. Lesa Bellevie has tracked the media interest in MM from almost nil in 1997 to overwhelming in 2006. I don’t agree with Bellevie on everything, but what I appreciate about the Magdalene website is her rational and historical approach to the subject. Her resource helps wade through a growing variety of views on a woman, who though important, is mentioned just briefly in the New Testament. It seems we do need an Encyclopedia Magdalena or at least a Complete Idiot’s Guide.

What Are They Saying About Mary? (Just as you find different versions of Jesus, so it is with Mary).

1. Mary in the Gnostic texts – There is interest in Mary Magdalene in the Gnostic texts, just as there is interest in all of the lesser known historical figures in the New Testament and Old Testament. Gnostics love to fill in the blanks. That’s why there is a Gospel of Judas and other disciples that we don’t hear much about like Phillip. Of course they take on the big names too, so if Peter didn’t write a gospel the Gnostics did it for him. Mary Magdalene has her own gospel. It survives just in fragments. From it and from a line in the Gospel of Phillip there is the notion that Mary was the companion of Jesus. A lot has been made of this to claim a sexual relationship between Mary and Jesus and a conspiracy involving Peter. The text of the Gospel of Mary says, “Surely the Savior knows her very well. This is why he loved her more than us.” And the Gospel of Phillip seems to say that Jesus kissed Mary often. This is very little and very fragmentary data to create a theory about Jesus and Mary being married. The Gnostic texts also say that Jesus kissed James on the mouth. What would that suggest?
   The Gnostic views on Mary are not uniform. Aren’t always favorable towards her. Sometimes (and this is true in the Gospel of Phillip) they apologize for the fact that Mary is a woman. In Gospel of Thomas: “Simon Peter said to him, ‘Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.’ Jesus said, ‘I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.'” According to Gospel of Thomas, Mary gets to be a sort of spiritual tomboy. They let her play on the Gnostic team because Jesus taught her how to not act like a girl.
   Bottom line: It is so easy to read multiple meanings into the ambiguous and fragmentary Gnostic texts so people find what they want in these texts. We could come up with a thousand other interpretations of what is meant, but recall that these texts don’t have the same credibility as the New Testament.

2. Mary Magdalene the Goddess – She is a token for goddess worship. She is a female counterpart to a male messiah. She is saved from gender oppression and sexual repression. Aside from Dan Brown, there is a movement of feminist scholars in the 20th century and 21st century who intend to demonstrate how Mary was marginalized by the patriarchal church. Well, the Christian church didn’t invent patriarchal society. Women have not always been treated right in history and that is part of the sinfulness of the world that God aims to redeem.
   To understand the veneration of Mary as a Goddess we have to understand that there are women and men who have a difficulty related to a Father God. For a “new age” a Father God is too patriarchal and unenlightened. Mary is the “saint” for their cause – to recast Christianity with neo-pagan, feminist religion. We need to understand those who have difficulty relating to God as a Father and Jesus as a divine MAN, but Mary Magdalene as a goddess is not the solution – it also keeps us from understanding who Mary truly was and her continuing significance.

3. Mary the Holy Grail – Well if she cannot be a goddess, then why not make her all of the above. Just make her the Holy Grail. This is the contention of DaVinci Code and the conspiracy books Dan Brown relies on. Very simply, Mary is the wife of Jesus and the mother of their child. Mary is a descendant of royalty and she and Jesus are a royal union that gives birth to the rightful rulers of France and the church. Mary is the sacred feminine. (Strangely, Mary is a royal demi-goddess, but Jesus is just a mortal man. This sounds like a bad sitcom). Next week we’ll address the notion that Jesus was married and why there is way too much controversy on both sides. We’ll talk a little more about Mary as the Holy Grail, but it is misguided history to take a medieval legend (The Holy Grail) and use that to understand a first century Palestinian woman.

4. Mary the Prostitute – Now everyone knows the truth as it has been taught in church circles for centuries – Mary Magdalene is the prostitute who Jesus forgave and she anointed him and washed his feet with her tears. That’s the way Mel Gibson told it in the Passion of the Christ. That’s what we all know. But it is all wrong.
   The DaVinci Code gets this right. Pope Gregory combined Mary Magdalene with the sinful woman in a sermon in 591 and the idea stuck for 1400 years. (Of course it wasn’t for a conspiracy that Gregory did this. He wasn’t trying to discredit Magdalene. He just didn’t do his homework and combine the sinful woman of Luke 7 with Magdalene in Luke 8. If there really was a conspiracy to defame Mary by the church – it failed miserably! A feast day in honor of Mary was celebrated in the middle ages. Hippolytus called her the Apostle to the Apostles.)
   One of the reasons this notion stuck is that it made good drama. It also allowed artists to get away with painting loose women and still claim it was religious art. It preached. Pope Gregory used it in his sermon keying in on the seven demons and the seven deadly sins and making the point that Mary used that perfume she anointed Jesus with as part of her prostitution business. It made good story and brought a scandal into the gospel story. In Passion of the Christ she is the redeemed Prostitute. In Jesus Christ Superstar she even sings about it – her sense of love redeemed. It is touching and dramatic and even a bit racy, but there’s absolutely no evidence for it.
   Jesus showing grace to Mary Magadalene the scandalous woman is a great tale of grace and forgiveness. And Jesus did show grace to the woman who anointed him and cleaned his feet with her tears – but there’s no evidence that this is Mary Magdalene. And it does us no good to hold this view because we miss the real significance of Mary …

Who Was Mary Magdalene? [Read Luke 8:1-3]

1. Jesus freed her from demon possession. (Luke 8:2) Mary experienced more than deliverance from bad cultural attitudes. She was tortured and enslaved by real evil. It may be hard for us to understand demonic possession, but Mary is tortured by seven demons. That is the Hebrew number for completion – seven!
2. She was a disciple and a provider for the ministry of Jesus and Apostles. (Luke 8:3, Matthew 27:55) – Notice that in the ministry of Jesus, in the kingdom breaking in, women were involved in important ways. The first century world was not always the kindest culture for women. A lot like the rest of the world. Here we see that it is different in the kingdom.
3. Known by her hometown, Migdal (Luke 8:2). She probably wasn’t married because she is known by her town.

   Read John 20

4. Eyewitness of the crucifixion (Matthew 27:55). Unlike the male disciples who flee because the cross represents failure, Mary is dedicated to her teacher. She is dedicated to the one who freed her from evil. She and the other women are there to mourn and weep for the injustice of the cross. The rest of the world revels in it, but thanks be to God that there are some like Mary whose tears declare that this is not right.
5. The first to see risen Christ. (John 20; Mark 16:9). How special it must have been to be one of the eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Paul says there are over 500 of them (1 Corinthians 15) but who was the first? It was Mary.
6. The first evangelist of the gospel. [Hippolytus: The “apostle to the apostles.”] She is a witness to every part of the gospel story – the ministry of Jesus, the cross, the tomb, the resurrection. Jesus entrusts her to proclaim the good news to the other disciples.
   Mary does show God’s affirmation of women. Jesus was more inclusive than Jewish society and even Gentile society. In first-century Judaism the testimony of women would have been suspect. Gentiles, especially the Romans, disregarded Christianity as a religion for women and slaves. Women were not respected and often abused in the ancient world (and they still are, yes). But Christ demonstrates a long tradition within God’s mission of calling women to participate in the activity of God (for example, Sarah, Hannah, Rahab, Ruth, Naomi, Deborah). God chooses those whom the world considers weak to shame the strong. He reverses what the world has done and he lifts them up.

Worth Dying For

Posted by Chris on May 28, 2006 under Sermons

Memorial Day:

• Most Memorial Days this is even forgotten – the emphasis is often on the three day weekend.
• We are drawn to stories of heroism. The true stories are the best.
• Heroes of the military service aren’t the only heroes. (Movies: United 93 and World Trade Center)
• This morning we mentioned the Christians who died for the sake of the gospel … Bowing down in the arena and praying for the Emperor – that is an act of heroic faith that embodies trust in Christ.
• Too often overlooked, but the people of God have their share of heroes too.

The Cloud of Witnesses – “The World was not Worthy of Them:”

• Biblical History (text & application) Read Hebrews 11 – “By Faith!”
• Why does the preacher of Hebrews enter into this rousing recital of those dedicated souls who gave up so much for something they felt was worth dying for?
• Because he wants to remind them that faith IS worth dying for and these witnesses call them to that rather than to an apathetic lazy faith.
• They considered it worth dying for – by faith. They witness to us showing us that we can live for what they died for. Their faith is made complete in us.
  • The heroes of faith died and struggled for something yet to come
  • We have that something – what will we do? What do you think the heroes would want us to do?

1. D. Bonhoeffer – “When Jesus calls a man he bids him come and die!” – Jesus demands that we sacrifice our whole self to him!
2. Jesus Christ is the only master worth dying for – are you dedicated to him? Are you sold out on him? Consider him – fix your eyes on him! Service to Christ is not just a matter for preachers, elders, deacons. If you have been baptized, then you’re drafted – enlisted – charged! Get involved! Get dedicated! There’s a war going on after all.
3. This is a call to dedicate yourself to something worth dying for. Don’t let the world be worthy of you! – This is call away from dedication to things that are not worth dying for (but we often serve those masters so faithfully).
   • [When Paul was unconcerned about the judgment of others and even his own self-judgment, he was expressing his dedication to the only master worth dying for (and he did die for that Lord)]
   • Christ is worth the investment of your passion – You can commit your whole self to Christ and his church
   • This isn’t a scold; it is a blessing. God has favored us. The reason we honor our soldiers is because they commit their whole lives to something – something greater than themselves.
   • Let’s stop this nonsense that says that people – especially young people – won’t dedicate their lives to something. People desire for their lives to count for something – We just haven’t sounded Christ’s call in its full volume.

• Jim Elliot: “He is no fool who gives up that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
• So close to home it doesn’t seem as bold and grand maybe, but that’s really how it is. The cloud of witness is made up of some of the humblest and ordinary people. (Read the Bible and see for yourself!)
• You will die for something, even if it is something worthless. The call is to die to self and live for Christ – to commit yourself to the Lord who is worth dying for – that may mean many different things – but for each of us it will mean: obedience, faithfulness, joy and hope. We do not have a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love and self-control.
• People will be looking at you. Not me, not some busybody. Even if they do – that doesn’t count. I am not talking about them. I am talking about the cloud of witness. They are looking at you. Some of them are living, some are not. The witness of their lives is a memorial to us. An example of dedication to the Lord worth dying for.

Don’t Know Much About History

Posted by Chris on under Sermons

You say you don’t know much about history? Well, don’t let that stop you from writing a multi-million dollar best-selling novel. It didn’t stop Dan Brown from DaVinci Code and every magazine article and follow-up book to the DaVinci Code is packed with the historical errors that Dan Brown has made regarding art history, medieval history, biblical history, and even recent history.

No big deal right? After all, The DaVinci Code is just fiction, right? That’s just the problem – is it only fiction? The novel has a much-discussed front page emblazoned with the legend “FACT:” which informs us that “All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals are accurate.” So, if I trust this statement and I am reading the fictional characters describe history and documents and artwork I would be inclined to think that even though this is just the discussion of fictional characters, what they are discussing is true, yes? Logically that would be so, yet the fact is that the descriptions are not at all accurate. Furthermore, even though Brown or anyone else can ultimately contend that The DaVinci Code is just a work of fiction, the books and scholarship that Brown relied upon, such as Holy Blood, Holy Grail, do not presume to be fiction. They attempt a revision of history that will appeal to some.

We could spend a day or more discussing the historical errors and fabrications in the DaVinci Code. But let’s focus in on the history that involves our faith. According to the history laid out in the DaVinci Code, our faith in Jesus as both man and God is a sham. Our Bible and the belief that Jesus Christ is the resurrected Son of God is a con-job pulled off by the Roman Emperor and the Roman Catholic Church in the 4th century. And the Vatican knows this and to this day they are keeping the secret – but thankfully, a secret sect of those in the know have hidden the truth about Jesus in famous works of art and crypts in Europe. [But this is just fiction, right? Remember that the descriptions of these things is accurate, says Brown. And he is getting his ideas from others decades before who do not claim that this is fiction.]

Here are the significant revisions of history in the plot of the Code …

1. Before Constantine came to power in the early 4th century, the official religion of the Roman Empire was pagan sun-worship. Pagans religion had a balanced approach to life because they worshipped gods and goddesses. (Of course Dan Brown misses the fact that the cult of Sol Invictus and Mithraism was even more male-oriented that he claims Christianity is).
2. Emperor Constantine unified Rome by imposing his own version of Christianity. His new official religion was the cement that he used to solidify the factions within the crumbling Roman Empire. He chose Christianity because he was a good businessman who could pick a winning horse. And the way Constantine pulled off this feat was to assemble the bishops of the church to a council at Nicaea and rewrite Christian faith and history.
3. Before the Council of Nicaea, Jesus was viewed by his followers as a prophet who was only human and not divine. Here’s the excerpt from the book on page 233 where all of this is “revealed” … [Read excerpt from p. 233]

Don’t Know Much About History … In this case and in many other examples, the DaVinci Code suffers from anachronism. Brown uses terms and refers to events and persons and institutions as if they all existed at the same time and were always the same. For example, the “catholic” church in the 4th century did not mean what we mean by catholic church …

• The word “catholic” means universal and was used of the church worldwide and not just the Roman Catholic Church. In the 4th century, there were five major cities that represented the centers of the church: Alexandria, Antioch, Rome, Constantinople, and Jerusalem. The other cities would have been greatly offended by the suggestion that catholic church was particularly “Roman.”
• If Constantine really wanted to unify the Empire, his plan didn’t work because The Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western regions in 395 – just sixty years after his death.
• The term Catholic – as we commonly use it – came about in 1054, after a breach between the East and West regions of the universal church, the term Catholic became associated with Rome and Orthodox with Constantinople. So it isn’t correct for Brown to say that the only established sacred channel is the Roman Catholic Church – there’s no such thing in the 4th century.
• And there cannot be a Vatican power base. It wasn’t until 1377, the Vatican became the official residence of the Roman pope.
• The other cities were invaded by Arabs and Turks in the 7th century, then In 1453, the Turks invaded Constantinople leaving Rome as the most important center of the Catholic church.

Who Was Constantine and What Did He Do? Constantine is an important person in the history of Christianity. He isn’t a saint, but he certainly isn’t the calculating dictator he is portrayed as by the DaVinci Code. Before Constantine, Christians suffered one of the most severe persecutions in history at the hands of Emperor Diocletian. This started in 303 when Diocletian issued an edict ordering that the meeting-places of Christians be demolished, their sacred books burned, and the Christians stripped of civil rights and honors.

1. Within this context, Constantine had a spiritual revelation of some sort at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312. He saw a cross in the sky and was told that this sign would lead him to victory. Constantine does worship the Invincible Sun and he is a religious person. Whether he truly had a vision is questionable, but it is important to what happens next.
2. Constantine, who is now emperor, ends the unfavorable attitude toward Christians and issued the Edict of Milan in 313 that legalized Christianity. Note that he didn’t make it the official religion – he simply tolerates it and ends the persecution.
3. Constantine is a sort of friend to the Christians and he takes an interest in the welfare of Christians, no doubt due to his religious experience at Milvian. So when a big argument erupts in the Eastern church, Constantine assembles the Council of Nicea in 325. He is doing what all Roman emperors do – they take charge. Romans don’t like trouble and disorder. So he rounds all these church leaders up and gets them to work out their problem. This sets the precedent for ecumenical councils.
4. There’s debate over whether Constantine was a Christian. He was baptized on his deathbed in 337. It was common to be baptized just before death. I doubt that the baptism was forced on Constantine as DaVinci Code claims. Why would Constantine force all the empire to become Christian and he himself remain a pagan?

What Was Nicea and Why Does It Matter? But let’s focus on this Council of Nicea for a moment. What was it all about? Remember that the Christians were persecuted before 313. Persecuted Christians have little time to argue. They are busy trying to protect each other and encourage the faith under fire. But after Constantine lifts the persecution, some matters of debate surface.

1. There was no disagreement as to whether or not Christ was divine. Brown claims that before Nicea Jesus’ followers regarded Jesus as a human prophet but not the Son of God. And Nicea was where they voted on the position that Jesus was divine. This is dead wrong! Setting aside the history of the first century and Scripture, it is impossible to even read the history of the Council of Nicea in this way and understand it. Even an atheist could not rightfully contend that this is what happened at Nicea.
2. The debate did not involve an up or down vote on Jesus’ divinity, but instead focused on a rather technical understanding of how Jesus was divine. Everyone agreed that Jesus was the Son of God, but in what sense was he? Arius contended that Christ was lesser than God or younger than God. God is the father so he has to come first.
3. Athanasius argued that Christ was of the same substance as God. He was concerned about the implications of saying that there was a time when there was not Son of God. So the father and son are co-eternal.
4. Even though Arianism was popular the vote at Nicea was not a close vote. It was 218 to 2 in favor of Athanasius’ position.
5. Along with this decision, they ratified many long-held beliefs of the Christian movement. But Nicea didn’t end the controversy. It continued. And there were more and more church councils; more and more debates …

And We Need to Know This Because … ?

1. In our age, people adopt any history that seems plausible. Mainly because of the brokenness of humanity. If the church cannot get along and is split into a thousand disagreeing factions, then why not believe a mock history that contends that all these so-called Christians are a sham.
2. This is why it is good for us to know our history. Not just the first century, but even the second, third, fourth and so on. The early centuries were closer to the first century than us. We view the first century through the lenses of the centuries in-between – that cannot be helped – but if I know I have tinted glasses on, then I am aware of how ideas and thoughts have developed over time. This keeps us from making the anachronistic mistakes Dan Brown has made.
3. We can learn from the struggles of early Christians; we learn from their courage and from their mistakes. One thing is true – they were not superhuman. Like us, they were ordinary people caught up in the work of God. Some were faithful and some were not.

When we notice how much the church changed when it went from being a persecuted group to being favored by the government we can learn a lot. Though it is wonderful that the church persecution was lifted by Constantine, the Christians were no less faithful to God when they were persecuted and outcast. We don’t have to have the permission of the government to be faithful to Christ. And so, if our nation or culture should ever disdain or persecute Christians, we can be just as brave and faithful as those Christians in the early centuries and brothers and sisters even now who are persecuted in places like Africa, the Middle East, Vietnam and Laos.And for us who enjoy favor and maybe even privilege as Christians we need to be very responsible with this favor and privilege. We dare not use this blessing as an opportunity to get our way or to indulge in controversial disputes that encourage non-believers to view Christ and the church negatively. Sure we will have problems that need to be worked out, but we need to do that with love and maturity. Even the sacrificial attitude of Jesus Christ who said to the power of Rome – ³⁶Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” ³⁷“You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18)

Firing the Canon

Posted by Chris on May 14, 2006 under Sermons

No, I haven’t misspelled “cannon.” Cannon’s are of course the armament of choice on a pirate ship. Canon is another word entirely. “Canon” is a Greek loan word meaning list. For our discussion today, canon is the list books that make of the Bible. Keep in mind that our Bible is a book of books – but which books? That’s the question that the canon answers. The Bible as it is known today – The Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament – these are the canonical (or by the list) books for Christians – and even for non-Christians, so that when anyone today refers to the Bible they understand which books are included in “the Bible.”

But where did this canonical list come from? In particular where did the New Testament collection of books derive? Did they have the New Testament in the first century? Did they have it in the second? Who put it together? Is there good reason for these 27 books? Could there ever be a 28th or 29th or more?

There are some who seriously question both the formation and the content of the New Testament canon. The DaVinci Code runs with the idea and uses it to form an important piece of the conspiracy that forms the novel. I want to consider two statements made by one the characters on page 231 …

1) “The Bible did not fall magically from the clouds.”
2) “History has never had a definitive version of the book.”

Statement 1 is true. But that doesn’t mean the Bible is only a product of man, and not of God – as though God had nothing at all to do with it.

Statement 2 is false. History does have a definitive version and it is what we now have. There is a process that leads to the formation of the New Testament and although the New Testament may not have been defined in the first century and even into the second century (definitively) that is only because it is under development. But this developmental process does not justify The DaVinci Code character Teabing’s statement …

“Who chose which gospels to include?” Sophie asked.
“Aha!” Teabing burst in with enthusiasm … “The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.”

This revelation leads to the novel’s contention that there has been a great cover-up — “The Con of Man.” And the modern church supports this cover-up and the Bible is the tool of this conspiracy. This is among one of the most laughable contentions in the entire book. If the character that stated this were being depicted a conspiracy nut with a foil hat I could have suspended disbelief long enough to get on with the story. But this character is supposed to be an enlightened and respected scholar who knows the truth! This claim is utterly ludicrous – even if one rejects the authority of the Bible, a good understanding of history would not accept this interpretation of the historical development of the canon. But I must remind myself that The DaVinci Code is just a work of fiction, yes?

Well, yes and no. Remember that Dan Brown has brought together elements of many debates and smaller contentions to build his novel. Even though most would not advance the idea that the Bible as we know it is a Constantinian Con-Job, there is indeed serious scholarship that vigorously questions the canonical books – they want to “fire the canon!” (Get it, double wordplay!) For example, Dr. Elaine Pagels, a professor at Princeton University and an in-demand speaker on the subject of Gnostic Gospels, contends that the Bible as we know it is the result of the increasing institutionalism of the church. The Gnostic texts and other Christian texts were suppressed after the institutionalism of the church in the fourth century. She comments on The DaVinci Code: “What I find interesting about Dan Brown’s book is that it raises a very important question: If they – meaning the leaders of the church – suppressed so much of early Christian history, what else don’t we know about? What else is there to be known? And as a historian, I think it’s a really important question because the answer means a great deal.” (from U.S. News and World Report Special Edition, “Secrets of the DaVinci Code,” p. 30)

So, How Did We Get the Bible? If the Bible didn’t fall out of heaven with a tag stating “Thou Shalt Copy” then how did we come by it? Is it a conspiracy? Has it been edited to the extent that we should call it an unreliable forgery? How did we get the Bible? The answer may surprise you – only because the answer is so simple that it makes good sense. The Bible as we know it is the end of a lengthy process of development that takes place in five overlapping stages. (The following is based on Luke T. Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament, Fortress Press, pp. 530 – 548.)

1. COMPOSITION: The Old Testament is the Scripture of the earliest Christians. In the worship and preaching of the apostles, they use the Old Testament. When Paul says that all Scripture is inspired he means the Old Testament. The New Testament books are in the process of being written. They cannot be written before the events they reference. Along with the New Testament writings, there are other documents written toward the end of the first century (and these are not Gnostic gospels). They include the Didache, a manual of church discipline, and 1 Clement (AD 95), a letter from a well-respected church leader. Some writings and letters exist as parts of other New Testament books. For example, the letter from the apostles in Jerusalem in Acts 15.

2. USAGE: The texts of the New Testament are not written for private devotion. They were used publicly and read in worship. Paul’s letters are meant to be read in churches (and note that he wrote more than what we have – there are other letters to the church in Corinth and a letter to the Laodecians that he mentions in Colossians 4:16 – After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea.). The documents, like Paul’s letters, are circulated through multiple congregations. The epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and even Corinthians are regional in nature. So are Ephesians and 1 Peter. They are addressed to “churches.”

3. COLLECTION: Certain writings are copied and collected among the congregations. Writings intended for a particular group are recognized as having general benefit. Paul’s letters are mentioned in 2 Peter 3:15-16 in a way that suggests that they are commonly known. In the year 95, the letter from Clement (1 Clement) mentions a collection of Paul’s letters [47:2-4].

4. SELECTION: With so many writings in the Christian movement, there is a need to select which writings may be used alongside the Old Testament as part of worship and church formation. The question is not whether certain documents deserve to be written and/or read. It is a process of sifting out which documents are best and on the same par as Scripture. The process is not dominated by an official counsel. It is a dynamic debate and there large agreement on the part of many. Of course there are some who go too far. Marcion decides to throw out the entire Old Testament and some of the Gospels. His scheme is rejected. A fellow named Tatian (AD 170) decided to synthesize the four gospels into one and it is called the Diatesseron. But his idea though popular in Syria, is rejected just about everywhere else. Other books like the Shepherd of Hermas and Epistle of Barnabas are considered good for believers to read, but shouldn’t be read in worship. And some Gospels, like the Gospel of Judas, are just out and out rejected – not by an official decree, but through the usage of churches – churches that are persecuted and do not wield kingdom-like authority. In fact, the persecution is one reason for the selection or ranking process. When the persecutors are confiscating collections of Scripture, the churches need to know which books should be saved and which can be handed over.

5. RATIFICATION: This, says Johnson, is the final stage. The only one we can see for ourselves and the least important of them all. The writings that have gained acceptance in churches worldwide are officially acknowledged on more than one occasion. And it is really not that difficult of a vote. They simply made official what the church had known and practiced for a few centuries.

Who chose which gospels (books) to include? 1) So in some sense, the texts chose themselves because they cried out for inclusion in the definitive canon. 2) God’s people/the church. The church recognized which New Testament writings were inspired and on par with Scripture and which were not. The church is formed by the gospel and the church recognizes the Gospel in the texts that make up the New Testament. It is not just that the Holy Spirit worked in the writers of these texts for inspiration, but the same Holy Spirit worked (and still works) within the church to recognize the word of God.
I don’t think a truly lost book of the Bible will ever be found, but if it is the people of God will know that is Gospel – not because it will change anything, but because it will affirm the story of Jesus Christ.

What Is The Purpose of the Canon?

Those in the Know

Posted by Chris on May 7, 2006 under Sermons

I recently received an email asking, “What is our stance on The DaVinci Code?” Why would we need a stance on The DaVinci Code? If you haven’t read the book or intend to see the movie next week I don’t want to spoil the plot for you, but the story really isn’t about Leonardo DaVinci so much as it is about Jesus Christ.

What God Might Do Among Us

Posted by Chris on April 30, 2006 under Sermons

Tonight will be our quarterly Family Meeting. It is aptly named. Families have always gathered around the dinner table to discuss what’s going on and check in on everyone. That’s the same spirit we want to have at our family night. When a 700-member family gathers around a dinner table it looks like West-Ark Family Night.

Think of it in the spirit of the text of Acts 14 as well. The church gathered together to share the news of what God had done among them. God was opening a door of faith to the Gentiles. That probably made some a little nervous. It excited others. But notice that the church didn’t gather for a mission report from Paul and Barnabas. They gathered to hear what God had done and was doing. And that must have been inspiring – for if God was doing something out there, then he could do that in here as well. They were all in awe of the wondrous and amazing things that God was doing.

That’s the spirit we want to have as we gather tonight. Yes, we will share needs and encourage you to get involved – but over all we want to talk about what God has done and is doing and may yet do!

This morning I have asked two brothers to share what God has done. …

Brent Evans – Dynamic Marriage

Brad Pistole – Youth and Family Ministry

Ephesians 3 – My Excel spreadsheet measuring high attendance and low attendance. How many different factors do we measure? (Yesterday at the Hope Park ministry we kept counting how many attended). To measure it is one thing – what it means is another. All of this is okay. After all, Luke thought it important to note that 3,000 were added to the church on Pentecost.

But how do we measure what God is doing? How do we measure what God is able to do among us? Can we measure it? What is the formula? What are the criteria?

He is able to do immeasurably more that all we can ask or imagine!

• Yet we often try to contain God or we unintentionally limit God to our measures.
• Yet we reject what God is doing because what he can do through us doesn’t fit into our measurements.
• He is able – but too often we are focused on what we are able to do or not to do.
• More than we can ask or imagine – What do we ask? Do we ask? What can we imagine? Do we imagine?

Don’t assume that this means we shouldn’t ask or imagine. Just keep in mind that whatever we ask and whatever we imagine, God is ABLE to do more – How much more? Immeasurable more!
Luke 10 – The disciples were sent out by Christ. And God did through them immeasureably more that any of them could ask or imagine.

They came back to Jesus and told him – with astonishment!
And Jesus rejoiced! Wouldn’t you do anything to make Jesus rejoice?

We begin in worship and praise of God who is able to do immeasurably more.

• Paul is not giving us a formula for what God can do – he is singing a song of praise.
• Jesus isn’t giving a lesson on how to cast out evil – he is singing a song of praise to God.

In worship we encounter God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine. He sends us out. And we return with news that not only inspires all of us – but it also brings a smile to Christ’s face.
What do you have to share today?

Leading Like a Shepherd

Posted by Chris on April 23, 2006 under Sermons

We have been gathered together because of God’s mission. We are sent out because of God’s mission. We are the evangelized and the evangelizers. This mission and this gospel we proclaim isn’t from us – it is from God. That’s what it means to be a Clay Jar. That’s what it means for our church to be clay jars. We may be ordinary, broken, flawed, fragile – but we carry within us the precious treasure of God’s good news.

To be a clay jar church means that we are: Following God’s Call, Being Shaped by Scripture, Taking Risks for the Sake of the Gospel, Living Out God’s Intent for the World, Worshipping God for Sake of the World, Depending on God’s Spirit, and a simple way of saying all of that is that we are pointing the Way toward the Kingdom of God.

Since we have a mission and since we have been sent we need to keep in mind that we are going somewhere. Maybe not a literal geographic location, but we are on the Way somewhere rather than standing still. We have a mission. To be on the way, and to have a mission, we need leaders. And God has taken care of that too.

Just so you will hear this correctly, I want you to understand that this biblical teaching applies to all the various leaders God calls. It isn’t limited to elders, deacons, and ministers. It isn’t about the “offices of leadership” it is about the nature of leadership and authority in the body of Christ …

Alexander Haig was Ronald Reagan’s Sec. of State in 1981. He is most remembered for issuing a press conference after Reagan was shot in which he stated “I’m in control here.” Haig was simply trying to reassure the nation that someone was in charge. He even acknowledged that there was a chain of succession and that he was a part of it. But he was nevertheless criticized not for taking charge, but for appearing to assume the office of leadership too quickly.

It is human nature to think of leadership in terms of offices, appointments, titles – even royalty. We symbolize this authority with badges, seals, and ceremony. From the very start however God shows us that leadership in his kingdom is going to be very different …

The Kingdom of God: Who’s In Charge?

1. Exodus 18. Note that Jethro does not consider Moses to be the sole source of authority. He advises Moses to share his authority with other leaders. God is the ultimate source of authority and a multiplicity of leaders does not threaten that authority. It is God – not a title or office – that empowers leaders to serve.
2. 1 Samuel 8:4-21. God affirms to Samuel that the people did not reject his leadership and a prophet, but that they rejected God’s authority. Later God chooses the kings of Israel – Saul, David, Solomon. The “succession of authority in Israel follows God’s will, not family lineage. God calls the leaders of his people. He selected David. And the authority that God invests in his chosen leaders never threatens or supercedes God’s authority. God always remains “in charge.”

The Mission of God: Who’s In Charge?

1. Matthew 28:18 – Jesus said that his kingdom is not of this world. Rather, it is breaking into this world – it is emerging as a result of the mission. But who’s in charge of the mission?
2. It is easy to think that we are because of the Great Commission, but notice that part of the Great Commission is the affirmation that God has given Jesus Christ all authority.
3. Jesus sends out his disciples with authority (i.e., Matthew 10:1). But this is an authority that we represent on behalf of Christ. It is authority proclaimed “in the name of Jesus.”
4. The leaders that Christ calls and sends are to lead us to participation in the mission of God.

Like a Shepherd Lead Us: Leadership With Purpose
The Bible uses the image of a shepherd to describe leaders among God’s people. We apply this to elders, or pastors, but the image isn’t limited to elders. The nature of a shepherd is to lead a flock with purpose. To lead the flock for their sake, not for the sake of the shepherd. And the nature of the flock is to trust to shepherd to lead them with purpose.

Missional leaders are those who derive their authority from God – they understand their leadership and the agenda of their leadership in the context of God’s mission. God has called them to lead in a particular way and for particular purposes. The purpose of missional leaders is to do the following . . .

1. One of these purposes is to form missional community.
   Read Ephesians 4:11-16 – ¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
   What are the different leadership roles mentioned in this text? What is the chain of command of these roles?
   Notice that they are all appointed by God for a common purpose – to form, build up, unify, mature, the missional community that is the church of Christ. We are the body – Christ is the head.

2. To focus on missional vocation (calling).
   Read 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. ¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! ¹⁸All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. ²¹God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
   Since one of the patterns of faithfulness to God’s mission is following God’s call, it makes sense that God’s leaders would keep us focused on that calling. Paul understood his role as Christ’s ambassador. He appealed to everyone to follow God’s call to be reconciled. Is that any less the charge of our leaders?
   What expectations do we sometimes place on leaders that seem good but actually distract them from “leading” us to focus on the missional vocation of the church? Too often we blamed leaders when it may be our fault for burdening leaders with responsibilities that have nothing at all to do with God’s calling.
   Let’s charge our leaders to actually lead us and keep us focused on the mission. One of the reasons certain people are good leaders is because they never lose sight of the goal – or the calling. Let’s let these people lead us.

3. Another purpose of missional leaders is to foster missional practices.
   Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained. ¹⁷Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.
   If you read the end of Philippians, you notice that that church needed leadership to foster the sort of practices and habits that keep people focused on the gospel. Notice that Paul is willing to make an example of not only himself, but also others who are mature and others who follow the pattern of the gospel life. (3:17)

The focus is on discipleship and spiritual formation rather than simple policy-making. We have described the mission of God as follows: Making disciples for Jesus who are eager to serve others. That should be enough.

Chris Benjamin

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Morning Sermon, 23 April 2006

I Want to Remind You of the Gospel

Posted by Chris on April 16, 2006 under Sermons

This time of year is fascinating. Spirituality and faith are being talked about everywhere – not just in church …

Even the news acknowledges faith.
Signs of spirituality abound without the level of commercialism that we see at Christmas.
And one may encounter spirituality and faith in the strangest of places – my boys were watching Nickelodeon and an icon appeared during one of their shows that said “Happy Passover.” Happy Passover from Spongebob Squarepants! That’s what is fascinating about this season.

Two years ago, it was the Passion of the Christ.

It was controversial.
It was transforming. People left theaters silent, sobbing, and some of them changed!
If the trend two years ago was to be passionate about our beliefs, the trend now is quite different …

Now the spirit of the culture has become one of spiritual suspicion and secrecy. What if everything we have been taught is a lie? What if the gospel we always took for granted is not the truth? What if the story of Jesus was very different from what we have always known …

No one has captured this spirit within the popular culture as well as Dan Brown in The DaVinci Code. The movie is to be out in May and it will be better than the book. It may disturb or upset some that the premise of the The DaVinci Code is all the talk during the season of celebrating Christ’s resurrection, because The DaVinci Code suggests that something very different happened with Jesus.

These ideas did not originate with Dan Brown. Two other popular books, not claiming to be fiction like The DaVinci Code, claim that the Jesus of history is not the Jesus we thought we knew.
• Jesus Dynasty, James Tabor
• Jesus Papers – claim of secret documents that show Jesus survived the cross and raised a family.

The Jesus Seminar has been doing this for years – claiming that only a small percentage of the gospels are authentic – and the part with the resurrection does not make the cut. (But the Jesus Seminar is a bunch of boring scholars. Ron Howard and Dan Brown have Tom Hanks in their corner! No wonder it is so popular!)

But none of this is new. You may have noticed the news this week that another “secret document” has been released to the public: “The Gospel of Judas.” The Gospel of Judas has been around since the second century. It, too, claims that the Jesus we thought we knew is not the true Jesus – and even more so, Judas was someone different.

And ever since the Gospel of Judas and even before there have been “other” Gospels. There have been other claims about Jesus. That he wasn’t really human, that he wasn’t really divine.

The common denominator between the Da Vinci Code, the Jesus Papers, the Jesus Dynasty, the Jesus Seminar, and the Gospel of Judas is that they have no place for the Resurrection. It isn’t as important or it never happened.

At worst it is a lie (a con – One of the clues in DaVinci Code is “So dark the Con of Man.”).
At best, the dominant tradition made a “wrong turn” and bought into those who had an agenda with the resurrection (when we should have bought into one of these other branches of Christianity – because they of course had no such agenda).

So what if? What if it isn’t true? What if the Code, the Papers, the Seminar, and Judas and the Gnostics are all correct?Perhaps we might say that even if it isn’t true, then this Christian life is still the best life. Perhaps we might say that we would still follow Jesus anyway because Christianity is still the best way to live – just on moral and ethical grounds.We might say that … but a word of advice: Don’t let the apostle Paul hear you say that! He gets rather testy when people say that …

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless …

You see, Paul – and lot of the people he knew – risked everything to follow a RISEN Christ. Paul took all the things he had built up for himself in this world to gain prestige, wisdom, and security and tossed it into the dumpster because he encountered a RISEN Christ.
Don’t tell Paul that it would be better even if it weren’t true. Don’t tell Paul that this is the safest bet.

If it isn’t true – if Christ isn’t RISEN – then people ought to feel sorry for us and recognize us as a bunch of losers! Why? Because we have been duped by a big fat lie!

This is why Paul calls the Gospel — of the death, burial, and resurrection — something of first importance!

They’ve got secret documents? Fine says Paul, I have documents that I freely disclose to the public! I have witnesses! I have a petition with over 500 signatures! I have a bruise where I landed when the RISEN Christ knocked me down to get my attention!

But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead!

This is what we preach. This is what we believe. This is what we welcome everyone to believe! It’s no secret. It’s a wonderful mystery that has been revealed by God.
Because Christ is RISEN, death is not the last word. With every death – not just death of the body – with every death there can be a resurrection.
Because Christ is RISEN, there is hope! We can face the future because we know that Christ is risen and he is just the first.
Because Christ is RISEN, he lives – he has not left us – he shall return (not to catch us off guard) but to catch us up in his arms.

Throughout the ages someone has always tried to reveal a new secret or a new document or new research. And yet for thousands of years in places all around the earth, a simple meal of bread and wine has sustained believers. “Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the Lord’s death – until he comes!” How can you proclaim someone’s death until he comes? You can only do that if that person is resurrected!

1 Corinthians 15
¹Now let me remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then and still do now, for your faith is built on this wonderful message. ²And it is this Good News that saves you if you firmly believe it–unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.