“History of the World, Part 1”

John 12: 12-16 NRSV

Have I ever told you that when I went to college I minored in English and History?

There was a time in my life when I would have told you that my desire was to become a History teacher. But I got caught up in life and lived it instead of teaching it.

I once thought that if I had been born 1000 years ago I would think of all the history that I wouldn't have to learn! And all the stupid jokes History majors told each other:

What kind of music did the Pilgrims like? Plymouth Rock

If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring? Pilgrims

How does Moses make his tea? Hebrews it. 

Why does history keep repeating itself ? Because you weren't listening the first time! 

You get the idea. History buffs aren’t usually the sharpest knife in the drawer.

But this Sunday and next Sunday are the two biggest church days of the year. Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.

But if you just come to church these 2 Sundays a year you miss out on the whole history of the church and God’s relationship to humanity and His creation. There’s a whole more going on than a reception party followed by a torture session for an itinerant preacher living in the Middle East running afoul of the Roman Empire.

Let’s look at our first historical anchor point from our Gospel passage for today:

The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord – the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it is written: “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified then they remembered that these things had been written of him and had been done to him.

Today I want to show you why Palm and Easter Sundays’ where necessary and where they fit in the true human history of the world:

There’s actually a pre-history: God created the angels and other necessary spiritual powers for the purpose of attending His throne and fulfilling His will. God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has always existed.

The angel Lucifer was created as Ezekiel tells us, “Lucifer, the guardian Cherub that covers the Throne of God.” Isaiah calls him, “hȇlȇl ben Śāhar,” or Lucifer, son of the Morning Star.

We are told that Lucifer begins to think he is as God and begins to rebel against God the Father.

Our timeline begins 6000 years ago with the earthly Creation story and God’s making of Adam and Eve. Everything was perfect and God walked with man in the garden in “the cool of the day.”

In Genesis 3 we have the story of humanity’s fall from perfection as Adam and Eve are “encouraged/enticed” to, by Lucifer posing as a serpent, who Ezekiel tells us was assigned as a guardian cherub in the Garden, eat of a forbidden fruit.

Genesis 3: 8-15 - And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (NKJV)

  

Thus begins a battle between God and Satan for mastery of God’s creation. Satan’s efforts are designed to destroy God’s creation genetically and spiritually. God promises Adam and Eve that that a “Kinsman redeemer” will come that will defeat Satan.

Genesis 6 tells the story of Satan’s almost victory by destroying any hope of a Kinsman redeemer to come. God salvages His plan by the Ark and Noah.

GENESIS 6: 1-13: And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

     

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. (NKJV)

God chooses/separates Abram then makes a covenant with the newly named Abraham who will become a “great nation whereby the Kinsman Redeemer” will come.

Thus begins a saga of trials, tribulations, famine, triumphs, defeats, wars, intrigue, infidelity, passion, great faith and great apostasy, and love culminating in the story of the Hebrews-Israelites. The process of separation-purification-judgment-

redemption will be a recurring theme.

We have just jumped through about 4 to 5 thousand years to get to the foretold birth of Yeshua (Jesus) in about 4 bc. Jesus’ ancestry can be traced directly back to Adam and Eve through Abraham and King David.

We know he meets every requirement as “Kinsman Redeemer!”

Further proof is Mary, Jesus’ mother, became pregnant when quickened by the Holy Spirit of God, who furnished the genetic materials needed for physical perfection just as Adam and Eve were perfect.

We know that Jesus overcame Satan’s temptations unlike Adam and Eve.

Jesus’ actions, ministry, and teachings GLORIFIED THE FATHER IN ALL THINGS; JESUS BECAME THE SECOND ADAM. HE enters Jerusalem as prophecy says He would (Riding a donkey’s colt).

We are now at the point where we see the culmination of God’s covenant cycle which now pertains to both Jew and gentile:

Separation (Calling Out)

Purification (Spiritual Genetics)

Judgment (Commitment & Example)

Redemption (Sanctification).

“WHAT YOUR EYES HEAR”
John 12: 20-33 NRSV

In any gathering of adults they say there are three things that cannot be talked about. You know them, right? Religion, sex, and politics. When these things are mentioned our eyes and ears come wide open and our senses come alert.

But I think they are wrong. We do talk about those things. We just do it really badly. There is, however, something we do not talk about, and that is death.

Yes, we acknowledge death when it happens but for the most part we do not talk about death with any real danger, and certainly no enthusiasm. We don’t deal with it. We deny it. We ignore it. We avoid it. No one wants to die.

The death of loved ones is too real, too painful. Our own death is too scary. The relationships and parts of our lives that have died are too difficult. So, for the most part, we just avoid the topic of death. Besides it’s a downer in a culture that mostly wants to be happy, feel good, and avoid difficult realities.

I suspect the Greeks in today’s gospel did not go expecting to talk or hear about death. They just want to see Jesus. And who can blame them?

Jesus has done pretty good up to this point. He has cleansed the temple, turned water into wine, healed a little boy, fed 15,000 men, women, and children, given sight to the blind, and even raised Lazarus from the dead.

I don’t know why they wanted to see Jesus but I know the desire. I want to see Jesus and would do a lot to get those tickets. I’ll bet you do too.

Seeing Jesus would make it all real. After all, seeing is believing, isn’t it? We all have our reasons for wanting to see Jesus. If you want to know your reasons for wanting to see Jesus look at what you pray for.

It is often a “to do list” for God. I remember, as a little boy, praying that I would get to go fishing and I would catch the big fish. Later it was for summer vacation to come soon. Then it was to join the Navy. Then it was for a deployment to end, and so on.  When I had troubles I prayed that God would fix it all.

But to pray we had to bow our heads, and ask Jesus to hear us. But we need to remember to open our ears to hear His response back to us too. Experiencing things we don’t want to see or hear makes us open our eyes and ears! So it’s eyes and ears to Jesus when we pray:

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”

Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

Years ago, when the Betty Crocker Company first began selling cake mixes, they offered a product which only needed water. All you had to do was add water to the mix, which came in the box, and you would get a perfect, delicious cake every time.

It bombed. No one bought it and the company couldn’t understand why, so they commissioned a study which brought back a surprising answer. People weren’t buying the cake mix because it was too easy, they wanted to feel that they were contributing something to it.

So, Betty Crocker changed the formula and required the customer to add an egg in addition to water. Immediately, the new cake mix was a huge success.

Unfortunately, many people make the same mistake when it comes to "packaging" or presenting the Christian faith. They try to make the call of Jesus Christ as easy as possible because they’re afraid people won’t "buy it" if it seems too hard. But it’s not easy is it? Jesus tells us things that make us open our eyes and ears:

Just a few days before he was to be crucified, Jesus said, "Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"

Jesus knew that he was going to die on the cross. He could have asked God to save him. Instead, he only asked that his Father's name would be glorified.

(BTW - Why do troubles come into our life? I believe that troubles come for the very reason that Jesus said -- so that God's name will be glorified. I have known people who followed the example of Jesus when they faced trouble in their life. I have even known people who faced death with such courage and faith that God's name was glorified. Wouldn't it be pleasing to God if all of us faced trouble in such a way that His name is glorified?)

Jesus went to explain and this is what our ears need to see, said, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies it bears much fruit. Jesus then explained what he meant.

He said, "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it." It's true in life isn't it? If we are going to get anything out of it we have to invest ourselves in it.

Do you remember the second to last album by the Beatles? It was called “Abbey Road" and it’s considered their best. The last song is a little musical reprise called "The End."  It's the last lyrical statement the Beatles make on the album. And it went, "And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make."

The truth of this is written in creation. God gave us all His love, and in the end of of God’s Love is  what it’s going to take to save us from our sin. It is evident for everyone to see if we listen close enough!

It even is found in something as small as grain of wheat, a seed. Jesus said, First, when a grain of wheat falls it dies. Second, when a grain of wheat falls it bears much fruit. Finally, Christ is the grain of wheat that dies and bears much fruit.

But to understand that we have to use our eyes and ears to hear and see His grace.

His grace is linked to death, resurrection, and new life. We come to him asking for life, but first must discuss and accept His death and our own as well. Amen.

What's A Meta-For?

WHAT’s A META-FOR?

John 3: 14-21 NRSV

Today I'm going to talk again about our understanding of God. It is so important to remember we see God only through our human eyes with the help of the Holy Spirit. We can't make God human - we can only say that some "characteristics" of God can be compared to some human characteristics. It becomes a tightrope walk (That's a metaphor for a difficult task similar to walking a small wire between two buildings like Nik Wallenda does.)

A metaphor is a comparison between two unlike things not using the word “like” or “as” to make the comparison. Metaphors can be powerful, but they can also be tricky to get at times.

Metaphors are short cuts we use to be more efficient or more effective in our conversation with and to others. Almost every type of human communication uses, references, or hints at metaphors.

There was even a Star Trek television show where the characters had difficulty understanding and communicating with a new planet’s people until they understood the people talked using only metaphors.

Obviously the big problem with metaphors is ensuring that everyone conversing understands the same references and experiences used. Metaphors are culturally and socially relevant.

Let me give you some examples:

Rug Rat:  What we call an infant or crawling child. Often the child is on a carpeted floor or a rug to prevent injury. Babies are known for their drooling and uncleanliness, and their willingness to eat anything.

Compare this description to our common perception of a rat. The rug rat is an effective metaphor because we visualize a cross between rat and baby - something that has an air of both sarcasm and truth, and may also reveal something sinister about how our culture perceives early childhood parenting.

Couch Potato: When a person buries themselves in the cushions of a couch "vegging out,"
mindlessly in front of the TV, eyes in a fixed, submissive stare. A couch potato never leaves home, and cannot be motivated, having everything nearby so they never have to move.

Compare this to the potato, which is buried in the comfort and providence of soil and to which the only escape from its lifestyle is death. Covered in eyes, but without a brain or muscle, the potato
is snuggled and unmotivated. 

Road Hog: Something we may call an aggressive driver. The aggressive driver desires to take up
far more space than they need. They tend to push aside other drivers in their efforts for territory and destination, and in doing so, are impolite - even outright greedy, and are considered unintelligent and dangerous.

This matches our concept of the hog, with our many phrases like "greedy as a pig," "you're making a
pig of yourself" or "corporate pigs." One can visualize the pig at the feeding trough with other pigs, shoving with their self-centered intentions.

Metaphors are important. Unlike anthropomorphisms that reduce God to human terms, we are saying some things about God and Jesus that make them more understandable to our human ways, when we use metaphors.

Jesus used metaphors when He preached and taught. It’s important for us to understand the ones He used even though about 2000 years of language and culture separates us. It means we have to do a little work to learn what He means.

The most widely acclaimed metaphor Jesus used is found in John 3: 14-21:

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.

²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”

Jesus uses at least 4 different metaphors in this passage: wilderness, serpent, lifting up, and the concept of light.

“Wilderness” is a reference to the places the Jews wandered after they left Egypt and before they got to the promised land. God was with them as they weathered the land and faced the dangerous beasts they encountered. If God is with you there is no such thing as being alone because He loves His creation.

The “Serpent” is a reference to a bronze serpent God ordered placed on a pole and used to “heal and cure” those Israelites bitten by the poisonous snakes sent by God as a punishment for those who sinned against Him. He would give us life.

Numbers 21: 9 – “So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.”

The “lifting up” was a conscious act of faith the Israelites had to perform to be saved. By this lifting they were brought into the light of God. He would lift us up to the light of His Son.

If we take the four Israelite metaphors and apply them to what Jesus says in the Gospel Passage of John 3: 14-21 then we see that God is doing the same things for us that He did for the Jewish people so long ago. Love, Lift, Life, Light are dynamic metaphors of Christianity combined with the powerful understanding that a father so loved the world he sacrificed his only son.

Bertrand Russell was born into a Christian home and taught to believe in God, but he rejected his training and became an outspoken atheist. His daughter, Katherine Tait, said of him, "Somewhere at the bottom of his heart, in the depths of his soul, there was an empty space that once had been filled by God, and he never found anything else to put in it."

Metaphor – “empty space.” A God sized hole that needs to be refilled “reconciled” by God’s Grace.

The time will come that our God will act as Judge, but right now He is freely handing out His grace to all who will come to Him through Jesus Christ.

God the Father has made a law for mankind to follow or suffer the consequences. That law says, I will forgive you of all your sins, clean you up and adopt you as my own, but there is only one way it can happen.

My Son died for you and took the penalty of your sins on your behalf. He satisfied my justice and has made it possible for Me to save your souls. You can only come to Me through Him. This is it. There are no exceptions.

God says, “If you accept this, you will receive my grace. If you do not, you will receive my judgment.” 

Are those enough metaphors for you? Amen

ANTHROPOMORPHISM

John 2: 13-22 (NRSV)

It has often been said that the difference between philosophy and theology is: If you have an argument over philosophy, you get red in the face. If you have an argument over theology you throw bombs.

Any way you slice it, theology is serious stuff for most people who don’t usually even joke much about it.

E.B. White once commented: "People have re-cut their clothes to follow fashion. People have remodeled their ideas too -- taken in their convictions a little at the waist, shortened the sleeves of their resolve, and fitted themselves out in a new intellectual ensemble copied from a smart design out of the very latest page of history."

When slavery to fashion and the latest trends invades the church, our religious ideas are yesterday's fads. We adopt the world's agenda – but always just a few years too late. Many churches wear last year’s theological bell-bottom pants or the proverbial leisure suit. 

John W. Gardner once remarked: “In a practical sense an excellent plumber is infinitely more admirable than an incompetent theologian. The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in theology because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good theology. Neither its pipes nor its sermons will hold water.” 

Martin Luther said this to his son Martin: “If you become a lawyer, then I will hang you on the gallows.  Because some lawyers are greedy and rob their clients blind, it is almost impossible for lawyers to be saved. It's difficult enough for theologians.”

My Theology professor Lee Barrett once told us: “If all the theologians in the world were laid end to end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion.”

Humanity has so much trouble with theology because of the way we think and act. We constantly reduce things to terms we can see and understand. None of us has the same understanding or ability to search out truth in the exact same way.

Which brings me to our big word for the day: Anthropomorphism, or how we humans personify everything we encounter, by describing it in human form or other characteristics to anything other than a human being.

Examples include depicting God with a human form, creating fictional non-human animal characters with human physical traits, and ascribing human emotions or motives to forces of nature, such as hurricanes or earthquakes. That’s Anthropology 101.

If you have seen the famous picture of the dogs playing poker that’s anthropomorphism at it’s best.

Anthropomorphism has ancient roots as a literary device in storytelling, and also in art. Most cultures have traditional fables with animals who can stand or talk as if human, as characters.

How many of you recognize ASLAN as the main character of C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series?

He is "the great Lion" of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and his role represents Jesus. The author, C. S. Lewis, described Aslan as an alternative version of Christ; that is, as the form in which Christ might have appeared in a fantasy world.

Aslan helps us understand Jesus just a little better. But Lewis mentions several times via his characters that we the reader must never forget that Aslan is not a “tame” lion. 

And just because Jesus appears human doesn’t mean He can be understood in just human terms. He isn’t tame either and if you only see human characteristics you’re.in trouble.

Theology, in essence, is just that: Humanity’s attempts to explain God and how He acts and reacts to humanity. And we rarely remember that God is not tame.

Listen to this passage from John, chapter 2, verses 13-22, about Jesus’ visit to the Temple, and His reaction to their interpretation of human Temple theology:

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.  Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.

He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”  

But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus is clearly changing the Jewish theological center from a material, brick and mortar human world, to a spiritual world based on Him as the touchstone of truth and redemption. Jesus is the beginning and end of Heavenly theology.

As the name implies Systematic Theology is the gathering of all that the Scriptures teach as to what we are to believe and do, and what is known about God. It is also in presenting all the elements of this teaching in a symmetrical system with a beginning and an end.

All my studies have led to the same place: God is consistent, persistent, and delivers on every promise He has made. Our scriptures flow from Genesis to Revelation; a beginning, a middle with human history and struggle, and the end that show’s God’s delivered promises.

A good systematic theology rests on the results of another big word, “Exegesis,” bible study that is, for its foundation. Passages of Scripture studied, and interpreted are its requirement.  When rightly interpreted by Divine inspiration they reveal their relations and place in the system where Christ is the center. 

Putting God first is not only basic, it is crucial! Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other...” (Matthew 6: 24). Earthly things will never replace heavenly things.

It’s why people encounter the temple experience with Jesus cited in our passage.  We find out that God and Jesus are not easily tamed and forced to do our bidding. It is a human temple, not God’s house, that Jesus enters, and he corrects their errors.

Almost like an echo to the abrupt correction that Jesus gave Peter in Matthew 16 (i.e. “Get behind Me, Satan!”) are the words in Isaiah 55: 8, “’My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord.” So the question is, how do we think God’s thoughts after Him? The Holy Spirit.

We have this information from Jesus regarding the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus returned to heaven:

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” (John 16: 13).

The ability for believers to discern the truth of God is made clear in 2 Corinthians 2: 9-16:

“But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him’

^“But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

^“These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For ‘who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

So what are we to believe without trying to add a human understanding? Can we make simple enough to serve God?

A Reformation Baptism vow of faith went like this:

I take God the Father to be my chief end and highest good.

I take God the Son to be my prince and Savior.

I take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.

I take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions and the people of God to be my people under all conditions.

I do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all I am, all I have, and all I can do.

And this I do deliberately, freely, and forever.

(Baptismal declaration written by Philip Henry, father of Matthew Henry)

This would be a good starting place. Amen.

“HUMAN THINGS”
Mark 8: 31-38

Mrs. Green and her son lived in a two story house together with an elderly widow. After not hearing from her for a few days, she got a bit nervous. “John”, she called to her son “do me a favor and go find out how, old Mrs. Robinson, is.”

So six year old John went down the stairs and knocked on Mrs. Robinson’s door. “So how is she?” asked Mrs. Green when John came back up. “How is she?” repeated John “I’ve never seen her so mad in my life, she said it’s none of your business how old she is.”

What we had there was a misunderstanding, a failure to communicate..

The Famous Trial Lawyer Clarence Darrow once said, "I have suffered from being misunderstood, but I would have suffered a lot more if I had been understood."

Sometimes misunderstandings are accidents but sometimes they aren’t.

An unwritten Army Leadership principle goes, “An order that can be misunderstood will be misunderstood.”

Human understanding gives way to human intentions which show the level of understanding or not that is going on, particularly in the areas of faith and religion.

A quote from Alexander Maclaren can help us understand human intention better: “The understanding of important lessons in life are frequently marked by an alternation of the two ideas of faith and unbelief, obedience and disobedience.

Disobedience is the root of unbelief. Unbelief is the mother of further disobedience.

Faith is voluntary submission within a person's own power. If faith is not exercised, the true cause lies deeper than all intellectual reasons. It lies in the moral aversion of human will and in the pride of independence, which says, "who is Lord over us?”

Why should we have to depend on Jesus Christ? As faith is obedience and submission, so faith breeds obedience, but unbelief leads on to higher-handed rebellion. With dreadful reciprocity of influence, the less one trusts, the more he disobeys; the more he disobeys, the less he trusts (end quote).”

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote “The word ''Christianity'' is already a misunderstanding - in reality there has been only one Christian, and he died on the Cross.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. preached, “Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.” Let’s read about a misunderstanding of faith between Jesus and the Apostle Peter from Mark 1: 31-38:

Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly.

And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

What if I told you that the two worst twisting’s of Jesus’ Words have the same root of human misunderstanding? That the most fundamentalist Christian and the most liberal Christian errs because of the same misunderstood belief?

They both misunderstand the how’s, why’s, and when’s of Jesus’ purpose. They see Him as having a “transactional function” in God’s Kingdom that allows them to gain the world and forfeit their lives.

For the fundamentalist a relationship with God is reduced to a simple process: salvation is earned by reciting the “sinner’s prayer” as presented in the Book of Romans and then sealed by doing good deeds that show God how much you paid attention. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are only tools to prove to God you serve Him.

They claim that God will only save those who believe and behave according to a formula they have figured out.

Ironically, liberal Christians operate on the same beliefs, only in rebellion to it. They believe that because the Bible tells us because Jesus gave His life in atonement for our sins we are mere slaves, creatures owned and redeemed by the actions of a son forced to do His father’s bidding.

I was taught this liberation theology in seminary: My professors said “The problem with transactional redemption is that it never gets past the view of people as property. So long as people are still viewed as pawns to be owned and traded, transactional redemption can’t reach people as – people. Then they claim that God will only have a relationship  those who believe and behave according to a formula they have figured out.

Each viewpoint ends at the same place: It’s like an abolitionist who spends a fortune buying up all the slaves on the auction block and setting them free only to have them end up working on the abolitionist’s plantation as crop-share farmers with no real prospects. It never really challenges, dismantles, or gets beyond the view of humanity as something that can be bought and sold.”

Fundamentalist beliefs end in legalistic religion. Liberal theology ends up with a strange deceptionalistic religion with rules, practices, exceptions, and superstitions much like the Catholic Church doctrine and dogma. (Supposedly Peter was the inspiration for it, wasn’t he?)

 

It's no wonder some believe that a "one-world" religion will spring from the merging of a works based faith like Catholic church doctrine merged with Islam and new ageism.

So what’s the answer? Many people like end up like Joel Osteen -“So become your own God, with whatever theology you want and let your ethics - how you treat others – be your statement of faith.” God doesn’t own you, no one is Lord and God over you. This is the foundational doctrine of modern evangelical theology – that people need to be liberated from Lords – whether human or spiritual. They demand that God accept them as who they are.

In our Gospel lesson I think Peter was responding to Jesus in denial out of loyalty to Jesus as Lord and not as Savior. That’s what I think the human mind does. We can conceive of Jesus as Lord but have trouble understanding the Savior part.

Jesus is our Lord and Savior – based on Godly Love, not human love as we understand it. We can’t force God to accept us – but God has made it possible for Him to accept us within the framework of His creation.

Just take God at His word and claim His salvation by faith. Believe, and you will be saved. No church, no required memberships, no good works can save you.

Remember, God does the saving. All of it!

God’s simple plan of salvation is: You are a sinner. Therefore, unless you believe on Jesus Who died in your place, you will spend eternity in Hell. If you believe on Him as your crucified, buried, and risen Savior, you receive forgiveness for all of your sins and His gift of eternal salvation by faith.

You say, “Surely, it cannot be that simple.” Yes, it is that simple! It is scriptural. It is God’s plan. My friend, believe on Jesus and receive Him as Savior today.

We need to stop putting a human face on God and instead focus on Divine Love instead.

Amen.