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WOW Statements of Jesus: Part 3 – Your Money Can Keep Your Out of Heaven

WOW STATEMENTS OF JESUS

Your Money Can Keep You Out of Heaven

November 23, 2008

Ben Young

What is at the center of your life? What represents your significance, your sense of identity, your self-esteem? Is there anyone or anything that you are holding onto that you’re not giving to Jesus? What does Jesus tell us about the things we put in the center of our lives? Join Ben as he navigates through a radical passage of Scripture and addresses one of the most challenging WOW statements of Jesus, “Your Money Can Keep You Out of Heaven.”

Many years ago, I was tubing down the San Marcos River with a friend of mine named Greg. How many of you have ever tubed or canoed down the Guadalupe, or San Marcos? Raise your hand! Don’t be shy! There you are! I see those hands out there! I was at this particular spot, and there was kind of what I would call an island in the middle of the river. The currents that day were really strong. My friend was on this island standing around, and I hit this rock or this big old stump and fell off my tube, 125 pounds of faith. I was about to go under because the current was sucking me under! My friend reached down and grabbed me by my hair, pulling me up literally out of that situation so I did not drown. I will never forget that! You never forget moments like that. It just shows you how powerful water is, and how powerful currents are.

Whether you are in a river or an ocean, sometimes you can see the strength of a current; sometimes you can see a riptide, and sometimes you can’t. What I’ve discovered, and you don’t have to be a sociologist or anthropologist to figure this out; but all cultures have currents. In other words, they have these currents that are kind of underground, or unspoken, and they are pulling you and me in the direction they want us to go, many times without our even knowing it. We want to be here, but we drifted away because the current has pulled us, and pulled us away. Sometimes the current can be so deadly it can threaten to take us under.

This morning I want to talk about one of the currents that is pandemic in our culture today. I want to talk about it as it connects to our series we’re doing called WOW Statements of Jesus. We’re talking about the radical statements that Jesus made. Some of Jesus’ statements are so great; we want to go, “Amen! That’s right! I believe that!” Other statements are kind of like, “Oh me! Are you talking to me?”

In the first week, we said what? That God has great things in store for you. We need to allow the Lion of the tribe of Judah to roam around in our lives.

Last week, we talked about how to build strong faith. We said everybody has faith! Atheists have faith, agnostics have faith, and Christians have faith! Everyone has faith. If you want to grow in your faith relationship with God, you’ve got to be what? Very intentional in doing that.

All these sayings, truths and radical statements we’re looking at; these WOW statements are under the big umbrella of the K.O.G. That stands for the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is this radical lifestyle of grace and truth that God through Christ calls us to.

The current we’re going to look at today is antithetical to the K.O.G., and it’s almost everywhere we go. It’s like the air that we breathe. This current is consumerism. We live in a free-market society in a capitalistic country, and we are consumers! What is consumerism? Here’s the definition: “Consumerism is the equation of personal happiness with the purchase of material possessions and consumption.” What does that mean? That means you gain your sense of happiness from getting and buying stuff, and using the stuff you buy. You consume.

Question—and I’ve been thinking about this for a while: Are you a Christian, or are you a consumer? One of the characteristics of consumerism, if you have that disease, is that when you maybe feel empty inside, you have to buy something new. Or if you feel pain, and you want to numb the pain of your life; then go buy something. Go do something to numb that pain.

If you’re a parent, let me ask you a question: Are you raising Christians, or are you raising consumers? Consumerism in Christianity and in the Kingdom of God is antithetical to one another.

Allow me to let you in on a secret. It’s not really a secret, but it’s this: Following Jesus is difficult. Do you remember M. Scott Peck with the classic million best-seller book, The Road Less Traveled? It began with, “Life is difficult.” Listen: Following Jesus is difficult. It’s hard! Let me read you a quote by this astute philosopher. He says, “Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy; but being a Christian—that’s a tough call! That’s rebellion.” Do you know who said that? Alice Cooper! Jesus said this, “It’s not easy to enter the K.O.G.” He said, “The way is narrow, and the way is hard.”

Last week I read you one of my favorite stories in the Bible. This week I want to read one of my least favorite stories in the Bible. I’m sorry there are not airbags in front of us today, because we’re all going to need it, but check this out! By the way, if you’re an action kind of person and you’ve never read the Bible, read Mark! He’s all about action. If you’re contemplative and more philosophical; start with John. If you’re really wound up tight, start with Matthew!

Mark 10:17, “And He went out into the street, and a man came running up and greeted Him with great reverence.” Remember last week, the father ran up to Jesus. Remember that? He had the son who had the demon? He is another guy. “‘Good teacher, what must I do to get eternal life?’ Jesus said, ‘Why are you calling Me good? No one is good, only God. You know the Commandments: Don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t cheat, honor your father and mother.’ He said, ‘Teacher, I have – from my youth – kept them all!’ Jesus looked him hard in the eye and loved him. He said. ‘There’s one thing left: Go sell whatever you own and give it to the poor. All your wealth will then be Heavenly wealth. And come follow Me.’ The man’s face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let go.”

How does this story strike you? How does it hit you? Let me tell you how it hits me: It made me feel the way Randy Couture felt last week when he got the knee and that hit over the back of the ear in Vegas. That’s what I felt like when I read that passage. I asked myself the question, “Jesus, are You talking to me?” In other words, “Am I the rich, young ruler? I haven’t sold everything I have to follow You.”

It makes me wonder, “What about grace? Amazing grace, how sweet the sound?” I thought we were saved and got into a relationship with God by grace, not by works. It seems to be teaching here that if you give some kind of vow of poverty and sell all your stuff, then BAM! You get in! That seems to contradict other things that I’ve seen in the Scripture. But this story again challenges and convicts me, and it sheds light on the consumerism, materialism, and selfishness in my own life, because that’s the current.

This guy that ran up to Jesus had it all. He was young and handsome. He had money and inheritance. He was rolling it over! He had the brand-new Hickey Freeman suit on, and the nice Prada shoes, and he was just looking fine! He had it! He went to church; he was a righteous guy. He was active on committees, a deacon and all that. He came up to Jesus because he still lacked something. He still wanted to know what he needed to do to have eternal life. There’s something kind of wild—can you see this guy in this $1,500.00 suit, kneeling at the feet of this penniless prophet from Nazareth? Do you see that?

The fascinating thing about this passage is that this guy who had it all, the rich young ruler is the only guy in Scripture who after kneeling at the feet of Jesus was worse off afterwards than when he came. I challenge you! Google the New Testament and check it out! Everybody who kneels at the feet of Jesus find themselves healed upon standing! When they get up, they’ve been made whole again! When they get up, they’re forgiven!

When they kneel and get up, they feel like a brand-new person. But this guy, when he got up—he felt worse. He didn’t go away feeling brand-new; he went away feeling ashamed, rejected and embarrassed.

The easiest thing for us to do here is to distance ourselves from the rich young ruler. “That’s not me, because I’m not rich! That person over there is rich!” I love the definition of rich, or materialism. “Materialism ends where my income ends!” It just keeps moving and changing.

Listen: If you live in the United States of America, there’s a 99.9% chance you are rich! You’re rich! Compared to most of the world, we live in Disney World. God is breaking up Disney World, isn’t He? He’s breaking it up right now. Rich young ruler. Give away everything! Sell all your possessions! Where’s the 10%? Everything! Jesus loved him. I believe Jesus was calling him to be an Apostle, one of the elite group. I don’t think it was just a little, “Hey…” Jesus saw the guy had the good stuff. He walked away. Why was it? What is it about money that makes us so funny? It’s awkward for me to get up here and talk about money, because so many church people and T.V. people are always just begging and talking about money all the time! It’s awkward! It’s like going lingerie shopping with your mother-in-law. It just doesn’t work sometimes.

What is it about riches? They make you self-reliant. What was Jesus doing? He was simply pointing out to this guy what was at the very center of his life. His riches represented his significance. They represented his sense of identity, his self-esteem. It was everything to him. It was his center and his core. When you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, He says, “You have to replace the center of your life with Me.” We can even put good things at the center of our lives. There’s nothing noble about being rich, and there’s nothing noble about being poor. It’s a matter of what is at the center of your life. Jesus comes in and says, “I want you to give Me the center.”

He asks you and me this question today, “What are you holding on to? What is at the very center of your life?” You say it’s not money! Well, it’s not money until someone says, “Hey, give it all away!” Just like the last few months, you don’t realize how much you love money until you start losing it! A lot of it!

So what is at the center of your life? What is at the core of your life? Is there anyone or anything that you are holding on to that you’re not giving to Jesus? If you want a practical way to evaluate that, then get out your day-timer, or your Black Berry or your calendar; get out the checkbook and credit card statements. How did you invest your money in 2008? Did you invest your money in the K.O.G., or did you invest your money in the big M.E.? Do a check!

I forgot to tell you, but I’m reading out of The Message translation Bible, Eugene Peterson. So if you’re wondering as you looked at your NIV, NASV, KGV, or NKJV; I like what The Message says. Did you see the last verse, 22? It says, “He was holding on tight to a lot of things and not about to let go.” He was holding on tight!

I need a volunteer! Anybody willing to volunteer? Do you have any money? Could you give me a one dollar bill, or a five dollar bill? Abe Lincoln, United States of America is on the five dollar bill. On the back, it has the Lincoln Memorial. Then it has these four words over the Lincoln Memorial. Do you know what they are? “In God We Trust.” It’s even on the penny! Do you believe that? Do you believe that we as a nation or as a people of the United States trust in God? Do you believe that? No! We don’t trust in God. We believe in God, but we trust in money. Right? We believe in God, but we trust in our cash. I’m going to give you your money back! He was sweating! Let’s give this guy a hand for participating! Thank you!

So here is this guy who has it all together. He approaches Jesus and kneels at His feet. “What can I do to get eternal life?” Jesus says, “You’ve got to sell everything.” The guy’s holding on too tightly to a lot of stuff and won’t let go. Can’t you see as he’s leaving Jesus, he’s getting the dust off his beautiful suit, and Jesus and His disciples are kind of watching his figure as he just kind of disappears and recedes into the distance? Now it’s just Jesus and His disciples. The disciples, as usual, are dumbfounded. Look at verse 23.

Mark 10:23, “Looking at His disciples, Jesus said, ‘Do you have any idea how difficult it is for people who “have it all” to enter God’s Kingdom?’ The disciples couldn’t believe what they were hearing! But Jesus kept on.” I thought He was going to throw us a bone, or a cushion, or find some commentary. But He piles on! It says “Jesus kept on…” I love that! “You can’t imagine how difficult! It’s easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get into God’s Kingdom.” This set the disciples back on their heels! “Then who has any chance at all?”

In that day and culture as well as today, if you had riches and went to church and were religious, that was a sign that God was blessing you! Jesus was saying, “That may be a sign, and that may not be a sign.” But the disciples thought, “This guy is so blessed—he’s got it all together!

If he’s not getting in, who’s going to make it?” Jesus was blunt, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself! Every chance in the world if you let God do it!”

Basically Jesus was saying this: Salvation, entering the Kingdom of God, going to Heaven for anybody, any time, any place, rich, poor, or middle-class, upper middle-class, whatever is impossible in and of yourselves. It’s humanly impossible! Salvation is impossible. Getting into God’s Kingdom is impossible. A miracle has to take place! We looked at this in our first week in the series. You’ve got to receive from God this gift of righteousness. But to receive salvation, you can’t receive from God like this when your hands and your heart are holding on tightly to someone or something else. How can you receive from God? It’s going to fall out! So to receive God’s grace when grace does call your name; then you have to open your hands to receive it.

The key to this passage is really the passage before. Remember when you’re reading the Bible, context is king? Context, context… Check this out! Here’s the key. Mark 10:13-36, “The people brought children to Jesus, hoping He might touch them.” Everybody wanted to be around Jesus! “The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: ‘Don’t push these children away! Don’t ever get between them and Me! These children are at the very center of life in the K.O.G. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s Kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in!’ Then gathering the children up in His arms, He laid His hands of blessing on them.”

What’s the key to getting into the Kingdom of God? What’s the key to staying in the Kingdom of God? Of growing in your faith? It’s learning to trust Jesus with total trust! It’s learning to become like a child; not to be childish, but to be child-like. When we come before God in Christ, we say, “God, I come to You empty-handed. I open my clenched little fist, and I open it up to You to follow You and to do what You want me to do, and to go where You want me to go.” Children are utterly dependent upon their parents. That’s what Jesus calls us to do. He calls us to total trust. He calls us to let go of that white-knuckled grip we have of things, or of people, or of relationships.

God asks us, “What’s going on in your life? What is the most valuable thing you own? What do you value the most? If you’re to follow Me, you’ve got to give that up to Me.” You say, “That’s difficult!” No it’s not difficult! It’s impossible! But isn’t that the point? I mean, if there is a God, can’t this God do the impossible in your life and my life? If there is a God, and He does know all things; doesn’t He know what’s at the center of all our hearts? It may be cash for one person, cars for another person; it may be houses for you, or shoes, or a relationship with someone else.

I don’t know what it is, but God knows what is at the center of your life. You’ve got to give it to Him. Become like a child.

Years ago, we were doing a short-term mission trip in Mexico City, and there is a neighborhood in Mexico City called Chimalhuacán, and it’s located right near the airport. I say “neighborhood”—that’s being generous. It’s basically a group of houses of just hovels that have been built over a garbage dump in Mexico City, the largest city in the world. When I first went there, the sewage drains were just ditches, so you had open sewage everywhere. The electricity they had was pirated from the street. Over one million people lived in Chimalhuacán in utter poverty.

We were there, helping to build a church literally, laying the foundation and pouring cement. We were also doing Vacation Bible School for the kids. There was a girl in our group called Cheryl who befriended this beautiful, 9 year-old little Mexican local girl. They had become friends, although they didn’t speak the same language. The last day there, we were giving things to the children as we were leaving, like T-shirts, and taking our shoelaces out of our shoes and making little bracelets and giving them to the girls. This little girl went to her place where she lived and came back, talking through a translator to Cheryl. She had in her hand a beautiful gold necklace. She said through the translator, “Tell Cheryl that I want her to have this.” Cheryl looked down at this gold necklace and said, “I can’t take that!” The little girl said again through the translator, “No, no, no—really, really!” “She says she really wants you to have it”, said the translator. “Take the necklace!” Cheryl said, “No, no! That’s a beautiful necklace! I really appreciate it, but I can’t take it!” Finally, the little girl said again, “Really, please—take it! Take it!” Cheryl was compassionate but a little exasperated. She said, “I can’t take that gold necklace! That’s the most valuable thing she owns!” The translator looked back at Cheryl and said “That’s why she’s giving it to you. It’s the most valuable thing she owns.”

Let’s pray.

Lord, we learn so much about Your Gospel from children. Lord, we thank You that You gave what was most valuable to us so that we could turn around and give what’s most valuable in our life to You. Lord, I pray that during this time of invitation that You would lead men who need to stand and come today and walk down these aisles, and say, “I want God to be at the very center of my life. I’m letting go of my white-knuckled grip on whatever it is, because I know that God has made me. I want God to be the center of my life.”

Lord, there are some ladies here today who need to stand and walk down these aisles and say “Today’s the day I am fully turning my life over to Jesus Christ. I want Him to come in and not only forgive me and cleanse me, giving me a new life; but I want to follow Him.” Lord, lead them to stand and to come.

WOW Statements of Jesus: Part 2 – Your Faith Can Move a Mountain

WOW Statements of Jesus

Your Faith Can Move a Mountain

November 16, 2008

Ben Young

Everyone has faith. Atheists have faith, agnostics have faith, Christians have faith. But what do we put our faith in? Faith in our own ability? Faith in our mind? Faith in progress? Faith in God? Jesus radically spoke to his disciples about their faith saying, “Your faith can move a mountain.” If you want to grow in your faith relationship with God, you have got to be intentional. Join Ben as he looks at this WOW statement of Jesus. He will walk through four different types of faith that are revealed to us through the story of a father and the healing of his son.

When I was in high school, I had a weight problem, believe it or not. As a senior, I was the same height I am now, which is about 6 feet, but I weighed 135 pounds. For those of you who are slow in math like I am, that’s pretty skinny! I had to dance around the shower just to get wet! When I got to college, I wanted to put on some weight. A friend of mine who had gone to a rival high school back in Houston and was a body builder worked out, so we worked out together 5 days a week for about an hour and a half a session. I didn’t know what the heck I was doing, but I continued to do it because I wanted to gain some weight! You know the sayings, right? “No pain, no gain! No weights, no dates! No curls, no girls!”

I bought into the whole deal and continued working out. Then I realized that working out was simply not enough to put weight on me! It didn’t work! I had to eat. I went on the full meal plan there at the cafeteria at our school. I ate all those starchy foods! I had to start eating stuff I hated, like eggs. I was scarfing down three meals a day. Then at night before I’d go to bed, I’d go get a Wendy’s double cheeseburger and fries, and a Frosty. Or we’d order a Domino’s Pizza and scarf that down.

Finally, after months and months of doing that, working out and eating like an absolute hog; I finally put some weight on, and believe it or not, one or two muscles! But the bottom line was when I was in that mode, I had to be very intentional about the way I was living my life. If I was going to gain weight and get stronger, I had to work out. I had to eat, and I had to sleep.

It’s the same thing if you’re on the other side of the problem. You say, “I’d like to drop 10, 20 or 30 pounds.” To do that, you’ve got to be very intentional. You can’t just see some abdomenizer 2010 exerciser that supposedly you use for two minutes a day and expect to look like a washboard, and think you’re going to get results. No! You’ve got to be intentional! You’ve got to have a plan of action.

This same thing is true with so many areas in your life, isn’t it? If you’re going to make it through this tough, tough economic time that we’re already in which is probably going to get tougher; you’ve got to be intentional about your finances, and about how much you make, spend and save.

If you want to become a better athlete, you’ve got to be intentional about the way you shape your life. If you want to become a better student, you’ve got to become intentional about the way you study, who you study with. So much of life and growing in life is about intentionality. But for some reason when we come into the church, I know this has happened to me before; I think I can just kind of let go and let God, and I’m going to have a big, strong faith! That’s not true! If you want to grow in your faith relationship with God; if I want to grow, then we’ve got to be very intentional.

We’re going to talk about intentionality today. I want to do that within the context of the story. Maybe one of my favorite stories in the entire Bible is found in the first book of the New Testament, Matthew 17, verses 14 through 20. We’re in a series called WOW statements of Jesus. These statements make you want to go, “Wow!” Some are like, “Yeah!” Some are like, “Uuuhhh…” Jesus gave these statements, not as some little pithy side-bar, fortune cookie. No. He gave these radical statements to conform us so that we would live out the K.O.G., the Kingdom of God wherever we go and whatever we do.

Here is the context of Matthew 17. Jesus, Peter, James and John had to have this mountain-top experience literally. They’ve come down from the mountain, and there is a fight going on. When they reached the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before Him. “‘Lord, have mercy on my son,’ he said. ‘He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire and into the water. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not heal him!’ ‘Oh, unbelieving and perverse generation!’ Jesus replied. ‘How long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to Me!’ Jesus rebuked the demon, and he came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, ‘Why couldn’t we drive it out?’ He replied, ‘Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, If you have faith as small as a mustard seed (which is the tiniest seed they knew at the time); you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you!”

This story is basically about a man who has a problem that is absolutely beyond his control. He can’t change the situation. He can’t help it get any better, and he’s been trying for years and years and years. He is frustrated and desperate because he has a child who is sick, and he wants that child to be well. That’s the heart of the passage. We’re going to get back to this father and son, this guy who has this problem that’s absolutely beyond his control to change or fix.

This story reveals to us not only the story of a father and son, but it reveals to us four different types of faith. The first type of faith we see here is what I call zero faith.

That is this faithless generation that Jesus refers to as He is rebuking His disciples. He calls them a perverse and unbelieving generation.

Most of us know who Ted Turner is. He’s the billionaire, entrepreneur, philanthropist who started CNN and TNT. Basically he’s the person who took cable television to a whole new level about 30 years ago. Ted Turner was a Christian, and at age 17, he had wanted to become a missionary. Did you know that? Something happened to Ted when he was 17. His sister developed this debilitating disease where the body kind of starts to eat itself. For three years, Ted watched his sister being eaten alive. She finally passed away when Ted turned 20 years of age. When that happened and he saw how his sister was devastating; he stopped believing in God. His faith weight went all the way down to zero. Maybe some of you can relate to that.

Sometimes a tragedy will happen in our lives, and it causes us to doubt everything we believed and trusted. We see that God didn’t intervene the way we wanted Him to, and that’s what happened to Ted Turner. He ran away from God and stopped believing in Him. Others of you have experienced tragedies that you couldn’t explain, fix or control, and that tragedy led you to God. So many times, pain and suffering polarizes us. It either draws us closer to a relationship with God, or repels us from God. But when I say zero faith, really no one operates and lives with zero faith. No one does! Everyone has faith. An atheist has faith; an agnostic has faith; a rationalist has faith; an empiricist has faith; an existentialist has faith. You can’t escape faith assumptions and live your life in this world. It’s absolutely impossible! So if you say to yourself, “I’m going to run away from God” or “I don’t believe in God” or maybe “You can’t know God;” you’re simply exchanging your faith in God to faith in someone or something else.

What is faith? There are many definitions. One would be that faith is believing without conclusive proof, but with convincing evidence. So if you’re wanting to move from a place of zero faith in God in Christ in your life; I want you to know that you are not taking a leap into the dark. You’re taking a leap into the Light. But everyone has faith.

I like the quote by Michael Guillen, a former science correspondent for ABC News and a theoretical physicist. Here is what he says, “Truth is, every one of us believes. Every one of us has faith. What divides us are the different objects of our faith; our different gods.” So the idea that you can put faith in God, or put faith in religion and find some philosophical system, some scientific method that’s going to allow you to have an air-tight, beyond-a-doubt world view; that simply doesn’t exist.

If you’re into science and stuff, look for terms like this: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; Bell’s Theorem; Gödel’s Theorem. Those words are synonyms for faith! Everybody has faith, but in what? Faith in your own ability? Faith in your mind? Faith in progress? Faith in God? We all have faith. But there are people who have zero faith when it comes to faith in God in Christ.

The second kind of faith we see here that maybe we’re a little more familiar with is skinny faith. It’s that anemic, anorexic faith of the disciples. What’s up with the disciples? What was their context? The disciples were on one of those emotional highs. Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt like God was so near, and you’re just out there, and it’s like, “Yeah! I’ve got it all figured out!” Well, the disciples were kind of having one of those moments. They’d been on tour, so to speak, and they’d been healing people. Not fake healing people; not knocking over crippled people like the folks on T.V. who claim to be healing people! No, no, no! They’d been really healing people! Blind people were seeing; deaf people were hearing. People who were in bondage to all kinds of things were being freed and liberated, and all of a sudden, this father comes who has this son that has had this problem for a long, long time. The disciples try the old formula, and it doesn’t take! The disciples are like, “What is going on? What’s happening here?” Maybe they were relying on some type of formulaic faith. But basically with the disciples; what worked last year wasn’t working this year. The faith that got them where they were a year ago was not working right now, and that is so true in so many areas of our life. What got you to where you are is not going to get you to where you want to be! So we can’t rely on last week’s faith, or yesterday’s faith, or faith from two years ago. We’ve got to have faith today! Trusting God now! Trusting God with what’s going on in our world and our context now, today. It’s about the object of your faith. Anyway, we’ll talk about that later.

What happens? How do you develop skinny faith? Some things happen unintentionally. You unintentionally kind of just stop serving. You serve so long, and you stop to take a break. You stop leading. You stop teaching. You stop giving. You stop really diving into the Word of God. You stop praying. You stop telling people about this relationship with God that He has given to you, and the great things that Christ has done and is doing. You just stop doing that. Sometimes, you unintentionally fall into this place where you wake up, and you look in the mirror, and your faith is all gone! It is skinny, and you want to get out. That’s the second kind of faith that you see here.

There is a third kind of faith, and it’s also in this story. Let’s go back to the father and the son, because the father has this problem, a problem he cannot fix. He loves his son. He wants his son to be well. He will do anything to see his son healed, but he can’t do it!

The problem is absolutely beyond his control. Have you ever been there? Have you been in a situation or a crisis, and there is really nothing that you can do to change the situation? That’s where this dad is at.

To figure out what happens here, and to see this third kind of faith; we need to look at another passage. The story of the father with the son who’s hurting is found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Look at Mark 9, verses 21 through 24. It gives some more details. Jesus is interviewing this father once he comes to Him, asking about his son. “Jesus asks the boy’s father, ‘How long has he been like this?’ ‘From childhood,’ he answered. ‘It has often thrown him into the fire, or into water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.’ ‘If you can?’ Jesus said. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes!’ Immediately (the man almost interrupted Jesus) the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me over come my unbelief!” Or as another translation says, “But help me with my doubts!”

This father represents the third kind of faith, and it’s the kind of faith that I want all of us here to have. That is a growing faith. You say, “What do you mean a growing faith? He has doubts!” You see, that’s the problem. Many times we think that doubts are something that shows us we have a weak faith.

Let me ask you a question. Some of you know this answer; don’t answer it. What is the opposite of love? No, it’s not hate. The opposite of love is not hate. If you are in a relationship and someone has broken up with you, or they want more space; they hate you and are still mad; you’ve got a chance! The opposite of love is not hate; the opposite of love is indifference! Apathy! If someone has broken up with you, and they are kind of apathetic and can talk about you in a cold, rational way; it’s over baby! You’re toast! Move on!

Let’s talk about faith. The opposite of faith is not doubt. It is unbelief! Doubt is kind of a wobbly suspension bridge, if you would, between belief and unbelief; between faith and unbelief. Doubt is in between, so doubt can lead you to faith. Read the Book!

John the Baptist’s sole mission was to point out who was going to be the Messiah, and he did that before anybody else could do it. He had that gift from God to do that. But when he was in a dark time in his life, in a situation he couldn’t change, he said, “Hey, find out, is Jesus really the One?” He doubted! Thomas, one of the close followers of Jesus, even after all his friends had seen Jesus alive from the dead, doubted that Jesus came back from the grave alive.

He said, “I’m not going to believe it until I see and touch Him.” He doubted! David, a man after God’s own heart—read the Psalms! He cried out to God all the time! “God, where are You? God, how come You are not answering me? God, have You forgotten about me? Hello? God? Can You drop me a line? An e-mail? A text?” Read the Psalms! David, this great man of faith doubted! Elijah doubted! Abraham doubted! Peter didn’t doubt; he denied Jesus three times! Hello!

If the Bible has changed through the years, why do they talk about all the dirt of all the heroes of faith? Why do they pull a TMZ on all our heroes of faith? If it is a piece of propaganda, it is a bad one!

This father demonstrates what I call growing faith. Listen—you don’t have to be doubt free to have growing faith. I like what Phillip Yancey says. If you want a dose of reality, read Yancy. He says, “The fact that we worship and trust an invisible God guarantees the fact that we’re going to have doubts.” I like that!

This guy has growing faith. You say, “Why?” You see, faith is a road and not a parking spot. Faith is not simply mental cognition to a bunch of facts. Faith is a relationship with a person, and this person says, “Come and stop! If you want to be My disciples, come and just stop. Sit there, feed yourself and get fatter!” No, no, no! Jesus said what? “Come and follow Me!” Faith is a journey, not a destination! Sometimes in your faith journey, you may be at zero faith; other times you’re going to be at a skinny, 135 pound faith. Other times, you’re going to have growing faith. Hopefully it’s all about growing faith.

This father had growing faith. Faith is a road and not a parking spot. It’s a journey and not a destination. Look at what this dad did! I love this father. I love him! Look what he did! The first thing he did was to take his pain and doubt to Jesus. We all need to do this! Remember I read that quickly earlier in Matthew? He actually knelt down before Jesus—“Jesus, please!” He brought his pain and doubt to Jesus.

How do you know if you have growing faith? You have growing faith if you’re willing to take the most precious thing in your life and give it to Jesus. Maybe you’re wondering, “Why do I need to give it to Jesus? Why can’t I give it to Buddha, or Mohammed, or Krishna? Why Jesus?” Well, Jesus is God who became a Man. God; the ultimate reality has entered into our reality. The infinite has entered into the finite.

If Jesus is real, and if He came out of the grave on the third day, which He did; then I can take anything to Him at any time. I can take that which is precious and fragile in my life and give it to Him.

The father did something else too. He looked beyond the failure of the disciples to Jesus. It’s so easy, isn’t it, to get caught up in the failures of our parents? Or maybe the failures of a priest, or of a pastor and say, “I’m not going to buy into the whole Christianity deal, because they are all about a bunch of hypocrites!” See, the father could have done this. “Oh, the disciples—they can’t heal! They can’t do anything! Look at this bunch of failures!” No—he looked beyond the failure of the disciples to the One who could fix the problem—Jesus. Perhaps you need to do that. Maybe you’ve been burned by a church, or by a Christian, or parents who claimed to be Christians, but really didn’t live it out. You’ve got to look beyond the failures to Jesus Himself.

The book of Hebrews says in Hebrews 12:1 and following, “Because we’re surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race marked before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.”

I like that! Even our faith is a gift from God. The Bible says that when we’re faithless, He is faithful! I’m so thankful for that. I’ve been through seasons and time periods in my life where I’ve been faithless, and I know that God has been faithful. The father pressed past the failure of the disciples. He didn’t allow the disappointment with people to prevent him from looking to Jesus. He had growing faith.

There is a fourth kind of faith here. It is what I call strong faith. That is the kind of faith I want to have. I sometimes kind of get the strings from the hem of the garment of strong faith; but there are some men and women in this community in this church who have strong faith. That is where I want to be. You ask, “Who demonstrates the strong faith in this passage?” Jesus does. You say, “Well thanks a lot, Ben! Wow! He’s Jesus!” That’s kind of the point! Of course! Jesus had strong faith. He trusted in the Father. He only did what He saw the Father doing. What did Jesus say about the problem? “Oh you unbelieving, zero faith skinny people! Bring the boy to Me! Demon, get out!” The boy is healed instantly after having been sick his whole life!

I love Luke. He was a doctor who gave much more detail about Jesus’ life. Time and time again, he said this about Jesus, “He went up early in the morning and prayed.”

Jesus had a really busy, busy life; He had a lot of irons in the fire. That’s the problem with so many of you today. You have so many irons in the fire, you put the fire out! That’s a whole other message. But Jesus would get up early after a busy, busy day, and He would pray. Jesus prayed. If you want to have strong faith; you’ve got to pray. By and large, you’ve got to be intentional about it.

There is an aspect about your growth physically, whether you lose or gain weight that you can’t control because of your genetics. There’s an aspect about your spiritual genetics that you can’t control, but you can do certain things, and you can become very intentional about having a growing or strong faith.

There are four words I want you to write down quickly. They are four words you must have to have a growing or strong faith. First of all, you must have honesty. You’ve got to be honest. If you’re at zero faith right now; if you consider yourself an atheist or agnostic, then let me ask you a question: Do you really want to believe? Do you really want to believe there is a possibility that God made you? Do you really want to believe that there is a possibility that God came to earth? Do you really want to believe that there is a possibility that God has actually spoken through a Book? Do you really want to believe? Sometimes, we think we know in order to believe. Augustine, the great philosopher and theologian says, “We believe in order to know.” If you’re skinny, and you’re weighing in at about 135 pounds of faith right now, let me ask you a question: Do you really want to grow? Do you really want it? I wish I could make you want it! At times, I wish I could make me want it! I can’t do that! But I can come to God and say, “God, I really don’t want it.” If you really don’t want it…“But God, make me want to want it! Change my heart to make me love You and want to grow in You.” Do you really want to grow? You’ve got to get honest! I love this father. He was honest about his doubts. “Yeah, Jesus, I believe You can do it; but I don’t really…I have some doubts. Help my doubts!” Go to God with your doubts.

The second word is eat. We’ve got to eat, eat, eat, eat, eat! We’ve got to eat God’s Word, and do God’s Word. You’ve got to get the Word into you, and you’ve got to live it out! You’ve got to pray. We have to get to a point where prayer becomes a lot more natural for us. It’s a difficult thing to do! If prayer is easy for you, please see me in the guest reception afterwards. Write the book! I want to buy it! Please! Prayer many times is a struggle; it’s a battle. But we need to get to a point where prayer is like breathing. Trust me; times are going to get so tough; we’re going to have to learn what that passage means in Thessalonians that says, “Pray without ceasing.” We’re going to have to pray all the time. God’s breaking up Disney World, baby! I don’t mean that literally!

But you’ve got to pray. I’ve got to pray. We all have to pray. You might say, “Ben, I wish I had your job, working at the church all the time. That’s all you do is pray and read the Bible!” I wish! It’s a lot easier for me to talk about prayer—pray, pray, pray, than for me to pray. Remember, there’s an important point we heard today that’s really deep, and that is that Jesus prayed.

The third word is connection. We’ve got to be around people who know what they’re doing. You’ve got to be around other Christians who are strong in their faith, or they’re growing faith. You’ve got to be around people like that. Whenever I get into a certain field, I want to find out who is the main man? Who is the main woman? Who is the expert in leadership? Who is the expert in business and finance? Who is the expert in this sport or this endeavor? I want to find out. If I can’t get with them, and talk to them and pick their brain and question them; I’m going to read their stuff or listen to their stuff. It’s the same way! You’ve got to connect yourself with other like-minded people! You can’t go on this faith journey and be intentional by yourself. It isn’t going to work! You need other people! God is a community. He’s One; He is Three. He has created us in community to relate and to have relationships, and to be accountable, and to love and encourage and uplift one another. You need to have community. It’s called the church. You’ve got to be part of a church. You’ve got to be plugged in to that church. You need connection.

The fourth word you need is the word focus. You’ve got to have focus. Here’s the deal about faith: Faith is about focus! It’s about the object of your faith. What’s holding you up right now? What’s preventing your epidermis from splatting on the gym floor? Is it your faith that’s holding you up right now? This is deep here—I’m sorry! It’s the chair, right? It’s the faithfulness of the chair! It’s the object.

When you get on a plane tomorrow to go on a business trip; what’s going to get you there? Your faith? No, no, no! One person gets on the plane tomorrow that has never been on a plane, and they’re just white-knuckled, gripping the chair arm—“Oh, we’re not going to make it! Oh, there’s turbulence!” They’re not expecting turbulence—“We’re going to die!” Another person gets on there, and he’s got the Wall Street Journal. He’s got the suit on, the briefcase, and he’s in first class. He’s chilling, and he’s cool. There is turbulence, but he doesn’t care, right? There is another guy who just flies a little bit, but all three people wind up at the same city at the same time, though some had no faith! The other one was like, “Yeah, I totally trust the pilot and the plane!” What got them there? Their faith? No! It’s the Boeing 737! It’s the faithfulness of the plane, and the capacity of the pilot!

So when you are thinking about growing your faith, don’t try to examine your faith by always taking your spiritual pulse. You can’t think about faith and grow in faith at the same time. It’s kind of strange. That’s like I’m really concerned about my vision, so I’m going to take my eyeball out to try to observe myself seeing. You can’t think about kissing and evaluate kissing at the same time. It’s about the object of your faith.

There was a business man who finished a hard day at work in a downtown city. He comes out and sees a little boy there. The little boy is on the block, but he’s not on the corner of the block. He’s kind of mid-way in the block. The man goes up to the little boy and says, “Hey, can I help you? Do you have a problem?” The little boy goes, “No, no. I don’t have a problem. I’m waiting on the bus.” The man says, “Well, the bus does not stop right here in the middle of the block. You’ve got to go two blocks down the road and take a right, and the bus stops there.” The little boy said, “No, no. The bus will stop here. It’s going to pick me up. I just believe it’s going to do that. I have faith the bus is going to stop here and pick me up!” The business man said, “Well, good luck to you, but I’ve got to go catch the bus!” So he walks down the two corners and takes a right hand turn. The bus pulls up, and the doors open. He walks in, and seated on the very front row of that bus is that little boy! The little boy looks up at the businessman and says, “Mister, I want to introduce you to my daddy!”

Our faith, our trust is always in a person. All you’ve got to do is get on the bus, and you’ll be in for the ride of your life! You will. Let’s pray.

God, I thank You, thank You, thank You for being patient with us. Thank You, God that You want to take us to another level of faith and trust in You. You want us to move from skinniness and zero faith to growth and strengthen in our faith. God, we need Your help to do that. We need Your help to be intentional about all the things we need to work out and do.

God, I pray for those who are here right now who don’t understand it totally. They don’t fully grasp it, but they know they desperately need You, and they need to stand and walk down front in a few moments and say, “God, I need You in my life. God, I need You to rescue me. God, I’ve really messed up, and I need for You to forgive me. I want to follow You. I don’t understand it all. I never thought I’d ever do this and walk down front in a church, especially in a gym, but today I know is my day. For some reason, You’ve been speaking to me today.” Father, give them the courage to stand and come down front in a few moments.

WOW Statements of Jesus: Part 1 – You Can Do Greater Works

WOW Statements of Jesus

You Can Do Greater Works

November 9, 2008

Ben Young

Have we domesticated Jesus? Have we tamed Jesus? Have we created an image of Him and placed Him in a proper position in our lives? What would happen if we were to allow the Lion of Judah to roam around in our lives, our hearts, and our minds in order to destroy the lies that we’ve been holding on to, that keep us captive? In this series, WOW Statements of Jesus, Ben Young will challenge you to invite the real, radical Jesus of the Gospels, the Jesus who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, to roam around inside your life. All of the statements: the gut-wrenching, mind-expanding, and life-affirming statements of Jesus are about one thing…the Kingdom of God, a radical lifestyle of grace and truth that God through Christ calls us to.

Your life may be an absolute mess right now or it may be going great…either way you can be confident that if God started a work in you, He is going to complete that work inside of you. Join Ben Young as he explores the first WOW statement of Jesus, “You Can Do Greater Works.” God has greater things in store for you, for your life.

When I was a little kid, my mom used to read to me and my brother. One of our favorite books was called Barney Beagle. I think there was a sequel out called Barney Beagle Plays Baseball. So my brother, Ed and I begged our parents to get us a dog—“Can you get us a dog? Can you get us a beagle?” So they got us a beagle, and we named it Ralph. I’m teasing! We named it Barney. He was a great dog, but he didn’t last very long. I think he had an encounter with a car. Dogs chase cars sometimes. They have this thing with hubcaps! So, we got Barney Beagle II, who was the quintessential pet we had growing up. We had other pets—German Shepherds, Samoyeds, and a Pekingese. One time my brother found a snake when my dad was out of town preaching somewhere, and he hid it. Anyway, that’s a whole other story! But we had all kinds of animals growing up. Barney the Beagle was really not your typical beagle. Beagles are supposed to be kind of sleek and smooth; this dog was fat and round! He was supposed to be a hunting dog, but he just sat around and slept all the time. He was a beautiful dog with kind of a light brown head and a white stripe, along with a black back and three white spots, and a white tummy. Mostly the dog just laid around all the time. But I loved, loved Barney the beagle.

A lot of folks have pets. If you have a pet at home, raise your hand. Sir, what kind of pet do you have? A Boston Terrier! All right! How old is he or she? Three years? What do you have? A mutt! I like that. What kind of mutt? Do you have any idea what the mix may be? A terrier! Okay! Anyone else have a pet? You have a bearded dragon? Haven’t heard of that one! One more! Any ladies here? Right there on the front row! A black lab! We have a yellow lab right now at our house, and also a Rhodesian Ridge Back without a ridge!

All these animals have one thing in common. They are not wild; but rather they are domesticated animals. The word domestication means home. It means they are trained to be in the house. Our dogs and cats know where to sleep, walk, poop, and not poop. That’s what it means to be domesticated. They have their place, and they can operate inside of our homes and apartments.

It’s interesting when you look at the kind of animals we try to domesticate over the years. Some animals simply can’t be domesticated. I’ve been a Christian for a long time now, and one of the things I’ve observed in the last 20 years is that we’ve tried to domesticate Jesus.

I would say this has happened within the church, no matter which church you come from, whether it’s Baptist, Catholic, or Pentecostal, and I would say it’s true for people outside of the church who are looking in. Have you noticed that? We’ve domesticated Jesus! In other words, we’ve taken the Jesus from the Gospels, and we’ve kind of tamed Him. We have created such an image of Him and placed Him in a proper place in our lives. Jesus knows where to stay! He’s got His place in our lives from 11:11 to 12:15 on Sundays, and then we have the rest of our lives during the week. This is domesticated Jesus. When we need Jesus, we take Him out for a walk, or we cuddle up next to Him; but He basically is not going to interfere with our lives, or our relationships, or our jobs or money. This is domesticated Jesus. Domesticated Jesus is never going to convict you or me. Domesticated Jesus is never going to call you out. He’s never going to challenge you to take our spiritual walk to a whole other level. He’s not going to do that, because domesticated Jesus is there for you, and He wants you to be happy and have happy feelings all the time.

Here’s what is strange: You can’t really domesticate Jesus. You really can’t! No matter how hard we try, no matter how many obedience schools we send Him to, no matter how many times we stare at that picture of Jesus… Do you remember the picture of Jesus you saw growing up if you went to Sunday School? He looked like some white guy who had been in a tanning bed. His profile was that of a depressed, long-haired, tan, domesticated, but sad man. We’ve got to get rid of that image of Jesus! We’ve got to get to know the real Jesus, because you can’t domesticate Jesus. Let me tell you why. There’s a verse that kind of helps us out here today, and it is found in
Revelation 5:5.

Revelation was written by John. He died probably around 91 A.D., but he lived longer than any of the other disciples of Jesus. John wrote the Gospel of John, and in it, he said, “Jesus is the light of the world.” He said, “Jesus is full of grace and truth.” He said, “I got so close to Jesus that I could put my head on His chest.” In I John 1, he wrote, “This is love; not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent Jesus as atoning sacrifice for us.” So he is known as the Apostle of Love. He also wrote the Book of the Revelation, this wild, fantastic apocalyptic piece of literature, and here’s what he says about Jesus, and this is why you can’t domesticate Him.

Revelation 5:51—“Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep; see, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” Jesus is known as The Lion of Judah. There are other metaphors to describe Jesus in the Bible. He is known as The Alpha and the Omega, The Bright Morning Star, and The Lamb. Right here we see that Jesus Christ is also called The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.

When I was a little kid, my brother and I found a dog once that didn’t have a tag. He was a stray mutt. We invited him home and said, “Oh mom, please let us keep him!” Our mom said, “Well, okay.” We called him Tramp. We domesticated him, taught him where to sleep, how to eat, where to poop and all that stuff. But what if I lived in a different country, and I saw this nice, golden cat without a tag, and I got my brother and said, “Hey—let’s invite this golden cat home with us.” We would say, “Hey mom—we found this nice lion cub! What do you think?” Mom’s going to say, “Son, you are crazy! You can’t domesticate a lion!”

There is something that draws us to lions. Most of us have never seen a lion in person except at a zoo, or on The Discovery Channel. But there is something that draws us to a lion; the golden mane and fur makes it look so cuddly, doesn’t it? Big old 600 pound lion! You want to go hug the lion, but you know better! Why? Because a lion also has these ferocious fangs and claws, and we’ve seen a lion just rip a zebra to shreds and carry it off through the wild and deserts. We’re scared of lions because they are the king of the jungle. Jesus is the Lamb; but John also says that Jesus is also a lion, and you cannot domesticate a lion. You can’t do it!

Here is what I want to happen as we start this new series called The WOW Statements of Jesus, or The Radical Statements of Jesus. Here is what I want to happen. Work with me a little bit!

Back in the 80’s, there was this new wave group that came out of Atlanta called The B-52’s. Raise your hand if you remember The B-52’s! Don’t act all religious! Yeah, ya’ll do! You probably danced to them, okay? They had a lot of popular songs. I think the first one was Rock Lobster. But another one that I like is a song called Roam. Do you remember that song, Roam? “Roam if you want to; roam around the world!” That’s what I want to happen in the next several weeks. You say, “What are you talking about?” What I want us to do is invite Jesus, the real Jesus, the radical Jesus, the Jesus who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah; I want us to invite the Lion to roam around inside of our lives as we look at His radical sayings. I want the prayer for us here this morning to be, “God, I give You the freedom to roam where You want in my life!” I guarantee you one thing, if I could go to Africa and bring back a big old 500 pound lion and turn him loose in your house or apartment; things would be different! There would be some changes! How much more if we give God through Jesus Christ the freedom to roam around in our lives, not only in the foyer and outside; but to roam around in the den of our lives; to roam around in the bedroom, and the secret places, and the attic, and the basement, and the closet that we don’t tell anybody about. What will happen if we allow the Lion to roam around in our minds and to destroy the lies that we’ve been holding on to, that keep us captive?

Why don’t we let the Lion roam around in our life and just roar His courage and boldness into our lives, that we would step out and do things, and try things that we never dreamed possible before. So that’s one of my prayers as we begin this new series on the WOW Statements of Jesus, that we would let The Lion of the Tribe of Judah roam around in our lives, and watch what happens!

Jesus said a lot of things that are just shocking. He did! Jesus said so many things that are just unbelievable. So when we listen to the Lion roar over the next several weeks in this series; you’ll see that it’s going to fall into three categories. One is what I call the mind expanding category. In other words, some of the sayings of Jesus will blow your mind! It’s going to expand your concept of reality and what’s possible in your life. It’s like that video we saw earlier where the people are asked if they can do greater works than Jesus. They were trying to wrap their mind around that concept, and I’m right there with them!

Other things that Jesus said are going to be gut wrenching. Some Sunday mornings, you’re going to come in here, and it’s going to be SHAPOOM! The Lion is going to convict you, and He’s going to cut you! Here’s the deal: Sometimes when you’re convicted, it’s painful, isn’t it? Jesus and God may wound or cut us, but He does that in order to heal.

We have some doctors and surgeons here this morning. How many people that they have seen would be absolutely dead had these doctors not had the courage, and the patients not had the courage to allow that doctor to cut open their flesh in order to get inside and heal them?

So I’m not going to sugar-coat any of these sayings of Jesus. They’re going to cut you and me, and we’re going to get a claw here and there; but He does that, not to wound us, but to heal us. Some of these sayings are going to be gut-wrenching and convicting.

The third category is that some of these statements are going to be life-affirming. I like that! Jesus said, “I came that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” He’s not talking about bios. That’s the prefix for “life” in the Greek. He’s talking about zoe; God’s very kind of life. Many of His statements are going to be promises that we need to hold on to that will breathe life into us. Not typical life, but God’s kind of life. Those are the three categories that these sayings will fall into.

We have to be careful in looking at this series that we don’t see these statements of Jesus as separate entities. In other words, Jesus says if someone slaps you on one cheek; turn the other to him also. Jesus said you should love your neighbor as yourself, and love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! Rejoice! Have a nice day!

Jesus says if we don’t forgive other people, then He will not forgive us. So as we look at all these statements Jesus made, some just really hit us hard! It’s easy to look at them sort of like little fortune cookies.

My daughters are on the front row. When we go to eat Chinese food, they love the fortune cookies. I don’t want you to look at these sayings as separate entities, because all the statements we’re going to look at, all the WOW statements: the life affirming, gut wrenching, mind-expanding statements are about one thing. It’s this over-arching purpose that God wants to do in your life and my life individually and collectively as a community. It’s all about one thing. Jesus was concerned about one thing primarily when He was on earth, and that was about the three letters: the K.O.G.! The Kingdom of God! Even a big old lineman from Nebraska knows that prayer, right? “Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven…” So when Jesus came, He was about bringing God’s rule and reign to earth. He wanted to bring the peace, the forgiveness, the love. Everything in Heaven, He was bringing that down to earth. He was living it out and was teaching these radical, social ethics that would be the social ethics of the Kingdom.

So as we look at these statements, don’t look at them as little separate sayings. “What’s the sound of one hand clapping?” No, no, no! It’s all about the Kingdom plan. It’s all about advancing the K.O.G. So as we get these words inside of us and allow the Lion to roam where He wants to in our lives; we’re going to begin to live out the K.O.G. in our lives, in our high schools, in the market place downtown, in our homes and relationships, and we’re going to watch and see what the Lion does as we let Him loose in our lives.

I can’t wait! There’s a part of me that is like, “Yeah, let’s go do it!” There is another part of me that’s like, “Whoa! It’s a Lion! I don’t know if I want to change quite yet…” But I know that God’s change is always good.

The first WOW statement I want to look at briefly today kind of reminds me of what was going on here. How many of you are familiar with the book The Last Lecture? Are you familiar with that book? Dr. Randy Pausch wrote the book. He was a professor in the Northeast who was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, he has since passed away. But he wrote this book and was on Oprah. He toured all around the United States, and it was basically his last lecture. It was the words of wisdom he wanted to leave to people before he died. Now I don’t agree with everything Randy said or did, but I think it’s a good concept, and I respect his boldness for doing what he did.

Jesus is having a last lecture talk right here in John chapter 14. He is talking primarily in this passage as we know to Peter, Philipp and Thomas. He has already said some WOW statements to them. “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen God.” Jesus has said to them, “I’m the only way to God.” Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me. I am the path, I am the road.” Okay…Now He’s going to say something even wilder. Look at John 14:12. He says, “I tell you the truth: Anyone who has faith in Me will do what I’ve been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.” Maybe your translation says, “Greater works you will do.”

I first tried to let that verse rattle inside of me about 20 something years ago, and it kind of blew my mind. I thought greater works? Look at the things Jesus did! He healed the sick, He raised the dead, and He cast out demons! Wow! He took a walk on the water without a bridge. I want to do this! So my buddies and I in college were jacked up! We were going to do this, and we were going to bring revival to our campus, and we were going to usher in our concept of the Kingdom of God as college students. We believed that. We prayed and wanted to see people healed, demons cast out, and people raised from the dead. I’ve told you these stories before, but you know what? It didn’t happen. As much as we prayed, as much as we fasted, as much as we stood on God’s Word, it did not happen. Therefore, something happened to me. It didn’t happen to the rest of my friends, I don’t think; but what happened to me was that I went into a tail spin of doubt, despair, and hopelessness when it came to God and believing that He is real, and believing that His Word is true.

The good news is that if you’re going through a tail spin like that today, I’m still here; I’m still breathing and still believing! God can take you through that. There’s a great verse in the Bible that says even when we’re faithless, God is faithful. That’s good, isn’t it?

What I learned about this verse as I studied it and learned more; it doesn’t mean greater works, greater miracles. It simply doesn’t mean that. History says that; experience will tell you that. You say, “Ben, you don’t believe in miracles?” Of course I do! “Do you believe people get healed today?” Of course I believe people are healed today. “Do you believe that people have demons today?” You’d better believe it! Years ago I was part of an exorcism. I believe—I’m serious; I believe in demons and demon possession. But you know what? It’s not happening as much as it did during Jesus’ time. People are not getting healed as much. They’re not—I don’t see blind people seeing and deaf people regaining their hearing, or the lame walking.

It’s not happening as much as it did when Jesus was here. So obviously, He wasn’t talking about the miracles here. What was He talking about? There are a lot of applications, and I want to talk about one of them.

One of the things that Jesus was talking about is that God has greater things in store for you. That’s good news, isn’t it? God has greater things in store for you. The word there for “work” in the Greek is the word ergon. It’s the same word that Paul uses in Philippians 1:6 where it says, “He who began a good ergon, began a good work, began a good thing in you will complete that until the day of Christ Jesus.” Isn’t that great to know? Your life may be an absolute mess right now. You may be flying blind right now and don’t know how to use the force! You’re just out there! God is with you. If God started a work in you, He is going to complete that work inside of you. So God has greater things in store for you; greater things in store for your life. You might say, “Well you don’t know what I’m going through. You don’t know the suffering I’m going through. You don’t know the circumstances I’m in.” Listen, you can’t understand everything right now. It’s impossible.

Soren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher said this; “Life must be lived forward, but can only be understood backward.” Life must be lived in the now. But it can only be understood many times looking backward as to what God was doing in your life. So let me tell you something. Let me give you some hope here today: God has greater things in store for you! Part of God’s greater things and greater work was the spreading of the Good News around the world. Jesus had to go to the Father this verse tells us, and when He went to the Father, He sent His Spirit to live inside of you and me. So we’re not out there just going it alone as we’re trying to follow God, allowing the Lion of the Tribe of Judah to walk around in our life. No, no, no! His Spirit lives inside of you and me to give us power, comfort, and to know that we’re not alone, to give us the strength to step out, and to stand. God’s Spirit does that!

When Jesus was on earth for 33 years, He was localized to this little speck in Israel. He’s gone global now to anyone who believes in Him, and He will send His Spirit to be with them and to comfort them. Part of the greater works is the spread of the Good News, and the fact that now God through Christ can be everywhere present in a very personal and direct way.

Let me give you a truth here. In the following weeks, we’re going to talk about some things that are going to hit hard, and as we start the New Year and look at these sayings of Jesus, it’s like wow! It’s going to come strong! I mean, it’s Kimbo Slice, its Gina Carano! You’ve got to be ready to go with this!

So before you get in the ring with Kimbo or Gina, listen: You’ve got to understand this about what God has done for you. If you don’t, you’re going to get all whacked out about God, and about the Gospel and about Christianity and think it’s a bunch of “do this, and don’t do this…” No, no, no!

When I was in college, my parents gave me a real cheesy gift. It wasn’t mesh, but it was made out of like a straw stuff; kind of a semi-painting print, and it was of a lion and had a verse on it. I didn’t really like it, but I liked the lion and the verse. This piece of art was one step above velvet Elvis and velvet Lord Supper. But it had this verse on it that I want to share with you because it’s important that we understand it—it’s so basic. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The wicked man flees, though no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.” The wicked man flees even though no one is chasing him! But the righteous are as bold as lions! We need to be righteous. The greatest need you and I have before God is to understand that we need His perfect 100% righteousness. Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, also to the Greek, for in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed.”

So when Jesus Christ died on the Cross—listen to this—He didn’t die just so we could be forgiven. Forgiveness is a great thing, a wonderful thing and is one of the most marvelous, magnificent things in the world. But God did more for you than forgiveness! Please hear me! You see, God not only forgave you, but He gave you the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. So you and I made an F on our moral report card. Jesus made an A+. When we trust Jesus, He gives us A+, and we trade in our F. On the Cross, God treated Jesus as if He were you and me so He could turn around and treat us as if we were Jesus.

There was a guy years ago who was a slave trader in England. His name was John Newton. He was a wicked, evil man. When he heard the news about this righteousness from God and that he could be forgiven, he wrote a song called Amazing Grace, not Ho Hum Grace. John Newton, along with his mentoree, William “Wilbur” Wilberforce, became two of the men who led the abolishment of slavery in England. The Gospel is good news! It’s great news! It’s mind-expanding, mind-blowing news that when God looks at us, if you are in Christ; He does not see you. He does not see your sin, your shame, your guilt. He sees the very righteousness of Jesus Christ.

I don’t have time to get into this today, but this righteousness that we have is outside of us. It is external to us. It doesn’t change based upon your feelings or emotions, or things you did or didn’t do. “Oh, I didn’t do my quiet time” or “I didn’t pray today.” Or, “Oh, I said a bad word in traffic!”

Do we need to live righteous lives? You bet! That’s what this series is about. But the righteousness that we need is an alien righteousness. It’s outside of us. It’s external. We need a righteousness that allows us to be accepted, affirmed and loved regardless of our good day, bad day performances. Does that make sense? That’s great news!

When God looks at us, if we’ve trusted in Christ; when He looks for righteousness, do you know where He looks? He doesn’t look down at you. He looks right there to His right hand. He looks at Christ. You and I are 100% righteous if we know Him. When we’re righteous, guess what? We’re bold! Why? Because we know we’ve been forgiven, and we know we’ve received the very righteousness of Jesus Christ. We’re bold. We know that we’re messed up and are beggars. We know we are not Jack Taco in and of ourselves. We are nothing! Nada! But the good news is, if we know Christ and have received His grace, we have everything in Christ! We are righteous and accepted! We are beautiful. We are wanted and desired! We are the apple of God’s eye! We are forgiven and are filled with God’s Spirit. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Heavenly places. He has greater things in store for you! That’s a reality whether you feel like it or not; that’s God’s reality over us today. He loves us. We are accepted and can be bold as lions!

I’m a C. S. Lewis freak. I’ve read most of his stuff; but my favorite line from C. S. Lewis—my favorite passage is not from Mere Christianity; it’s not from The Great Divorce. It’s not from Paralandra. That was a tough read! It’s from one of his children’s book series, The Chronicles of Narnia. He has a character in there named Aslan. Aslan is a big lion. There is a section in the book where Mr. Beaver is talking to Lucy, and he’s talking about Aslan. Mr. Beaver says “Well, you know, Aslan is not a tame lion.” Lucy asks later on of this Aslan, this Christ figure, “Is he safe?” Mr. Beaver says, “No, Aslan is not safe. He’s not a tame lion. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

Dear Heavenly Father, help us today if there are folks here who’ve never received this gift of righteousness. It’s not something we are born into. It’s not something we can inherit from our parents because they are Christians, or because our grandmother prayed, or because we were sprinkled or dunked. God, it’s through trusting in You Lord. If there is someone here who has not trusted in You and received Your Righteousness, may they do that today!

Lord, others of us are being drawn back to you. We’re being drawn back to Aslan, the good, unsafe King! Lord, I pray for those Christians here who need to come back home to You today, and You are calling them home, saying “Come home, My son. Come home, my daughter. Come back to the place where you belong. Come back into My fold. Come back into My pride.

Lord, there are many who need to come back to You today. Thank You that You are waiting on the porch, watching for them to come down that road. Thank You that You will run to meet them.

Is: It Is What It Is: Is the Bible the Answer to Life Change?

Is the Bible the answer to life change? We live in a broken place when it comes to our fathers. In the beginning God the Father created a perfect world, Adam fell into a trap and the relationship with God the Father went into a cataclysmic revolt and became broken. Ever since the Fall, we all desire to grow up with a father who is caring, strong, tender and tough. Throughout Scripture we see God the Creator, God the Father calling out to us wanting to be our Father. God’s Word is the grand story. It is the narrative of all narratives. It is the story that encompasses all of the smaller stories in your life and in my life. God the Father has revealed Himself through His story to us in His Son, and the Son has shown us the Father heart of God. Join Ben in the final message of this series as he takes a look at the Story through the lens of a Father who is seeking out His children. The Father from the beginning of time has been pursuing us with an unstoppable, unchangeable love…He is the Father we have all been looking for.

Tri God: Part 4 – Let 3-dom Ring (Independence Day)

TRI-GOD

Let 3-Dom Ring

Ed Young

July 6, 2003

Well, this is Fourth of July weekend, the weekend where we celebrate freedom that we share as a nation. What is the Fourth of July weekend? It’s basically a friends-gathering, fireworks-popping, barbeque-eating frenzy, where we really get into the fact that we are an autonomous nation, that we are free. There is nothing like the freedom that we share. There is nothing like living in the United States of America. As great as that freedom is to share, to think about and to experience, there is another freedom that I want to talk to you about today very quickly. It is much deeper, richer and more profound than any freedom we can experience as an American. This freedom lies in something that we have been talking about lately a lot around here.

I’m referring to the Trinity. True freedom is found in the Trinity. What is the Trinity? God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit — one in essence and three in persons. I call this talk, “Let 3-dom Ring.” What do I mean when I say that we have freedom in the Trinity? Well, I’m glad you asked. Check out three quick scripture verses.

Psalm 119:32 says, “I run in the paths of your commands for you have set my heart free.” God the Father frees us.

Look at John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” This is not some pseudo-freedom. This is real freedom. So, not only does God the Father set us free, but John 8 says God the Son sets us free as well.

Look at 2 Corinthians 3:15, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” The Holy Spirit frees us up as well. “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

So, we see right up front from scripture that the Trinity is all about freedom. That’s true freedom. That’s true liberation. Yet, a lot of you hearing my voice right now are not experiencing true freedom. You know down deep that you have this gnawing sense that something is amiss, something is not right, or that there is a disconnect going on. That’s why I want to take this talk a little bit deeper. I want to discuss with you several things the Bible says about experiencing the transcendence of the Trinity, about experiencing what God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit actually have to offer.

Here is the first one. Mankind was tethered to the Trinity at creation. We were tethered to the Trinity at creation. You see behind me a tetherball set. I have never liked the game of tetherball. It’s a horrible game. It will jack up your arms and mess up your hands. The object of tetherball is simple. One person stands on one side of the pole and tries to whack the ball this way, while the other person stands on the other side of the pole and tries to whack the ball the opposite way. Whoever wraps the rope around the pole wins the game. If you want to totally scar your forearms and break your fingers, then play tetherball. It’s called tetherball because the ball is tethered to the pole. We are tethered to the Trinity. We were tethered to the Trinity.

In Genesis 1:26, God is speaking. What does God say? “Let us (Us? That’s the plurality—God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, co-existent and co-eternal) make man (you and me) in our image.” We are the Trinity. We have a body, a mind and a spirit. We are Trinitarians. We are illustrations of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

The second thing you need to understand is something that is a little bit scary. In fact, it’s very sobering on this Fourth of July weekend. Our sin and rebellion, yours and mine, cut the tether. It just cut it. The Bible says that our sins have sequestered us and separated us from God.

Romans 3 says, “For all have sinned (All? Who is that? Everybody.) and fall short of the glory of God.” So, you have sinned and I have sinned. No one taught me how to sin. I just know how to sin. My parents didn’t give me private tutoring lessons on the art of rebellion. They didn’t put me in a sinning select league as a kid. No, I just know how to sin and so do you. Why do we know how to sin? We know how to sin because we are Adam’s kids. Adam and Eve, you know, bit the big apple. They messed up. They rebelled against God. Our sin cuts us off from God. It cuts the tether and here is what we have done.

Because we are separate from God due to our sins, we have revolved our lives pretty much around ourselves — what makes me look good, what gives me pleasure, what puts wind in my sail. We move from deal to deal, fun fix to fun fix, and relationship to relationship thinking that the next person, the next acquisition, the next thing, or the next amount of money will bring us connectivity and will bring us happiness.

Some of you, right now, know what I am talking about. Because, right now, some of you feel disconnected. You feel empty. You feel like you should be tethered to something, but you don’t know what’s wrong. You thought making that amount of money would do it, but you are still empty. You thought hooking up with that guy or that girl would do it, but that’s not done it. So often, we put Godly and supernatural expectations on humanistic events and relationships. You can’t put the kind of pressure on a person or thing to meet the needs that only God can meet. You’ve got to be tethered to the Trinity. Yet, so many of us right now, find ourselves away from God — that guilt, that sin, and that low-grade sensation that something is not right. You know you are missing the plan and what your life is all about. We were tethered to the creation of Trinity. Our sin cut the tether.

But check this third thing out. The third thing is that we have a need. We need to be tethered back to the Trinity. We need to be connected back to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We need it, and that’s what we are searching for. So many times, relationships, things and money are just simply microcosms of a deeper and more mature yearning — a yearning to be tethered to the Trinity.

So, what is your life like? Are you bouncing around through life, just orbiting around yourself, trying to rope this deal, or that person, thinking that will do it for you? The Bible says in Colossians 1, “For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him (that’s Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things … by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”

There is no way we can have the peace of God until we have peace with God, and peace with God occurs only when we are tethered back to the Trinity. God saw the situation, and the Bible says God is holy. He is perfect. He is 100% righteous. He can’t wink at sin. He can’t say, “Well, boys will be boys and girls will be girls.” God can’t do that. What did God do? Jot this down.

God the Father planned the work. God the Son worked the plan. And God the Holy Spirit actualized the work and the plan. Let me rewind that for a second. God the Father planned the work. God the Father could have said, “Well, mankind blew it. They bit the big apple. See ya!” God didn’t. God the Father set forth an ingenious plan. He commissioned his son, Jesus Christ, and Jesus voluntarily subordinated himself to the will of the Father. Jesus is not inferior to the Father. He is equal. Yet, in this situation, because of your sin and mine, Jesus voluntarily submitted himself operationally to the will of the Father. Jesus obeyed his plan and did his work. At 33 years of age, after Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, what did he do? He died on the cross. He shed his blood on Calvary for your junk and mine, for your sins and mine — something we don’t deserve. The last words before he died were these, “It is finished,” Jesus said. “The price has been paid. The work has been done. I’ve satisfied the demands of my father.” Now the Holy Spirit is actualizing the plan and the work.

Friends, you are not here by accident.

“Yeah, I just happened to be in town and visiting some relatives and friends, just kind of hanging out doing the Fourth of July weekend thing. They just kind of invited me to Fellowship.”

The Holy Spirit did all of that and is doing all of this. Maybe you were just driving by and said to yourself, “Wow, that looks like a shopping mall. I’ll turn in.” You found yourself here at Fellowship. All of us are here for a specific reason.

I laugh, because it happened about 48 hours ago. A guy was talking to me and he said, “You know, Ed, I feel like you are talking to me when you are up there speaking.”

I said, “Richard, these aren’t my words, man. This is the Holy Spirit using my vocal chords to communicate truth.”

So, the Holy Spirit, right now, is prompting, convicting, and motivating a lot of people who are here. He did it through the drama. He did it through the video. He did it through some words in a song. That’s how the Spirit of God works. He actualizes the plan and the work of the Lord.

Well, there is one more thing I’ve got to tell you about freedom. It’s great, because we have the freedom to choose. In all of this, we have got the freedom to choose. We either choose it or we don’t. We either choose to be tethered back to the Trinity or we say, “No, I’ll keep my distance. I’ll just remain disconnected and cut off from the Trinity for this life and the next.”

Revelation 22 says, “Whoever wishes (whoever wishes), let him take the free gift of the water of life.” So, it’s our choice. The ball is in our court. It’s our move. The Trinity has done the work. We either receive it or we don’t. You can’t do this for me and I can’t do it for you. You can tell me how to do it or I could show you how to do it, but we can’t do it for each other because it’s a personal choice — a decision between ourselves and God.

To elaborate on what I have said so far, let me just give you the Cliff’s Notes of a conversation I had recently with a young man in his 30s about this very subject. Let’s just call this man, Jeffrey. I’ll change his name to protect the innocent. Who knows, he might be in one of these five services. Jeffrey is a guy who is married, probably in his late thirties and has several kids. I was talking to Jeffrey one day, and as we were talking, things kind of turned toward the spiritual domain because he knows I am a pastor. He began to tell me about his church background a little bit.

I said, “Jeffrey, just to kind of see where you are spiritually, let me ask you a question. Let me kind of give you a hypothetical situation.”

He said, “Okay.”

I asked, “What if someone walked up to you and this person said, ‘Hey, Jeff, how do I become a follower of Christ? How do I become someone who is a Christian? How do I get to heaven?’ If someone asked you that question, Jeff, what would you say?”

Jeff rubbed his chin, kind of sat back on the couch and said, “That’s a good question.”

I said, “Jeff, that’s not a trick question. I just want to see where you are spiritually.”

He said, “Let me see. How does someone become a Christian and go to heaven? Well, Ed, you want to try to do the right thing. If you leave the world a better place, and you go to church, then you’ll be a Christian and you will go to heaven.”

I said, “Really? So, that’s what you would tell them?”

He said, “Yeah. I would tell them be a good guy, leave the world a better place and go to church and that will make you a Christian.”

I said, “Jeff, those are good things. But if you would like to, I’d be happy to share with you what the Bible says about the answer to the question this hypothetical guy is asking you. If you would like for me to tell you what the Bible says about it so you can know the right answer, I’ll just tell you.”

He said, “Well, yeah. I would like for you to tell me.”

Well, I’m a visual person. I majored in the arts so I asked, “Jeff, do you have a pen and some paper?”

He went and got one.

[Ed, over the next several minutes, illustrates what he is talking about by drawing a ladder on a dry-erase board. He writes God’s name at the top rung. He puts the names of Billy Graham, himself, Jeffrey and Osama Bin Laden, in that order, on rungs under God to illustrate the distance between us and God.]

I said, “Let me draw what I am kind of talking about here.” So I took this pen and I said, “Jeff, let me just draw like a ladder. This ladder represents a goodness continuum, a righteous continuum, if you will.” So I drew the rungs on the ladder. I said, “At the top, let’s put God and God’s standard. Now, Jeff, what is God’s standard? Perfection. God is holy. He’s 100% righteous. He’s pristine. He’s perfect. That’s the ultimate. That’s at the top of this goodness continuum.”

I said, “Jeff, at the bottom, I mean, obviously, for illustrative purposes this is not long enough, but let’s put people like axe murderers, Osama — people like that. So evil on the bottom and goodness on the top.”

Then I turned to him and said, “Jeffrey, my father has been a pastor for thirty some-odd years. My brother is a minister as well, and my youngest brother is a Christian singer. He has this band that travels all over the world. I’ve grown up in the ministry. It’s a great life. You know, I don’t want to name drop, but let me name drop for a second. One of my father’s good friends is Billy Graham. I don’t know Dr. Graham that well but my father does. He’s been to his house, and he’s done weddings with him. Billy Graham is the real deal. The guy is phenomenal. He’s one of the greatest Christians to ever walk on the planet. He has spoken to more people than any person who has ever lived. But I’ve heard Dr. Graham say this, Jeff. I’ve heard Billy Graham say, and I’m quoting him, ‘I have fallen miserably short of God’s standard of goodness.’ Billy Graham! Jeff, if Billy Graham is a humble guy, and if he had to put himself on this continuum, he would probably put himself down here. But let me put him where he needs to be. I would say Dr. Graham should be right here, and I’ll put his initials, B.G. [Ed places Dr. Graham’s initials well below God’s name.] Billy Graham is right there. I’ve heard him say that he has fallen miserably short of God’s standard. Now, Jeff, let me just be vulnerable here and put myself on this continuum. First of all, I will never surpass Billy Graham in the righteous column, in the good works column. It’s just not going to happen for me. I’m not going to surpass Billy Graham. So, I’ll put myself well south of Billy. Again, for illustrative purposes, let me put myself about right here, okay?” [Ed places his initials well below Billy Graham’s initials.]

Then I handed the pen to Jeff and asked, “Jeff, where would you put yourself?” I said, “Jeff, remember you told this guy, who asked you how to become a Christian, that if you are a good guy, if you leave the world a better place and go to church, that will get you where you want to go.”

He said, “Well, I put myself south of you, Ed.”

I said, “Okay. Wow, Jeff, we all have a problem here, man. There’s some distance between Billy Graham and God’s standard and I am never going to get past him and I know you won’t get past him. I’ve got a serious problem. I’ve got some distance that I cannot make up on my own. I don’t care how good a guy I am, how much I go to church, how many messages I preach, or how many books I write. I can’t get past Billy. I’ve got some serious distance between myself and God, caused by my sin. But, Jeff, you know what I have heard Billy Graham say? I’ve heard him say that he has fallen short of God’s standard. I’ve also heard him say that he has admitted his distance, his sin, before God. He has received Christ, and Christ has made up the distance. And I’ve done the same thing. So really, Billy Graham and myself are up here [Ed points to God’s standard on the ladder] not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus has done. But, Jeff, you have got a short fall here that you cannot make up on your own. You’ve got a distance between you and God that you cannot make up on your own. If you are aligned on this performance plan, this good works continuum, it’s not going to get you where you want to go, because God’s standard is perfection. God says if we live a perfect life, Jeff, we can make it to heaven — if we perform perfectly, not one bad move, not one off day, not one curse word, not one omission. If we are perfect, then we will get to heaven. God will say, ‘Let me give you a high five. Welcome to eternity. You performed your way in just like my son, Jesus.’ But again, one sin, one white lie, one stumble, and you’ve got some distance that you cannot make up. Jeff, here is what God did. God loves you so much and he loves me so much, that God the Father sent God the Son. God the Son lived a complete and perfectly righteous life. He died on a cross for your sins and mine and rose again.

The Holy Spirit of God has brought us together, Jeff. He’s linked us up just for this conversation. I might not ever see you again and I’m going to tell you something. The Spirit of God is presenting this to you. If you will appropriate what God has done for you by sending Christ on the cross, if you will receive that and apply that to your life, then the distance is made up. The moment you make that decision, from that day forward into eternity, when God looks at your life, he does not see Jeff the sinner. He sees the righteousness of Christ that you have appropriated into your life. Once you make that decision, what happens? You are tethered back to the Trinity. Jeff, it’s your call.”

Jeff works at a business where they do a lot of contracts, and I just wrote out a contract for him. I drew an X and a dotted line. I said, “Jeff, do you understand the deal that we were tethered to the Trinity? Our sin cut the tether. The Lord has done the work to tether us back. It’s your choice. If you will sign right here, you will become a Christ-follower. You will become a Christian, and that’s the answer to give to this hypothetical person. It’s by God’s grace and mercy — something we don’t deserve. It’s by receiving Christ. That is how someone gets to heaven. That’s how someone understands what it means to become a Christian.”

I handed him the pen and I watched him roll the pen in his thumb and index finger back and forth. I watched him think about it. I knew what was hanging in the balance. I knew what was out there and I was praying for him. I said, “Jeff, how about it, man?”

He said, “No, I don’t want to do it.”

I said, “Jeff, you understand all the stuff you need to know. Is there any good reason you can tell me why you don’t want to do this?”

He said, “Man, I don’t know. I’m just not there.”

I said, “Well, I want you to listen to me very carefully. If you are to die tonight, you are going to face a Christ-less eternity. God does not hurl anybody to hell.”

I’ll say it again. I talked about it this past First Wednesday. God does not hurl anybody to hell. Whenever you hear somebody say that God sent somebody to hell, they don’t understand anything about Christianity. We make that choice. We make the choice whether to spend eternity in heaven or hell. If you kept your distance from him, if you kept disconnected from him, and refused those opportunities to be tethered back to the Trinity, then when you die, God will say, “You know what? Your entire life, you kept me at a distance. Your entire life, you kept yourself cut off from me so you will have a greater measure of that in eternity.” And some will go and live in hell.

Some say, “Yeah, man, that will be cool! I’ll be able to party with my friends!”

No, you won’t, because the Bible says it is a place of utter isolation. It’s a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Bible calls it a place of utter remorse — that forever feeling of knowing that you had an opportunity to be tethered back to the Trinity, and yet, you said, “No.” And I told Jeff that. I knew what Jeff was refusing when he said, “No.”

I said, “Jeff, that’s cool. That’s your prerogative. Let me write out just a prayer for you to say. Jeff, when you say that prayer, when you make that commitment, here is my cell phone number, just call me. Because I want to hear about it.”

I have not received a call from Jeff and Jeff is facing an eternity disconnected from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. How about you? Are you trying to bank on the good works plan? Are you trying to bank on the Catholic plan, the Baptist plan, the Lutheran plan, being a good guy, good girl, keeping your nose clean, paying your taxes, or leaving the world a better place? That’s good, but it’s not going to get you where you want to go, because you are cut off. What if I handed you the pen? Where would you put yourself? What if I handed you the pen? Would you sign on the dotted line for this cosmic transaction to take place?

Once you do the deal, this transaction takes place: God’s and Christ’s and the Holy Spirit’s righteousness infiltrates your life. The grace and the mercy of God ambushes you and me, and at the same time, our junk, our guilt, and our sin is transferred to Christ’s shoulders. So, we receive the righteousness of Christ and all the junk in our lives is transferred to him. That’s the cosmic transaction that takes place. I can tell you how to do it, but again, I can’t make you do it. That’s what it means, though, to be tethered back to the Trinity.

Let 3-dom ring. Do you want to do that? If you do, just say these words with me right now. Bow your heads for a moment. Every head is bowed and every eye is closed — no one looking around. If you have made this decision before, pray for many people here who need to make this step. What if I handed you the pen? What if I said, “Okay, are you ready to sign?” Because you know the deal. You know the information right now. If you want to, you can just say these words silently with me, and the moment you say these words, the moment you make this choice, you will have this distance made up and you will be re-tethered to the Trinity. Just pray this prayer with me as the Holy Spirit leads, because he is prompting and convicting many people here.

“God, I admit to you that I have been disconnected, that my sin has cut the tether. I admit to you the fact, God, that I have been trying to orbit my life around myself or around my deal or my stuff. I realize that I am separated from you. But, I believe that you did the work. You set forth this ingenious plan to re-tether me back to you. I believe, Father, that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sins and rise again. Right now, I receive that. I appropriate that.”

As you are saying those words, here is what is happening, friends. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is infiltrating your life and all of your junk and your sin is being transferred to the shoulders of Jesus. Right now, you are experiencing true freedom — freedom from guilt and pain and sin. You are free now. You can declare your declaration of independence by saying, “Jesus Christ, take control of my life.”

If you prayed that prayer with me, as our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, all you have to do is say it one time. If you prayed that prayer with me for the very first time in your life, would you just lift your hand up for a second? Thank you. Many hands are going up. God sees your response. I’m going to tell you something. It’s the greatest thing you will ever do — the greatest thing.

God, thank you for these decisions. We ask these things in Jesus name, amen.

Listen to me very carefully, especially if you prayed that prayer with me. Tethered to, but not part of, the decision to become a Christ-follower is the next thing I want to talk to you about. I’ll say it again. Tethered to, but not part of, the decision you just made is something I’m going to talk to you about right now. I’m talking about baptism.

Here is what our Lord said about baptism. In the Bible, once someone made the decision to become a Christ-follower, they didn’t walk the aisle or come down front. In the Bible, they advertised that they had made the decision. They went from the private to the public. They were baptized. That’s the public profession of our faith, scripturally speaking. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name (that’s singular) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

First, we become disciples. A disciple is a choice followed by a process. After we make the decision to become a disciple, then we are baptized.

Let me give you five quick fabulous facts about baptism. You might not have ever heard these before, but download these right quick. Number one, you can follow along, baptism is the first test of obedience. It’s the litmus test of the Christian life. Jesus said, “Okay, you have trusted me in this private decision between you and me. Now, take it public.” It’s our first test of obedience.

A couple of years ago, I was having a conversation with someone who was a celebrity, a bona-fide celebrity. God brought us together for a conversation. This guy looked at me across my desk and told me something I will never forget. He said, “You know, Ed, I’m a Christian, and for me, it’s a private a thing. I can’t go public with my faith.”

I called his name and said, “You’re missing it. Christianity starts with a private decision, but it’s all about going public. It’s all about that. Jesus said, “After we become a Christian we should move out of the shadows and into the light by being baptized. It’s our first test of obedience, and if you are going to tell me that you trust Christ with your eternity yet you are going to balk at the first opportunity to go public and be baptized, then I’ve got to wonder if you have really appropriated the righteousness of Christ in your life.”

Here’s the second fabulous fact about baptism. Baptism, number two, is an amazing illustration of becoming a Christ-follower, of salvation. Every baptism in the Bible was by immersion. The word “baptize” is “baptizo” in the original language. It means, “to dip,” or, “immerse.” For example, if I was going to bury this dry erase board, I wouldn’t sprinkle dirt on it. I wouldn’t pour dirt on it. What would I do? I would dig a big honking hole, drop it in the big honking hole and put dirt on top of it. I would bury it. We baptize at Fellowship Church like everyone baptized in the Bible. When we have a question, we don’t say, “What does Ed say or what does this church say?” We say, “What does the Bible say?” The Bible says that we are to be baptized by immersion. Maybe you are like my wife and are saying, “Well, man, I was sprinkled as an infant.” Lisa was sprinkled in a Lutheran Church. Maybe you were sprinkled in a Catholic Church. Great. I am not at all saying your baptism did not take or it wasn’t any good. I’m not saying that at all. But I am saying, based on the Bible, that if you have made a decision to become a follower of Christ, get baptized by immersion. Get baptized by allowing a pastor to submerge you under water.

Number three — baptism is for Christ-followers only. The baptismal waters are not some super spiritual cleansing stuff. You won’t just walk out there, get baptized and say, “Wow, now I am a Christian!” I mean, I like Krispy Kreme donuts, but does it make me a donut when I go to Krispy Kreme? People say, “Well, I’ve been baptized.” Good. That’s doesn’t mean you are a Christian. Since baptism is for Christ-followers only, every baptism in the Bible was someone who was old enough to appropriate a faith decision, and then they were baptized. That’s why we do not baptize infants here. Infants were not baptized in the Bible. We don’t baptize infants. We have parent/child dedications. We don’t baptize infants because infants are not old enough to make a mature faith decision. Once you are old enough to make a mature faith decision, we will baptize you.

“Well, Ed, I have a child and I think he or she might be ready to be baptized.”

Great. We have a class called Kid Faith. Sign up for it, parents, and go with your children. You can tell if they are ready.

Number four — baptism is a biblical command. It’s not optional. It’s not like Jesus said, “Well, I suggest to you that you are to be baptized. We’ve just got to think about baptism. You might want to play it back and forth in your mind.” No, he said, “Do it. Get baptized.” It’s a command. It’s a beautiful thing. The illustration of baptism is awesome. It illustrates our identification with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection — the old life and the new life. The water symbolizes the blood of Jesus that cleanses us from all sins. It’s like the wedding ring of the Christian life.

Number five — baptism is a public declaration of our independence. When we are baptized, we are saying, “Okay, I’m on Christ’s team. I am free. I am tethered to the Trinity. I am liberated.” We’re not shy about showing people we are Americans on July Fourth. How about baptism? That’s much more important.

Well, I’ve talked enough about baptism on this stage. Let me do a fly-over now and dive into our baptismal pool on the east side of our campus.

(Video of the mechanics of baptism – what happens in the baptismal pool)

Well, that’s the message and that’s the methodology of baptism. I want everyone to take your Worship Guide out and turn to the page that has the picture of the baptism on it. It says, “Special Baptismal Celebration after the weekend services, July 12th/13th.” It’s very important, if you prayed the prayer with me to commit your life to Christ, to be tethered back to the Trinity. Take a pen or pencil and just jot your name, email, phone and etc. and check off the following information. If you do not have a pen or pencil, I’m sure someone on your row will have one, especially the ladies with the big purses. They will probably have about 44 different pens and pencils in there, different colors and whatever. So, if you will take some time, and just fill that out, right now as I am talking, and check off the day you would like to be baptized. Next weekend, we will wrap up this series on the Trinity. If you want to be baptized after the 6:30 pm service on Saturday, just sign up for Saturday – 7:30 pm. If you want to be baptized Sunday after this service, at about 12:30, just check off that box. Someone from our office will contact you prior to your baptism, we’ll talk to you very shortly about this, and answer any questions you might have.

Now, if you have prayed this prayer with me today, turn the page over to where it says, “My Story.” Just simply say, “I prayed the prayer with Ed to commit my life to Christ.” Or, if you want to just write your brief story. You can write your story and fill all the information out during this next song we are going to do called “Baptize Me.” This is a powerful song and I pray that the words ring true in your life and in my life. After you fill this card out, just tear off the perforated page like this, and fold it and drop it in the offering bag as it is passed. If you are still writing, and that’s cool, after the song is over and the closing prayer, then you can just take this card and hand it to one of the ushers or greeters or drop it by the information kiosk. Or, if you still haven’t finished it, you can drop it by the church or jump on our website to fill out the appropriate information there as well. This is going to be a powerful time next weekend and we are just so excited that you have prayed this prayer. Maybe you’ve become a Christian, maybe you have prayed the prayer weeks ago or months ago, but you have not followed through with baptism. This is your time to get baptized. This is going to be, again, just a wonderful experience.

Fourth of July weekend — it’s a friends-gathering, fireworks-popping, barbeque-eating extravaganza. But more importantly, today we have discovered it’s a time for allowing true 3-dom to ring. I thank you that so many of you have made the decision to be tethered to the Trinity, because that is real freedom. Let’s pray together.

God, thank you so much for this message. Thank you for the decisions that were made to follow you. I look forward, Lord, to next weekend and the wonderful things you are going to do through our time of worship as we conclude this series, and as we top it off with baptism. So, Father, hammer the words of this next song into our spirit and into our lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tri God: Part 2 – Holy Mystery

TRI-GOD

Holy Mystery

Ed Young

June 22, 2003

[Ed comes on stage carrying a box of popcorn, a box Raisinettes, and a soft drink]

One of the things that Lisa and I have been doing for a long time is having a regular date night. We encourage all couples, husbands and wives, to go out on dates. Guys, what you used to get her is what you use to keep her. When we go out, we like to see different types of movies. When we’re at the theater, we will kind of go off the “Body for God” lifestyle. We’ll order popcorn, without butter, and a soft drink. I probably drink about two cokes a month. I’ll also get these because I love these things, Raisinettes. Lisa and I like to watch mysteries. We like movies that make us think. It’s pretty cool, because when you watch a mystery, you get to see a character develop that was revealed at the beginning of the movie. You ask yourself, “I wonder what’s going to happen? I wonder who they are? What’s their essence or the nature of their whole persona?”

As you jam more popcorn into your mouth and you sip more soft drink, you say, “I see it now. They are starting to develop.” Then, when the credits roll, you say, “Whoa. Now, I know about this character. This was great development. This movie took me somewhere.”

Well, just for a second, think about the Trinity in those terms. Because, God has revealed himself to us like a holy mystery. He said, “Here I am. I’ll just show you a shadow, just a little bit of who I am. As you sit back and watch my holy mystery unfold on the silver screen of scripture, you will learn more and more about me. You’ll see my nature and my essence.”

After all, some of the most important questions we can ask are, “What is God like? Who is God?”

God is Trinity — one in essence and three in persons. If we are going to know God, if we are going to allow God to transform our lives, then we must understand who he is. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are one in essence and three in persons. So, right now, we have the opportunity to sit back, and vicariously, through me, eat some popcorn, sip a soft drink and watch, frame-by-frame, God’s redemptive show unfold in scripture.

Right up front, I want you to notice something. God has progressively revealed the Trinity throughout scripture. Did you hear that? God has progressively revealed himself to us throughout the scriptural record. Once we download that and think about that, we can see God, and we can see more and more of who he is. Look at the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament is sort of like a black and white movie. In the New Testament, it becomes Technicolor. One of my professors in seminary once told me, “Ed, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”

How does God reveal himself as the Trinity? Well, let’s look at the Old Testament, for example. In Genesis 1:26, we see this black and white image of God. “Then God (that’s singular) said, ‘Let us (plural), make man in our (plural) image, in our likeness.’”

What’s going on there? First, look in the Bible in Genesis 1. God is talking about “us” and “our.” Again, it’s a shadow. He’s revealing himself to us. It’s like a holy mystery.

Look at Genesis 3:22, “And the Lord God (singular) said, ‘The man has become like one of us (plural)…’”

In the Old Testament, in this black and white movie, we remember Jacob wrestling an angel of the Lord – plurality –Trinity. Do you remember the three asbestos boys — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? They were tossed into the fiery furnace. The king looked into the furnace and said, “Wait a minute. There is someone else in there!” A lot of theologians think that the “someone else” was a preincarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. In Genesis 18, God appeared to Abraham in three forms.

The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. The New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. The Old Testament is black and white. The New Testament is vivid Technicolor.

Check out what Jesus said. In Matthew 28, he said these words right before he ascended to the Father: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It’s the Trinity — family names. So, the more popcorn we eat, and the more soda we sip, the more God reveals himself to us.

The last time, in our opening session, I mentioned three statements. I said that these statements would be the foundation that we build this entire series on. Now, I’m not going to go back and repeat what I said last time. If you missed last time, please pick up the tape, because every message builds to the next. The three statements are statements that we have got to understand and play out in our minds.

The first one goes like this: The Trinity consists of three persons. When you talk about the Trinity, each of the persons of the Trinity is separate. Each of the persons is separate.

Here is the second big statement. Each of the three persons is fully God. They are each fully God.

The third statement goes like this: God is one. God is one. Right up front some of the mathematicians and accountants are saying, “Wait a minute, Ed, the math doesn’t work. I’ve got my palm pilot here. I’ve got my laptop, or I’ve got a calculator and it doesn’t make sense.”

See, the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one in essence and three in persons — transcends numbers. We have got to realize that we are finite and God is infinite. We are never going to get our arms around the essence of the Trinity, not on this side of the grave or in heaven. That’s how big, that’s how deep, that’s how huge, and that’s how massive God is.

The Trinity consists of three persons. That’s the first statement. What do I mean by that? I’m glad you ask. I mean several things. First of all, the Father is not the Son. Look at John 1:1-2, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.”

If you look at Verse 14 of John Chapter 1, it says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Take a wild guess who the Word is. You guessed it. It’s Jesus. The Father is not the Son.

The Son is not the Spirit. John 14:26 says, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” When you hear me say the Counselor or the Holy Spirit, what is that? Who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? The Holy Spirit does a lot of things. Let me list some activities of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit teaches us lessons, convicts us of sin, leads us to wise counsel, and keeps us from doing things contrary to the will of God.

Sometimes people walk up to me after a message and they will ask, “Ed, have you been like following me around? Have you been reading my mail?”

I say, “No, that’s simply the Holy Spirit of God.”

The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit. Here is something else. The Spirit is not the Father. 1 Peter 1, “To God’s elect… (that’s those of us who are Christ-followers.) who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ in sprinkling by his blood.” (I know we have many here who are investigating Christianity. You are not part of God’s family, yet. You are welcome here. Check it out. Listen to what I am saying because you need to know who it is you are seeking. )

See this first big honking statement about the Trinity. The Trinity consists of what? Three persons. Here’s the second big statement about the Trinity. Each of the persons — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit — is fully God. Each is fully God.

The Father is God. 2 Thessalonians 1:2 says, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Son is God. John 8:58 says, “I tell you the truth (here is what Christ said) before Abraham was born, I am.”

This “I am” statement is the ego ”I am.” It’s the name that God called himself to Abraham in the Old Testament. God said, “I am.” Jesus used this same name — I Am.

In John 20, we meet Thomas. We get close to Thomas. Thomas, the modernist, the quintessential rationalist, heard the talk. He heard everybody saying, “Hey, Jesus has risen from the dead! He has conquered death!”

Thomas said, “I don’t believe that. I won’t believe it until I see it. When I can touch those nail prints and I can see him, then I’ll believe it.”

Jesus appeared to him and what did Thomas say in John 20:28? He said, “My Lord and my God.”

Also, the Spirit is God. Acts 5:3-4, “Then Peter said, ’Annias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit… you’ve not lied to men but to God.’”

See the linkage? Holy Spirit-God. God-Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God. The Trinity is three persons, but each is fully God. Each has all the attributes of God.

Here’s a third big honking statement about the Trinity. God is one. God is one. The Trinity moves in concert together. It’s unified. There is a oneness, and that is mysterious.

Deuteronomy 6:4 says, “Hear, o Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.”

1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ.”

Now, when I pray, I conclude my prayers by saying, “In Jesus name, amen.” Why do I do that? Is that Christianese? Do I do it because I am a pastor? No. I do it because Christ is my advocate. He is my mediator. The Bible says God the Father commissioned God the Son to do the redemptive work on the cross for your sins and mine. It says God the Son has sent the Holy Spirit to actualize our faith, so we can live it out. I can pray directly to God the Father, because Jesus Christ is my priest. He’s my High Priest. Nowhere in the Bible does it say I have to go to a human priest to pray. You don’t have to come to me to pray. As Christians, and I am talking to believers now, we are in touch with something called the priesthood of the believer. That means any time, day or night, 24/7, we can go directly to God, through Jesus Christ. The Bible says that Christ can take our moanings and groanings, he can take our words that we can’t even articulate, he can take our thoughts and he can present them and articulate them perfectly to God the Father. Is that cool, or what? That’s great stuff!

In James 2:19, the half-brother of Jesus said, “You believe that there is one God. Good! (Good for you. Yeah!) Even the demons believe that — and shudder.”

You see, even the realm of the demonic believes in God. They believe in one God. Speaking of the demonic, isn’t it amazing how millions of people will wait with baited breath for the next Harry Potter book, a book that is all about sorcery, witchcraft and the realm of the demonic? Yet, people who have been Christians for years and years have never taken enough time to study the essence and the nature and the character of God. Why are so many Christians falling prey to cults and false religions? It’s because we don’t know who God is, and that is sad. We need to say, “God, forgive me for not knowing who you are.”

What if you were in a dating relationship, or a marriage, and you said, “You know what? I don’t really want to know about your personality. Forget it. Don’t tell me who you are. I don’t want to know your nature or your character.”

People would say, “Man, you are an igmo! Have you lost your mind? A relationship is all about knowing the personality of the other individual.”

I want to know God. I want to know Him. We have got to know the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit — one in essence and three in persons. They are co-existent and co-eternal.

It’s popular these days, I mean it really is, to say, “Why do we get so hot and bothered about the Trinity? Aren’t we splitting hairs? I mean, what does it really matter?”

I’m talking to you, friends, about the crux of Christianity. I’m talking to you about the foundation of our faith.

What if I said, “Okay, here’s a couple of hundred thousand dollars. Go out and build a house.”

You wouldn’t say, “Who cares about the foundation? I’m just going to go ahead and build the house.”

Foundations matter, don’t they? They matter, especially in this area. They really matter. We are talking about something that is huge. We are talking about the very foundation of our faith.

[Ed is going to demonstrate, here, how just believing in something doesn’t make it true.]

You know what? I am very passionate about something. I have a strong feeling about something. Just stay with me for a second. I believe, I mean, I really believe that this stage from here [Ed runs to one end of the stage] all the way to here [Ed runs to the other side of the stage], is one yard long. If you challenge me, I’ll get defensive. I believe that it’s a yard long. I feel it, man. I get emotional about it. It’s a yard long.

You’d say, “Ed, what have you been drinking, man? What is in this? That stage is not a yard long.”

Now, this stage is 20 yards long. I have measured it.

What if I said, “But I’m sincere about it being a yard long.”

You’d say, “Well, that’s good. But do you know what, Ed? You can be sincerely wrong.”

There is always a standard. This is a yardstick. [Ed holds up a yardstick.] I don’t care how much I debate it, how much I believe it, how much I cry about it, how much I roll around the ground, how much soda I sip, or how much popcorn I eat. Do you know what? The stage is not a yard long.

People say, “Yes, but they are sincere about their beliefs. They really mean it.”

That’s fine, but that does not mean it’s true. We have this belief these days, this politically correct belief that God is like this big “smoothie” God. Anywhere you look these days, you will see a smoothie store on the corner — Smoothie King, Jamba Juice — we even sell smoothies at The Source. I love smoothies. Smoothies are good. You can customize your smoothie.

“I want the protein body builder special.” Or, “I want the weight loss this or that.” Or, “I want the peach passion, mango, and blueberry punch smoothie.”

There are all types of smoothies. We love smoothies, and we love having choices. A lot of us think God is a “smoothie” God. We think, “You can throw Islam, Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, astronism and all this stuff in the blender, and God could just push the button and blend them all together. They are all the same.”

Whenever someone says that, they are advertising their ignorance. They are saying, “You know what? I have never studied the world religions. I never have.” All you have to do is a little bit of study, and you see the difference of the world religions. Christianity is totally unique and totally different from all the other major world religions. In God’s blender, it’s God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. You will never have another smoothie like it. It’s unique.

In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” He said that. He didn’t say, “I’m an option.” He didn’t say, “I’m one of many different ways.” He said, “I am the way.” I didn’t say it. I’m just telling you what Jesus said. You see, the exclusivity of Christianity really bothers people in our pluralistic culture. We can’t take it.

We say, “Surely, God, you grade on a cosmic curve. Surely, God. I know people say it’s a yard long and it’s not a yard long. But, God, please…”

The Trinity – it’s unique. Think about Islam, for example. Muslims deny the Trinity. They see God as a sequestered god, a god you can’t really know, and an authoritarian god. Look at nations where Islam rules — you have dictators. Look at the Muslim family. There is a strong pecking order. The man is the man, and he is more important than the woman. Think about Mormonism. Mormons deny the Trinity. In Mormonism, everybody is a god. You’re a god. He’s a god. She’s a god. [Ed sings] Everywhere a god, god. I’m not saying that to make fun of Mormons. That’s a fact. They deny the Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Trinity. They feel that God the Father created God the Son. One sect of Hinduism denotes over 330 million different gods. They, obviously, deny the Trinity. Buddhism is just a philosophy of life. So, to sit there and say, “Yeah, all the world religions are kind of the same…” Hello? They are not.

We love Muslims. We love Buddhists. We love Hindus. We love Jehovah’s Witnesses. We are to build bridges of love to them at Fellowship Church. But, we are going to draw lines in the sand. We are going to say, “Here is our standard. Here is truth. Here is how God has revealed himself to us in this holy mystery.” As believers, we need to understand this. We don’t need to argue people into the kingdom. We need to love them by speaking the truth cloaked in compassion.

Just for a second, think about yourself as a 9-year-old. Just for a second. Let’s say you are at the local swimming pool — the community swimming pool. You are 9 years of age, and you are there with your mom. You are swimming in the shallow waters, and you still have your floaties on. Let’s say you look at your mom and say, “Mom, my friends are jumping off the high dive. Today, Mom, I am going to jump off the high dive. I really am, Mom.”

Your mom says, “Good! Go for it.”

So, you rip those floaties off and you climb up the ladder.

“Wow,” you say to yourself, “I didn’t realize it was this high.”

You wait your turn while your friends are jumping off.

Your friends say, “Come on, man. It’s easy!”

You say, “I am. I’m going to do it.”

Now, it’s your turn. Everybody in the pool is watching. You make your way to the end of the diving board. You curl your toes over the end.

“Mom, I’ll do it. I’m going to do it, Mom.”

All of a sudden, you realize, “Man, look how deep it is! It’s deep. Look how high I am. This is freaky!”

You start hyperventilating. Then you say, “I can’t do it, man.”

You walk back down the diving board, “Excuse me. Excuse me, man. I’m sorry.”

Your friends start teasing you, “Man, you’re a baby, man.”

“Sorry I can’t do it, Mom. I’m going to put my floaties back on.”

Then, you go back to the shallow end.

Throughout history, starting specifically in the second and third century, a lot of people have treated the Trinity that way. A lot of people have walked to the edge of the high dive, looked down and gone, “Whoa, look how mysterious, look how big, the Trinity is. Look how vast God is. I can’t do this.” They back off the diving board and they scale down the ladder. They have given shallow water solutions to the nature and the character of God. They have “dumbed down” the Trinity.

Modalism – that’s the actor God. It sounds like no problem. Modalists say, “God is just one by himself. He wears certain hats. Sometimes he wears the Father hat. Sometimes he wears the Son hat. Other times, he wears the Holy Spirit hat. But, he is just one God wearing different hats.”

Some people may say, “Ed, what’s the big deal about modalism?”

Modalism was rejected as heresy by the church in the second and third century. It’s known as sibellionism or monarchionism. I won’t go there, but let’s just call it modalism.

Why is modalism wrong? Why doesn’t it hold biblical water? I’m glad you asked. Modalism rips the heart out of the atonement. If you are a modalist, what do you do with the atonement? God the Father sent God the Son, God the Son paid the price on the cross for your sins and mine, and then he sent the Holy Spirit. Was God just kind of acting there? Was he just kind of messing around?

If you are a modalist, what do you do with the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3? Christ was baptized and the Father said, “This is my son in whom I am well pleased.” The Holy Spirit descended on the Son in the form of a dove. If you are a modalist, what do you say? Do you say, “I guess Jesus was like this cosmic ventriloquist. He wasn’t really there…he was just one.”

If you are a modalist, what do you do with Christ’s prayer in the garden? Jesus was praying to the Father, “Not my will. Your will.” Was he, like, faking everybody out? “Here, let me pray to myself. That’s what I am going to do.”

Modalism — a shallow-water solution rejected as heresy in the second and third century. We see modalism today — a shallow-water solution. I understand why they did it. They just backed off the high dive.

Another heresy is called subordinationism, or the “pecking order” god.

Some say, “God is like the ‘flow chart’ god. God the Father is ‘the man.’ He is the CEO in the corner office. He has the private jet with all the perks. Now, the Son is lesser than God. The Father created the Son, and the Son is not really fully god.”

Uh-oh. You just denied the deity of Christ. A creature does not have the rpm’s to be a sin sacrifice for your condemnation or mine, so you are in serious trouble there.

There is a third heresy — polytheism, or the “multiple-choice” god. Some people that dumb down the Trinity say, “God the Father is one God. God the Son is another God. God the Holy Spirit is another God. There are three separate gods.” Well, who do you pray to? The Bible never supports that. Who does what? Where is the unity? Where is the movement in concert together?

Does the Trinity matter? Is it important? Are we splitting hairs? Man, it matters. Yes, it’s important. No, we are not splitting hairs. We are showing you the uniqueness of the Christian faith.

What you are hearing right now will be broadcast all over the world. Also, by means of radio, New York City, Phoenix, Atlanta, Houston, and many other cities will hear this. Right now, I want to talk directly to those who are watching and those who are listening, because many people have never heard what we are talking about. We are simply talking about the truth of the nature and the character of God. We are simply talking about a God who is crazy about human beings. We are talking about a God who loves us so much that he did something to redeem us and buy us back. The Trinity, you see, should transcend everything we say, do, touch and feel.

Believers should be like tellers at a bank. Have you ever seen a teller at a bank? Have you ever seen these people handle money? It’s unbelievable to see them handle money. They can just … [Ed acts like he is shuffling and he makes the sound of shuffling money] behind their backs. They look like Alan Iverson with money. They can spot a counterfeit bill instantly. Do you know why? Because, they handle the real thing so much, when something counterfeit comes their way it’s like, “Whoa, counterfeit!”

As Christ-followers, we have got to know the basics of the faith. We have got to know them so well that, when a counterfeit comes our way, it just stands out like a sore thumb. So, this is the Bible. The Trinity is what makes Christianity, Christianity. It separates it from all other world religions. It also, and I’m talking about the Trinity now, is what makes truth, truth. The Trinity is our standard. God’s word is our standard. About now, many of you who are believers are saying [Ed is clapping while he says], “Ed, man, thanks for this message. I really know a lot now. I’ve got a lot of knowledge under my belt.” That’s great. We need to have knowledge. But, don’t miss this.

The most important thing is not the knowledge. I’ll say it again. The most important thing, the most vital thing, is not the knowledge. The most important thing is doing it. It’s living it out. It’s allowing the Trinity to transcend the areas of our lives. That is what is most important. So, gaining some knowledge is not going deep. Most of us don’t need another Bible study. We need to have a venue of ministry where we can do the stuff. We have got to know it, and we have got to do it. If you are a believer, then you are a Trinitarian. What are the implications of the Trinity? You know truth. What are you doing with truth?

What if I said, “You know what? I figured out the cure for AIDS. I’ve got it. I’ve got it, but I’m not going to tell anybody about it. ”

You’d say, “Ed, you are an igmo! Are you crazy? You’d better share it!”

We’ve got the truth. We’ve got the message of hope and love and compassion. We have got to share it. Do you really want to live out what it means to be a Trinitarian? Think about your finances. Jesus said that we should help the poor. Are you helping the poor? We have clothing drives, food drives, and mission trips here at Fellowship. Are you really helping the poor? Jesus said that we are to. Again, I’m just talking about going deep. People say, “I want to go deep.” Well, let’s talk deep. How about 10%? The Bible says 10% of everything you and I make, right off the top, should go to our local house of worship. It is a minimum worship requirement. Again, we are talking about the Trinity transforming your life. So, don’t give me this weak smack that you want knowledge without doing it, because the Bible is a book that says we should do it, and not just know it. How about your neighbor who is facing a Christ-less eternity? How about that person who works beside you in the cubicle who doesn’t know the Lord? Are you a Trinitarian? Are you serving them? Are you loving them? Are you sharing with them when you get a chance? Maybe your language keeps you from doing it. Maybe going to those topless clubs keeps you from the power that God wants you to walk in. Maybe your lifestyle and what you do really doesn’t sync up. Hey, husbands, are you a Trinitarian in your marriage? Love your wife like Jesus Christ has loved the Church. Children, honor your parents. I’m talking about deep stuff now.

The world is watching you and me. They are sitting back. They’re stuffing their faces with popcorn, and they’re sipping on soda. They want to see the holy mystery of the Trinity — not only in the church or in this theatre, but also in the theatre of the world. As they look at your life and mine, do they see a holy mystery?

Tri God: Part 1 – Tethered to the Trinity

TRI-GOD

Tethered To the Trinity

Ed Young

June 15, 2003

Have you ever met anybody that you consider to be a namedropper — someone who likes to drop out names to impress you? We all know namedroppers. They are pretty humorous. If you will forgive me, I want to name drop. We are in church, so you can forgive me for this. [Ed begins to talk sarcastically about how he “knows” George Bush.] I know President George W. Bush. I mean, I really know the guy. I’ve read some stuff written about him. I’ve talked to some people who know him really well. When I was a kid, I visited the White House. I took a tour of the place where he hangs out now. Several years ago, I even shook his hand and had a quick conversation with him. I know President George Bush. Aren’t you impressed? I really know him. I do. [Ed laughs to show that he was being sarcastic.] No, I don’t. I know about him, but I don’t know George Bush. I don’t know the essence of who he is. I don’t really know him.

We often talk about God in the same terms. “Oh, I know God. I know God. I’ve read some stuff he has written down. I’ve visited his house, occasionally — especially during Christmas Eve and Easter. I know some people who are really connected to him. I know God.”

No, you don’t. You know about God, but you don’t really know God. That’s precisely why we are beginning a series called TRI-GOD. We want this series to be a series that doesn’t just tell you about God but helps you me to really get to know God on an intimate level. God has revealed himself to us as Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. It’s the foundation of Christianity. The deepest questions of life are, “What is God like? Who is God? Who is he?” He’s all about the Trinity.

Over the last several weeks, while I’ve been studying for this topic, I have talked to a lot of people who have been Christians for a long time about the Trinity. I’ve asked them two simple questions. I asked, “Hey, have you ever heard a series of messages on the Trinity?” They said, “No.” I asked, “Have you ever heard just one sermon on the Trinity?” They said, “No.” When you think about it, that’s sad. It’s pitiful, because the Trinity is what Christianity is all about. It’s the foundation of Christianity. God is one in essence and three in persons.

This study is paramount for all of us because Trinitarian implications loom large. For example, how do you know that you are going to heaven? The answer is the Trinity. How do you know that your sins have been forgiven and forgotten? The answer is the Trinity. How can you have an incredible marriage, deep intimacy and communication? How? The answer is the Trinity. How can your family operate from the same page? The answer is the Trinity. How can you have the power to overcome that hurtful habit, that substance abuse or that relational hang-up? The answer is the Trinity. Why do you have a desire for unity? The trinity. Diversity? The Trinity. Equality? The Trinity.

This series, friends, I believe, will change the course of our lives. We are answering the question, “What is God like and how does that affect and play out in my existence as well?” In this introductory talk, I’m going to lob two questions your way and talk about the answers. The first question is, “What is the Trinity?” The second question is, “Why does the Trinity matter?” We have helped you out by providing a message map in your worship guide. So, follow along, fill in the blanks and use it as a resource because each message builds to the next.

What is the Trinity? The Trinity is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We know that. But, specifically, the word “Trinity” means, “tri-unity” or, “three in oneness.” I’m going to talk about three statements right now, and I will go back to these statements throughout our series together.

Here’s the first one: God is three persons.

Here’s the second one: each is fully God.

Here’s the third one: there is one God.

Some of you are saying, “Ed, wait a minute. That’s a contradiction. Let me look at my message map here. God’s three persons. Okay. Each is fully God and there is one God. That’s a contradiction.” No, that’s not a contradiction. A contradiction is, “There is one God – there is not one God.” That’s a contradiction. The Trinity is a mystery. This is something so vast, so broad, and so infinite that we can’t totally download everything. That’s how big, that’s how mighty God is. So, we have to own that and understand that right up front. Repeat this phrase with me… God is one in essence and three in persons. Are you ready? One, two, three… God is one in essence and three in persons. He is one in essence and three in persons. I promise you at the end of our series together, you and I will understand as much as we can in our finiteness. Not only will we understand it intellectually, but we will also be able to apply it in our lives here on Earth.

When we look at the Trinity, we have to understand our own limitations. Write that down as big as Dallas. We have to understand our limitations. We are limited. We are the creatures and God is the creator. We are just limited. We don’t have it all figured out. We have to check our pride and ego at the door — not our intellect, because God wants thinking people. But, we have to check our pride at the door. Now, if you are a seeker, if you are not a Christ-follower, or if you are kind of testing the waters of Christianity, then this is a great series for you. You can discover, through this series, who it is you are seeking. You will know the personality of the Lord himself.

What is so interesting about the Trinity is that a lot of us are experiencing Trinitarian blessings without even realizing it. If you have become a Christian, then you have experienced the Trinity. If you have been baptized, then you have experienced the Trinity. If you read God’s Word, the Bible, then you experience the Trinity. If you are married, then you are experiencing the Trinity. It’s all about the Trinity.

What are we limited by? We are limited by our humanity. We are human beings. We are the creatures and God is the creator. We are sinners. We can never, ever, fully understand the Trinity. I’ll say it again. We can never, ever, fully understand the Trinity. Even when we get to heaven, there will be a mystery surrounding the Trinity; a mystery surrounding God. But we shouldn’t say, “Well, I’ll never understand it so I’m just not going to study, and I’m not going to know as much as I can know.” That would not be smart. We need to have understanding, because the more understanding we have, the greater our intimacy becomes. The greater our intimacy becomes, the greater our life change will be. But, we are never, ever, going to fully grasp this stuff. We are limited by our humanity.

Read Isaiah 55:8-9. “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ says God. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’”

Listen to what author James White says. “The Trinity is a truth that tests our dedication to the principle that God is smarter than we are.” Study the major world religions and you will see that most of them have a whacked view of the Trinity. Do you know why? You can trace it back to the founders. Their founders were not willing to admit that God is wider, bigger, broader and more mysterious than they ever imagined. Thus, you have whacked theology and whacked beliefs. We will talk more about that next weekend.

So, we are limited by our humanity. When it comes to the Trinity, we are also limited by our language, because our language is based on time — past, present and future. The Trinity, however, is timeless. There is no beginning and no end to the Trinity. Think about that for a second. The Trinity has existed forever. Just think about that — forever. Talk about sensory overload! It will fry out brains. We can’t comprehend that — forever? Everything we know of has a beginning and an ending. Forever? The Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit are co-existent and co-eternal. People say, sometimes, that God is omniscient. That means he is all knowing. He is omnipresent. That means he is everywhere. He is omnipotent. That means he is all-powerful. When I say those terms, we think about God the Father. But, don’t just think about God the Father. Those terms, those attributes, are true with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as well. They have always existed together in perfect unity, in perfect harmony, and in perfect uniqueness. We are limited by our language.

I remember when LeeBeth was born, 16 years ago. I was in the delivery room and the doctor handed me this baby. Parents, you know what I’m talking about. I couldn’t even articulate my emotions. I simply started crying. I can’t tell you how I feel about my kids, nor can you, moms and dads. This is especially true for dads on this Father’s Day. We can’t describe how we feel.

I love to use illustrations when I talk — analogies. Why do I do that? Do I do it just to do it? No. I do it because Jesus did it. That was Christ’s teaching model. 70% of his words were words of application, words of word pictures. The other 30% were information. That’s why I teach the way I teach. But, I am going to tell you something. When I try to illustrate the Trinity, every single illustration I use will break down at some point. Why? Because that’s how broad, that’s how vast, and that’s how mysterious the Trinity really is.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12, compares our understanding to that of a child. “When I was a child, I talked like child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Get this one down. Our limitations — we know we are limited by humanity and language — should not deter our explorations. Once again, we shouldn’t say, “This is just too much for me, man. This is over my head.” Don’t let that scare you, because you don’t have to really understand something to really experience it.

Let me take you to Matthew 28:19. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The Trinity is implicit in scripture. It is not explicit. You will not find the word “Trinity” in the Bible. You can search from Genesis all the way to the maps. (They have maps in the back.) It’s not in there. You will not see in scripture where it says, “Here is the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.” It’s implicit. The deity of Christ, Jesus being fully God and fully man, is implicit, not explicit, in scripture. It’s there, and for two thousand years, it’s been recognized. But, you will not find the word. Christ used the word “disciple” in Matthew 28. Do you know what the word “disciple” means? It means learner. If you are a disciple, then you are a learner. Being a disciple, though, is a decision followed by a process. The decision that we make is a Trinitarian decision. We believe that God the Father sent God the Son to die on the cross for our sins and rise again. We believe that God the Son ascended back to the Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. Once we receive that, we receive the total package. We are tethered to the Trinity. That’s the decision. The process occurs as we get to know God better, deeper and richer. That’s what “disciple” means.

It’s kind of funny to look around the world, because the world has a lot of things that are illustrations and shadows of the Trinity. There are a lot of Trinitarian shadows here on earth. Today is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all of the fathers. Being a father is a Trinitarian shadow because we are dads, we are husbands and we are sons. Think about time. Time is a Trinitarian shadow. You have got past, present and future. Think about space. You have height, length and width — a Trinitarian shadow. Think about music. You have got Earth, Wind and Fire. As you look at earth, you see a lot of things that are analogous to things in heaven. Think about the family. You have a husband, wife and offspring. You can on and on with Trinitarian type shadows.

I’ll say it again; you don’t have to understand something to experience it. Do you agree with that? You don’t have to understand it fully. My mother bought me an MP3 player. It has hundreds of songs on it. When I run five to six days a week, I listen to that MP3 player. I don’t understand it because I am technologically challenged, but I experience it. Last night I channel surfed. I don’t understand the intricacies of television but I experienced it. Right now, I am experiencing gravity; yet, I don’t understand everything about the law of gravity. I feel and experience the love I have for my wife. I don’t understand it all, but I experience it. So, we need to realize that.

Again, don’t say, “I’m not going to try to understand anything about it.” If you have a friendship with someone that you want to grow deeper, then you find out more about that person. You try to gain knowledge about that person. The more you do this, the deeper your relationship becomes. You don’t say, “No, don’t tell me anymore about yourself. Don’t tell me how you feel about this. Don’t tell me about your hobbies or your likes and dislikes. I don’t want to know anything. Don’t tell me.” If you do, then your relationship will never grow. You will never have a rich friendship. The same is true with God. You shouldn’t say, “No, Trinity, no. I don’t want to hear it. Just let me keep you at a distance, God.” If you say that, then you are never going to discover Trinitarian truths.

I would love to diesel on and talk to you about how the Godhead is co-existent and co-eternal. I would love to talk about how the Godhead voluntarily subordinates itself to one another, but that is for a later time. God is one in essence and three in persons.

Now, let’s do the why question, because many of you might be like me. You may be a “why” person. You are probably asking right now, “Okay, Ed, why does this matter? I understand that God is three persons, that each is fully God and that there is one God, but why does this matter to me?”

I’m glad you asked. I’ll give you three quick reasons the why of the Trinity, or you could say the whys of the Trinity, matter.

Number one — the Trinity refines our relationship with God. That’s what the Trinity does. It refines our relationship with God. While I was growing up in church, I learned a song. You have probably heard it before. It was probably my favorite song as a kid. It’s called, “Deep and Wide.”

[Ed begins to sing the song, “Deep and Wide.”]

“Deep and Wide. Deep and Wide. There’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.” I love that song. There are blanks you know. “_________ and wide. ___________ and wide. There’s a fountain flowing ____________ and wide.”

I think a lot of us are _________ and wide, spiritually speaking. God doesn’t want us to be _________ and wide. He wants us to be deep and wide. The Trinity will help us grow deep and wide.

In Jeremiah 9:23-24, the Lord says, “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me.”

“Knows me.” This is God speaking. So, the number one goal in life, our number one agenda, should be to know God. If we are going to know God, we have got to understand something about his personality — God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit — and how he reveals himself to us.

Look at what the Apostle Paul prayed for as he talked to the Christians in Ephesus. He said, “My prayer is that these people would know God through the Trinity.” Check this out. In Ephesians 1:17, Paul said, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.”

During this series, many of us are going to be dropped to silence; maybe through a song like the one we did today, “Holy, Holy, Holy,” maybe through God’s word, or maybe through prayer. That’s cool. It’s wonderful to just sit back and say, “God, I worship you. You are so vast. You are so mighty. You are so awesome. I can just comprehend some of you. And I worship you because of that.”

Deep and wide. So, it refines, or it deepens, our relationship with God.

Number two — it centers our understanding of the Gospel. You could say — it aligns our understanding of the Gospel. Let’s talk about alignment for a second. Here is something that can happen in your life and mine. If we are not careful in this me-istic culture, we can think that we are the center of the Gospel. Do you know what the Gospel is? The Gospel is the Good News. We can think that we are the center. We can actually tell ourselves, “It’s all about me. God needs me. That’s right. God needs me. God created me because he was lonely, and there was a hole in his heart. So, weak and pitiful God created me. I am the center of the Gospel.”

That line of thinking is wrong. It will not hold biblical water. God does not need you or me. Within the Trinity, God had, has and will have perfect fellowship, perfect relationship, perfect harmony, perfect unity, and perfect individuality. He does not need you or me. He created us because of His love, His grace and His mercy. But, God does not need us. A lot of people are running around and thinking, “Wow, God needs me on his team. I bet God is saying, ‘Man, I’m lucky to have her,’ or, ‘I’m lucky to have him.’”

Listen to the words of John Piper. “Unless we begin with God in this way,” in other words, God being the center of the Gospel, “when the Gospel comes to us, we will inevitably put ourselves at the center of the Gospel. We will feel that our value, rather than God’s value, is the driving force of the Gospel. We’ll trace the Gospel back to God’s need for us instead of tracing it back to the sovereign grace that rescues sinners in need of God.”

God doesn’t exist for us. We exist for God. The greatest thing we can do is to know God and to realize that it is all about God. That’s why I said several weeks ago that salvation is outside of ourselves. We are in rubble trouble. We can’t build anything to reach God. God has built everything to reach us through the Trinity. It’s by God’s grace, mercy and power that everything happens. So, God is at the center of the Gospel. We must have alignment.

So, the Trinity refines our relationship with God. It aligns our understanding of the Gospel. Number three — it defines the uniqueness of Christianity. It defines the uniqueness of Christianity. You can throw every major world religion into one four-dimensional box — height, length, width and time. Christianity, though, blows the doors off the box, because of the Trinity.

Whenever you hear someone say, “You know, all religions are pretty much the same,” do you know what these people are telling you? They are saying, “I am ignorant and I have never studied the world religions.” Whenever you hear someone say that, just remember that they are advertising their ignorance, because it’s true. They have never studied the religions, because the Trinity is so unique, and it’s so one-of-a-kind, that there is nothing even close to it in the other major world religions.

Einstein said he thought that there are something like 11 different dimensions. Some people think there might be 14 different dimensions. We only operate in four dimensions — only four. Next weekend, I am going to show you the uniqueness of the Trinity and how the Trinity is just about Christianity. I am going to show you how Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Mormonism, and other -isms have a whacked view of the Trinity. That’s next weekend. That’s important for us because we need to understand who we are in Christ and who we are as Christians, so that we will not fall prey to people who have a whacked view of the foundation of our faith.

Sadly, we have not received any teaching on the Trinity. As a result, Christians have suffered. But, we are going to change that course with this series. I believe that this series is going to revolutionize how we live our lives.

1 Corinthians 1:20,25 say, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? … For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

We must worship God as he has revealed himself to us, and not just in ways that we, in our finiteness, can understand.

The first time I saw her, she had on an orange dress. I got her phone number and called her. Several months later, we began to date, if you can call it that. I am talking about my wife, Lisa. It was about 27 years ago. Can you believe that? Twenty-seven years ago I fell in love with her. The more I understand her, the more my love has grown for her, and the greater our intimacy and communication have grown. It’s been a great thing.

That’s been my prayer for you over the last several weeks as I prepared for this series. It’s been my prayer that all of us fall passionately and madly in love with the Trinity. People say, “I love God’s grace. I love God’s mercy. I love the church. I love the Bible.” But, you never hear anyone say, “I love the Trinity.” We should. It’s my prayer that we fall madly in love with the Trinity. It’s my prayer that we understand the Trinity in a deeper and wider realm. It’s my prayer that we understand the personality of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, because that is what it truly means to Tri-God.

World Religions 101: When Joseph Smith Meets Jesus

WORLD RELIGIONS 101

When Joseph Smith Meets Jesus

Ben Young

June 1, 2003

Recently I was chilling out in my house, minding my own business, when I heard a knock on the front door. Unlike a telephone that I can let ring and ring and ring, I had to go and at least see who is at the front door. So I got up, made my way to the door. As I tell my kids, always check who it is first, and I have the advantage of being tall enough to look through the peep hole. As I looked through the peep hole on the other side of my door I see two young guys wearing white dress shirts and a tie. You have no idea how happy that made me to see them. The only way I could have been any happier was if Ed McMahon himself would have been standing in front of them with a big old check. I opened the door and met the guys. Very nice and polite.

They said, “Hey, we are here from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Have you ever heard of us before?” Yeah, I think so. They said, “We are here to share a message, a message we have from God. Do you want to hear a message?” I said, “Yes, I would love to hear your message.” So I just listened to them for a while and played very dumb. I just asked questions, as if I were inquiring into their particular religion. I usually do this and one of my questions that I ask people from different religious perspectives, whether they are Mormon or Buddhist or whatever is, “What do I need to do if I want to become a Mormon?” I was kind of taking this more inquisitive, spiritual-seeker motif in the first part of the conversation.

Now, I will tell you what happened in that conversation later on in our message. And hopefully that will provide some practical tools for us on how to dialogue with people coming from different religious perspectives, especially the Mormon perspective because that is what we are studying.

We are in a series called, When Buddha Meets Jesus. But, we are not just talking about Buddhism; we are talking about the various religions of the world and giving a brief introduction to these religious perspectives. And now if some of you are coming out of some of these different religious perspectives and you are thinking,”That is not what we believe, you forgot to say this…” I realize that there is no way I can cover everything Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims believe in 30 minutes. That is not possible anymore than I can cover what Christians believe in 30 minutes. This is an introduction to some of the religions of the world. Throughout our study we have looked at the different religious perspectives and hopefully discovered that everybody has a religious perspective. Religion is a worldview. In other words, everyone has answered questions like: Is there a God? How should I relate to Him? How should I live my life? What happens when I die? Most people have answered these questions, if not on a conscious level then on a subconscious level. And they live their lives according to this worldview or in contrast to it.

Open your Bible to Galatians 1:8.

I want you to have Galatians 1:8 cemented into your mind because this is a verse I believe is so important in understanding and refuting the false claims of different religious perspectives like Mormonism and Islam. Paul writes, “But even if we (that is referring to Paul and other Apostles) or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.”

Now, the hermeneutical implications of that verse are so vast – we don’t even have time to get into it. In other words, how that verse affects how we interpret the entire Bible is tremendous. Paul says, the gospel I received, I received directly from Jesus Christ. This gospel is the standard for what is true; for what God has revealed to us. He says, even though I come back to your church (Paul went around the world planting churches in different places) and change the gospel I originally gave to you, or if I add on to it, then you should cast me out the back door. Push me out the window. Paul says, “Even if an angel comes to you and preaches something different, don’t listen to the angel.” So Paul, in the book of Galatians unpacks the standard. The standard by which we judge that which is right and that which is wrong, when it concerns the essence of the Christian faith.

Now, we’ve been looking at “other gospels” or how people from different religions have deviated from the Christian truth. I call these deviations, “Christianity’s religious competition.”

Christianity’s religious competition can be divided into 3 groups. First, you have all of the mystical religions. Hinduism is an example of a mystical religion. Some New Age philosophy also falls into this category. Second, you have moralistic religions like Buddhism, Confucianism, religions that are concerned about ethics and how we live our lives. They are more concerned with ethics than ultimate reality and the hereafter. The third category is the counterfeit religions. They are what I call Christian knock-offs. They fall into 3 different categories. First, you have polytheistic counterfeits, which is Mormonism. Second, you have Unitarian counterfeits, which we looked at with Islam and Afshin Ziafat who was a former Muslim. It is a Unitarian counterfeit of Christianity. Then you have Neo-Messianic counterfeits, which have to do with people like Jim Jones and the Son of Sam – the guys who claim to be the new messiahs and have these new religious spins on Christianity. If you want to really group the different religious perspectives that try to go against the Christian faith, you can group them in one of these three categories 99.9% of the time.

Through this series, as you know, we have been learning to ask the Big Four Questions. The Big Four Questions help you understand what your Christian world view is and what the worldview is of other people and of other faith systems. First Question, What is Ultimate Reality? That is a God question. God has revealed Himself to us; He is the great Triune God of Scripture. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.” God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and He has revealed Himself to us in His Word, Holy Scripture, and in The Word, the God-Man Jesus Christ.

Second Question. Big Question. “How do you know?” We know primarily through revelation. God has revealed Himself to us in His Word. He has revealed Himself to us in time, space, and history in the person of Jesus Christ.

It is important to make this point – there is a balance here. We worship and we have given our lives – not to the Bible. The Bible, God’s Word does not save us. The Bible did not die on the cross for us, Jesus did. So we give our lives to Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of all Scripture, New Testament and Old Testament. They speak of Him. Now obviously, there is a reflective relationship. To have a high view of Christ, you have to have a high view of Scripture. If you have a low view of Scripture, you usually have a low view of Christ. They are reciprocal. But we don’t need to get into Bible-idolatry either. That is what we tend to do in our western world. We worship information instead of worshiping and following the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The third big question is, “What happens at death?” God’s word tells us at death we will be judged. We will have to give an account for our life. We will either spend an eternity together with God or an eternity separated from Him in hell. Jesus Christ talked more about hell than any person in Scripture.

Fourth big question, “How should you live?” We should live by keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. When we come to know Jesus Christ and we enter into a relationship with God, He is our mediator, He is our God, He forgives us, and He cleanses us. He places His Spirit inside of us to teach us all truth and to help us live a life that will truly honor and glorify God.

Now, we are going to ask these big four questions to Joseph Smith and his followers who are known today as Mormons or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

First question,“What is ultimate reality?” Mormons would say, if you have enough time to talk to them, they would say “gods” Mormonism is polytheistic, that means they believe in many gods. And they believe at one point every god was at one time a man. So, the heavenly father from a Mormon perspective was at one time a man, who through exaltation, evolved into the god that he is. And that is what is really difficult if you have no knowledge of the Mormon religion because they use almost the exact same terms that we do.

They will use the terms Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, Holy Ghost, Scripture, Grace, Mercy, Atonement, Second Coming, Heaven… they use all the same terms but they pour entirely different meanings into those terms. So you might think, “Hey…we are talking, we are clicking, but when you ask … What do you mean by ‘Jesus Christ?… What do you mean by ‘the Heavenly Father?’ What do you mean by ‘grace, atonement?’” When you do this you will see that they have radically different answers and perspectives on these biblical terms.

Here is what Joseph Smith the founder of the Mormon religion, he said, “I am going to tell how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity. I will refute that idea (which in essence he is saying he is going to refute the Bible) and take away the veil so that you may see. God the Father of us all dwelt on earth, the same as Jesus Christ did. And you have to learn how to be Jesus Christ yourself. The same as all the gods have done before you.”

Mormons teach that through living a certain life and reaching a certain standard; you can eventually evolve into a god, even the same nature as God, the Heavenly Father or as Jesus Christ. They believe that each god had a mother and a father, who copulated and produced them. They believe that human beings were born in the pre-existent world by our spiritual mother and our spiritual father- having spiritual sex creating our spiritual beings. Then on earth, our spirits are put into these human beings and we go through this time of testing to see how we can work our way up the ladder to achieve a type of exaltation, which we will talk about later. They believe that Jesus Christ is a created being. I was having a conversation with a guy in San Diego who had converted from Catholicism to Mormonism. And we had a long talk and finally I asked him if he believed there was a time when Jesus Christ was not. And he said, “Yes.” I said, “Then the Jesus that you believe in and the Jesus I believe in are two different beings. “

They believe that Jesus Christ was a brother of Satan. I was reading in one of their books this week, a practical doctrine on how to apply their doctrine, about how there are two plans of salvation. Satan had one plan, Jesus had another plan and God chose Jesus’ plan over Satan. Strange.

That is their ultimate reality. The Mormon’s ultimate reality would be gods, many gods. And they say, well we only worship one god while we are on earth. In other words, we worship only one god while here on earth but in actuality there are many, many gods. It is like the heresy of modalism as far as the Trinity is concerned. God reveals Himself to us on earth, sometimes as Father, sometimes as Son, sometimes as Spirit- as a Triune God. But they would say, really God is not a Triune God, He is a Unitarian. Same deal there.

Let’s move on and ask the second question. Let me say something here. Once you deviate from the Trinity, once you deviate from how God has revealed Himself, everything else falls to pieces. You can see this in Mormonism, you can see this in Jehovah’s Witnesses, you can see this in the New Age Movement, and you can see this in Islam because you are rejecting Who God is, His very nature. Once you reject the true knowledge of Who God is, everything else is eventually going to fall apart and you are going to have arbitrariness and contradictions throughout the place. Just watch.

Question number two, How do you know? Mormons know primarily through revelation. Mormons accept four standards as divine revelations of God. As Christians, we believe in solo scriptura, our standard is God’s Word, how He has revealed Himself to us in Scripture. They have four standards. Number one is The Book of Mormon. Number two is the Bible or I should say, the Bible as corrected by Joseph Smith and clarified by the book of Mormon. Number three is the Doctrine and the Covenants. Number four is The Pearl of Great Price. Also as a bonus, Mormons also accept revelations from their modern day prophets as divine and binding. So there are modern day prophets on the earth today who can speak a word and that word or that belief becomes the word of God. You can see once again – when you deviate from the Trinity and you believe people can speak with the same authority as Scripture, the same authority as the Apostles, you are opening Pandora’s proverbial box. You will see how out of control it gets and how a lot of Mormon teachers today and theologians are always backtracking and doing this and that with some of the loony things they have said in the past.

Those are the four standards, but their knowledge is based on what supposedly happened to Joseph Smith on September 21^st 1823 near Manchester, NY. He was praying by himself and alone in the woods and asking the Lord, “Which church should I join? Methodist? Baptist? Presbyterian?”And the Lord said, “Don’t join any of those churches, they are all apostate. They are all heresy.” That is when eventually, God revealed to Joseph Smith the book of Mormon, it was supposedly written in some unknown language of reformed Egyptian, which no one spoke on earth anymore. He revealed this angel Moroni and gave Joseph Smith this revelation, the book of Mormon on these golden tablets that do not exist. They have been taken up to heaven – which is convenient.

From 1831 – 1844, Joseph Smith received 135 direct revelations. One of those revelations was that after Jesus Christ rose from the dead and appeared to the Apostles and over 500 witnesses during a 40 day period, He also went to the Americas and was ministering to a group of Native Americans or a tribe known as the Neophytes, of whom there is no archeological evidence that they ever actually existed (minor problem there). This is one of the things Joseph Smith was told, supposedly by this angel. In these direct revelations he had, God appeared to him one time, God the Father and Jesus Christ separately appeared to him at one time. James appeared to him, John, John the Baptist, Peter – he received direct revelations from many people. Even Moses.

The following is a revelation that Joseph Smith had, this is a direct quote: “The inhabitants of the moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the earth.” Now if you know a little bit about science, they have not found inhabitants on the moon yet. But here he tells us how tall they are on the moon, “Being about 6 feet in height, they dress very much like Quaker style.” (You’ve seen the guy on the oatmeal box.) “And live to be very old, coming to live generally near 1,000 years.” That is a direct quote from Joseph Smith. That was a supposed revelation that he got and that revelation is ludicrous, it is false. There are many others like that that we don’t have time to get into tonight.

How do you know from a Mormon perspective? You know from these four standards. Everything though is really based upon what happened to Joseph Smith and how this angel and Jesus and God and John the Baptist and the whole Hee Haw gang supposedly told him that this is how the Christian religion really works. When you lose the Trinity, Ultimate Reality, everything falls apart. When you open up the playing field to extra Biblical revelations- everything falls apart.

I was reading in their literature this week (I don’t even think Tim LaHaye figured this out in his book, Left Behind since in the Mormon version of the Second Coming, you have Jesus Christ coming back to set up his millennium reign on earth. Guess where he is going to set up his millennial reign on earth? If you are from the LDS church, don’t shout it out, no… it is not UTAH. It is in the “show me” state, Missouri. That is where Jesus Christ is going to set up the New Jerusalem; the Second Coming is in Mizzou. When I read that this week, I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Again, there are many things like that. For example, you have in the LDS version of the Bible; you have Adam in Genesis 3 getting baptized by emersion. You have references in Genesis 50 concerning a prophecy that one day a guy is going to be born in America named Joseph Smith. I mean that is pretty convenient. That is like me going back into the Bible and inserting my name after I had a revelation and saying, here is the prophecy and my prophesy is in here. It’s incredible.

Third question: What happens at death? This is where it gets even more confusing and bizarre if you can imagine that. At death, everybody goes to some type of heaven. Some type of kingdom. You either go to the celestial kingdom, which is the highest level, or the terrestrial kingdom, the second highest level or the telestial kingdom, the third level. All this is based on how you followed Mormon doctrine/theology.

Mormons are supposedly really into the family. One of the things they teach is, if you follow and make progress in your spiritual relationship with God the Father, then you can live with your family forever and ever and you can eventually become spiritual parents that create other spiritual children. Now, that is appealing and you can even go and have a temple ceremony performed for you by people who are supposedly of the Melchizedek priesthood and they can seal your marriage for eternity. So you will be married to your mate not only till you die at the ripe old age of 72 but you will live with your mate forever and ever and ever in eternity. Which to me, begs the question, you know, if you have a great marriage- hooray! If not, you’re like – man, I thought… Sorry, couldn’t resist that.

In all seriousness though, if I had to say what one of the strengths of the Mormon Church is, I would say it is their emphasis on family. In reading some of their literature this week, there are some practical things that they encourage husbands and wives to do and families to do that are dynamic and great. The Mormons do a lot of things right. Most of the Mormons I know are good people, kind and loving people. They are good citizens of our country by and large. To me, their emphasis on family is strong. But the whole idea of sealing your family and if you work and have a certain amount of righteousness you can live with your family forever- that is a good leverage to encourage people to live a good, clean, wholesome life. Now, if you are wondering, where do you get this stuff from, where do they get these doctrines from Ben? That is not in the Bible. Again, you have to go back to “How do you know this?” when you are talking to anybody. How do you know this? I know this from the four standards that the Mormons believe in; the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, The Bible and Doctrines and Covenants and continual revelations from their various prophets who are alive today.

Question number four – the Big Question – “How should you live?”

They believe that you should obey the commandments of the Mormon Church so you can live in eternity with your family. Again, their emphasis on family is fascinating. Let’s say that your parents, and your grandparents who weren’t Mormon are dead. Where are they going to go? How can they get into one of these upper level kingdom heaven deals? Well, you can go into the Temple and they can perform some ceremonies for you and they can spring your parents or grandparents who did not believe in the Mormon Church into the higher level. They also believe in baptism for the dead and these temple ceremonies are one of the ways they accomplish that. You can see what amazing comfort that would give to a lot of people. They say, well, we can go back and get your great, great grandfather and put them into the celestial kingdom if you do this and that, have the temple ceremonies and do everything right. That is very appealing. That is why Mormons are very into genealogy and trying to trace their roots. They definitely teach a theology of works righteousness. They will tip their hat at grace, mercy and the cross and they will say, “Yes Jesus died for us, died for me but (and of course their Jesus is entirely different from our Jesus) you better do this or that.” They will say yes it is Jesus, but their version of Jesus, plus Mormon doctrine. And if you do that then you’ll progress into a higher state of exaltation.

Here is what one of their theologians named Bruce McConkie said, “One of the untrue doctrines found in modern Christendom is that man can gain salvation by grace alone without obedience. Salvation in the celestial kingdom (that is the highest kingdom) is salvation by grace coupled with obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.” You may put in parenthesis there, the doctrine of the Mormon Church. So obviously they are saying – Jesus, plus works. Jesus plus obedience to the law will justify you and bring you into one of these different levels of heaven.

Now, as we evaluate this and look at how they answered these big four questions, you don’t have to have a PhD in Christian theology to see what happened. Many of you probably think, what is the big deal, don’t they believe the same thing that we believe? No they don’t. Obviously just by taking a cursory look at some of their major doctrines and their major beliefs, we see that they do not come close to believing what orthodox Christians both in the Catholic and Protestant strain have believed for 2,000 years.

Maybe you heard the story about a lady named Bobby Denson, her mother died suddenly, no reason just dropped dead. And so she had the difficult duty of cleaning out her mom’s apartment. She was giving some stuff away to neighbors and people around her in the complex. Little did she know that she gave to her neighbors the very thing that killed her mom. She gave them a salt shaker that was filled with poisonous sodium nitrate. Two of her neighbors died and two others were hospitalized. She had no idea. Her ignorance was costly. Ignorance when it comes to these big four questions, the matter of truth, is costly. That is why we need to be able to discern the truth as we look at these various religious perspectives, as we look at Christian counterfeits like Mormonism. We have to see how they have poisoned the salt shaker.

So, how does Christianity differ from Mormonism? Let’s rewind back to my conversation with the two Mormon missionaries at my front door. I start talking to them play dumb for about 15 minutes listen to their spiel about how I can become a Mormon, what I need to do. I start getting into it with them a little bit. I said I just have a question, “How do you guys deal with Galatians 1:8. You know that verse don’t you, where it says, ‘If we or an angel from heaven preach to you a gospel that is different than the one you received let that person be eternally condemned.’ How do you guys deal with that question, because your religion, along with Muslims in 622 AD were formed by supposed angelic visitations and you guys have totally changed the gospel as revealed both to Paul and the other disciples. You’ve changed it or added to it or taken away from it. How do you guys deal with that? With that fact? I just want to know how you deal with the fact that for many, many years the Mormon church would not allow blacks to come into their church, would not allow African Americans to come in. And then Donny and Marie are on Barbara Walters and they say yes, that is right African Americans can’t come into our church and the very next day a prophet has a revelation that says, ‘I think it is time we allow African Americans into our church.’ “How do you guys deal with that? I want to know how you deal with this stuff, with adding to the gospel of grace.”

Another question I have is this,”You mean to tell me, when John, who is the last disciple to die died on the Island of Patmos in 90 AD, that the entire Christian church went into apostasy? See, the Mormons believe that once the disciples died out that there was an apostate that occurred both there in the Middle East and in the Americas with this so called Neophyte tribe that Jesus appeared to after His resurrection. They believe the church went into apostasy. If that is true, then John, Paul, Peter and James did a pathetic job of mentoring and discipleship if they couldn’t pass it on at least one generation. You mean to tell me from 90AD up until 1829 – when Joseph Smith had his supposed revelation from the angel Moroni – that all this time the church was in apostate? That St. Francis of Assisi, Polycarp, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathon Edwards, John Wesley really were not believers until Joseph Smith rediscovered the real new gospel as he added to the gospel?

I just asked them question after question, just like that and they did a pretty good job of trying to refute them. They never really got around the whole concept of the angelic visitation which is really the big one. One guy said about, not allowing blacks in the church.

“I really don’t have an answer for you.” I appreciated that honest answer.

We got to the end of our conversation and I said, “Guys, here’s the deal. You and I have a lot in common.” And these are nice guys, sincere guys. They really believe what they are teaching and spreading. I said, “We have a lot in common, we both follow the 10 Commandments, we have other morals in common and furthermore, I like Orin Hatch (he’s the Senator from Utah for those of you who don’t know.) But besides that, we are on two different pages because we have a different standard. My standard is Scripture, the Word of God. My standard is the gospel that God revealed to His disciples and the Apostle Paul. That is my standard and that has been the standard of the church for 2,000 years.” Then I used the old metric illustration: “What if I told you guys that this pencil right here is a meter long. I really believe in my heart that this pencil is a meter long – it is one meter in length. God told me with a golden plate that this is a meter long. What would you say to me? You would say you are wrong.” And I would say, What do you mean I am wrong? God told me in my heart that it was a meter long. Well it is not a meter long. And I would say, ‘Prove it.’ You would say, “Ok let’s get on a plane and go to France to the museum where they have the standards of metric measurements and you can put your little pencil up to the meter stick and see that you fall way short. “

I continued telling them, “You can see that what you believe in the Mormon Church when compared to the orthodox teaching of the Apostles, you guys fall way short of the standard. Your standard is Joseph Smith. My standard is the Word of God. We have different standards, therefore we have different gospels and different faiths.” They said, “Hey, if you dial this number we will give you a free copy of the book of Mormon.” I said, “Actually I already own one.” The guy said, “I figured. If you get this you can get a video.” I said, “I appreciate it. “This is my gift to you, read the book of Galatians. When you go home and as you are going out, read it. It’s only six chapters. Read it over and over and over again. Ask God to speak to you through that book.” Finally, I asked, “What do you guys do with jerks like me who act dumb like they don’t know anything about your faith and then they come back at you?” Then they went on their way.

How does Christianity differ? Number one, our standard is different. Our standard is the Word of God. Their standard is Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and other prophets and revelations that followed. Number two, our leader is different. Our leader is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the God Man. He is our leader. Joseph Smith is their leader. Before Joseph Smith became this prophet of God, he was convicted of a crime known as glass looking. People back then would put their head into this kind of black bag and they would have this rounded glass and people would come up out of this bag and say, “There is buried treasure over there… you should do this or that.” This is a type of fortune telling and he was convicted of that. If you can live with the fact that the founder of your religion believed in fortune telling, along with polygamy – that’s your deal, but Scripture doesn’t teach that. Our views are different.

Number three, our Gods are different. Our God has revealed Himself as the One Holy Triune God. One in essence and three in persons. The Mormon gods are polytheistic, they believe in many gods who copulate just like humans do on earth and produce other spiritual beings and spiritual gods and spiritual humans who eventually come to take bodily form here on earth. Again, their whole concept of who God is, Ultimate Reality, is radically different from what Scripture teaches.

Number four, our salvation is different. I can lump Mormons together with Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus and other world religions who teach a works righteousness religion. They say, if you really want to know God, to really be enlightened then you must pull yourself up by your own moral boot straps and be good and buckle down. Basically, you are dirty and if you are going to be clean, then you have to wash yourself. Christianity doesn’t teach that. Christianity teaches that someone else has to wash you. Christianity teaches that we are justified, not by works but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Now, that doesn’t mean that once we put our faith in Jesus Christ we just sit back and kick back and do whatever the heck we want to do. Of course the faith that justifies, makes us acceptable before God is the same grace that sanctifies. Even when we are at our most sanctified moment, the holiest of holies – thirty years from now we are still utterly dependent upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be acceptable before God the Father.

Galatians 2:21 says, “I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness could be gained through the law Christ died for nothing!” Verse 15 of Galatians 2, “We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.” We too have put our faith in Jesus Christ that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.

You see, the people coming into the Galatian church are just like the Mormons. Except their doctrine of God and Jesus was a little more sound than the Mormons, but they were basically saying this, “Yeah, believe in God, believe in Jesus, do that, believe in the cross, cling to the old rugged cross and… you better get circumcised… and you better obey the law of Moses or God won’t accept you.” No, no, no Paul said you are justified by faith in Christ Jesus …plus nothing.

That is the gospel. Ephesians 2:8-9, “It is by grace you are saved through faith that is a gift from God.” Even our faith and trust in God is a gift from Him so that nobody can boast. Paul said to the Corinthians, when I came to you I only wanted to say one thing, I wanted you to know about Christ and Him crucified. If you are going to boast in anything boast in what Jesus Christ has done for you. That is the gospel of grace. That is the good news and that is where Christianity radically differs not only from Mormonism but from Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and you name any other type of Christian competition. Listen we’ve got to know what God’s Word says – we’ve got to be able to discern if someone has poisoned the salt shaker.

Glenn Lucke told me this story. There is this guy by the name of Carlos, Carlos grew up in a Catholic background, then eventually went into the Methodist church, then the Charismatic Church… basically he was a church hopper. Didn’t really know God or Jesus, but kind of knew. He was sitting in his house one day, just like I was, heard a knock on his door, two missionaries come in. Boom – they lay out their spiel… before you know it this guy is full blown LDS. He is in the church and introduces his family to the Mormon faith, the whole nine yards. He wants to go into the chaplaincy program in the army so he goes to a seminary. Somehow, some way he ends up in an evangelical protestant seminary in Florida. He is in a class and he realizes all the different and bazaar teachings of the Mormon Church and he realizes he has deceived his family. After class, he is crying to his professor and said, “What have I done? I have misled my wife, my family, I have failed them.” Listen that can happen to you.

That can happen to anyone who is not a Christian but a “Christian-ette” Right? You have just enough Christianity to be dangerous. That can happen, you can get swayed by someone who comes to your door and they have a plan, they seem to have all the answers. They can just loop you in and they have just poisoned the salt shaker and you don’t even know it. This guy Carlos cried out, “What can I do?” What can you do now? You can do the same thing this guy Carlos did. You can turn and trust in what Jesus Christ has done for you; to make you acceptable and righteous before God. You can turn to Him and have new life and a new hope. You can know that Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who has walked out of the pages of this book, the Holy Bible, is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

[Ben leads in a closing prayer.]

World Religions 101: When Krishna Meets Jesus

WORLD RELIGIONS 101

When Krishna Meets Jesus

Ben Young

May 25, 2003

Imagine you are a sincere believer. Many of you don’t have to imagine that, because you are. You’re a follower of Christ, you read your Bible, you pray, you attend church, you tithe, and you seek to follow after Jesus with all of your heart. Now, you know people who are also very devout and religious. You may have a friend who follows Mohammed with all their heart, soul and might. And they read the Koran as their guide. You may have a friend who is a Buddhist. And he is following the teachings of Buddha with all of his heart, soul and mind.

So someone from the outside may look at you and say, “What’s the difference? You follow Jesus, he follows Buddha, she follows Mohammed. How can you know which religion is true? How can I know which God is the right God?” That is what a skeptic may say to you. That is what we’ve been doing in this series. The first week we looked at Buddhism and how Buddhism related to the claims of Jesus Christ. Last week we talked to Afshin Ziafat, and we looked at Islam and some of the central doctrines of that particular religion.

Tonight we are going to look at Hinduism, a religion that began centuries ago in the country known today as India. It is important before we talk about Hinduism to realize that if you look at Christianity’s religious competition, they basically fall into three categories.

The first group of religions that compete with Christianity is what I call mystical religions. Some may call this, religions of transcendent mysticism. Hinduism is a religion like that. It is not based primarily on a book or books. But it is based on a mystical experience with a power force or what someone calls the divine or gods. In the second group are moralistic religions. Buddhism is basically a moralistic religion, Confucianism is also a moralistic religion— you follow a certain moral path or code. They are much more concerned about the here and now than they are about the life after. The third group is what I call counterfeit religions, these are Christian knockoffs. Let’s say if you want a bling bling but you don’t have the money, you can go to Harwin and buy a Gucci purse— but it is really not a Gucci, it just looks like a Gucci. You can get knock off name brands right down the street from our church. Well, these particular religions are what I call Christian knock offs, they are borrowing a lot of capital, a lot of concepts, a lot of their doctrines from the Christian faith. There are three different types of counterfeits out there. You can group them under these three rubrics. Number one, you have polytheistic counterfeits. Next week we will talk about one of those, Mormonism. It is a polytheistic counterfeit of Christianity. Also, you have Unitarian counterfeits. Islam is a Unitarian counterfeit of Christianity. Also, you have Neo Messianic Counterfeits; these are the groups like the Moonies, the Unification church, someone who claims to be the Messiah in the flesh. Someone like David Koresh and the Branch Dravidians could be a type of the Neo Messianic counterfeits to the Christian faith. So as you are looking and studying different world religions and dialoguing with people from different faiths you will see that they will more than likely fall under one of those three categories of mystical religions, moral religions or counterfeit religions.

So, this series is all about one primary thing, we talked about it the first Sunday night. Remember the big four questions. That is what we are looking at, remember these big four questions will help you and me determine the religious or philosophic perspective of any person you meet. They may be atheist or agnostic, Buddhist, a Sikh, a Muslim. Whatever they are, if you understand and ask these four questions, you will get insight into their lives, their hearts and find out what makes that person tick. Some people are conscious that they have answers to these big four questions, other people don’t have answers to them, they just subconsciously live them out. They don’t know that they have a worldview or a particular religious perspective. But make no bones about it, everyone has one.

Let’s review the big four questions. The first question- What is ultimate reality? Another way to ask this is – what is the stuff behind the stuff? You know all the things we see in the material world and the cosmos. Is there anything beyond the natural material world? The correct answer is- yes there is. The Triune God of Scripture. He was in the beginning. He has always existed as one in essence and three in persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. That is the ultimate starting point. He is ultimate reality.

The second question is – How do you know? How do you have knowledge? Our primary source of knowledge is revelational in character. God has revealed Himself. He has spoken to us in His Word, the Bible. Yes we do know through reason, we do know through our senses, we do know pragmatically- how things work out. But primarily, when it gets down to it, we know through revelation. That God has spoken to us in the Bible.

Third big question: What happens at death? And we ask this question for several reasons, first of all, death is a very real experience and death is a great clarifier. Death will clarify what a person believes to be the problem and the solution with mankind. God tells us our problem is that we are separated from Him. We need to be reconciled, brought back together with Him. So what happens at death? God’s Word tells us, which is our standard that we will have to give an account for our lives, every person who has ever lived will have to stand before God in judgment. And you will either spend an eternity with God in heaven or eternity in hell separated from Him. There is no middle ground. There is no “do over.” How we decide on God and Christ in this world will determine where we are going in the after world. Everyone is going to live forever. Everyone has a soul that is eternal.

Fourth big question: How should you live? How should you live your life? We should live our lives, primarily by keeping in step with what God’s Spirit is doing in our life. Another way of saying this is that we should live our lives utterly dependent upon God and Jesus for our acceptance now and forever and utterly dependent upon the Spirit to work His life through us. Now this doesn’t mean we’ve entered into this kind of Christian passivism – “I’m just going to let go and let God.” I hear that a lot with dating – “I’m not going to go out and date, ask someone out, be a part of a singles group. I am going to let go and let God and if God wants to bring someone into my life, He’s going to have to bring him/her to my doorstep.” Now if you are waiting on that, then you are going to marry the mailman or a Jehovah’s Witness because those are the only people coming to your doorstep. A more appropriate motto than let go and let God, should be – trust God and get going. Trust that God is working in your life. Step out in faith and believe that God’s Spirit is going to empower you to accomplish His will in this world. That is how we should live our lives. These are the four big questions.

Now, let’s ask these four questions to the religion known as Hinduism. The first big question is, What is ultimate reality? Hindus say Brahman is ultimate reality. Brahman is the unknowable, impersonal, neutral absolute—the basis and cause of all existence.

Now if you are wondering, what is that? Most of you saw a great example of Brahman when you were growing up as a kid. My little brother saw this great example, I don’t’ know, probably 15 or 20 times in the movie Star Wars. Star Wars presents a Hinduistic concept of God. Remember… “Luke, use the Force.” Remember, you have Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader- remember how Vader would breathe and talk at the same time? That was amazing! Unreal. Forget the fact that George Lucas totally plagiarizes a Christian, JRR Tolkien, to get his whole concept of Star Wars- forget that fact for a moment. And think about the force in Star Wars. The force in Star Wars is like Brahman, a neutral, it is impersonal. If you are evil or good – you can tap into this impersonal force. It really helps when you have one of those very cool light sabers. Anyway, that may help you understand what the Hindu concept of God is all about. Brahman, ultimate reality.

Now, the hard thing about Hinduism is that it is very malleable. It is like water, you put it into a container and it changes into different forms. Hinduism embraces both pantheism, (“pan” meaning everything and “theism” meaning God) which is the belief that all is God; and polytheism – the belief in multiple gods. So really to understand Hinduism, you have to understand this basic phrase. All is one. That describes a Hindu’s concept of ultimate reality and where everything is going. There are really no personal distinctions between matter and people and animals – all is one. So, you may have many gods. Hinduism has millions of gods, but basically the gods are all representative of the one impersonal force, Brahman.

Years ago I was at the LA House of Blues. The House of Blues is a really cool music venue. Interesting note, on the wall above the stage they have the symbols of the seven great religions of the world. Then in the middle of the wall, the words All Are One and a picture of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The slogan “All is one” is a very Hinduistic concept of ultimate reality. That is how they answer the first question.

Now the second big question, answered from a Hindu perspective is … How do you know? Again, Hinduism is one of those religions of transcendent mysticism. So the primary way you KNOW in this particular faith is through meditation. What is real in this world or outside of this world cannot be determined by sensory experience. Hinduism provides no basis for the scientific endeavor because they aren’t testing things that are real, they are simply an illusion.

Now, they call this Maya. Maya is the idea that things are an illusion, there is no distinction between anything that we can see touch or feel. That is the second big question.

Now if you just tuned into the series, the reason we are asking these big questions is to get inside the heart or the perspective of people we are trying to talk with. So we can know where they are coming from and they can know where we are coming from. The way you answer these four big questions, reveals your worldview, serving as lenses, if you would. Now imagine that I have on sunglasses, (my lenses) and these sunglasses are cemented to my face.

So what I believe, whether I know it or not, about ultimate reality, about how I know what I know, about what happens at death, how I should live my life – these beliefs are the lenses that I see and interpret the world through. So I have these glasses, these lenses that are cemented to my face and I can’t even see them, but they affect how I see life. Everyone has these sunglasses, these worldviews cemented to their face. When we are sharing Jesus Christ with people, we are entering into a clash of worldviews. It would be as if my lenses are blue and yours are red, we will see and interpret things differently. More on that later. Let’s look at the third question.

The third question is, What happens at death? This tells us what they believe to be the problem and the solution with mankind. Here’s what they say happens at death. Hindus believe first of all that your body is left behind but your soul is reincarnated. Remember, Buddhism taught reincarnation but Buddhism denied the existence of the soul. The soul in Hinduism is known as atman. Atman is ultimately Brahman. They are ultimately one. So the soul is reincarnated. Now, reincarnation is described in their religion as samsara. Samsara is that cycle of reincarnation, of rebirths. This samsara occurs because we have bad karma.

Now, many of you are old enough to remember when the Beatles were hot back in the 60’s- they broke up in the 70’s – I think their last album was Let it Be. Now during the 60’s they brought this whole type of eastern philosophy into the pop culture into the mainstream. And after they split off, John Lennon, one of the Beatles, I think he wrote a song called “Instant Karma.” And George Harrison, I think was the only Beatle to continue to follow Hinduism until he was stricken by cancer and died a few years ago. Anyway, The Beatles brought these teachings into vogue. Bad karma is simply deeds that you do. It is kind of like in Galatians 6 when Paul says you will reap what you sow. If you sow bad karma, then you will be reincarnated into a lower life form. For the Hindu, the problem is the need for higher knowledge. We need a higher knowledge to realize that everything we see is Maya, it is an illusion. We need a higher knowledge to realize that there is really no distinction between you and me and anything we see. All is one. As they said in the song, “I am the Walrus, I am he as you are he and you are me and we are all together– koo koo ka cho – there you go.”

I had that record, by the way. I think “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” was on one side and “I am the Walrus” – a little Capital Record – a little yellow vinyl. Can you imagine what that would be worth today? Anyway … that is just a thought. Personal thought, a personal confession.

So that is what happens at death. At death you are either reincarnated or if you experience enlightenment and you can break free of samsara, that is known as moksha. Moksha is release from the cycle or the wheel of samsara. That is when you realize that all is one – and you are transported into Nirvana and Nirvana is to be absorbed into Brahman, which is the universal oneness. It is like a drop of water- when you die and you really get it- your enlightened through this higher knowledge, it is like a drop of water that falls into this endless sea of non-being.

Muslims believe that when you die, if you get it right, by following the five pillars of Islam that somehow your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds and all the men get to go to heaven and have all the women serve them and have sex with them. That is their concept of paradise. Hindu’s turn away from the sensory experience and believe you become a drop of water into the ocean of non-being. Think about that for a while.

Fourth big question is this: How should you live? They would say you should live by striving to build good karma. Good karma is deeds. There are three ways to build good karma. One is the way of knowledge- that is the path that Siddhartha Gautama took- remember he is The Buddha. He took the path of an ascetic Hindu monk. And very few people take the way of knowledge, you have to go through 4 different stages and that last stage, you become an ascetic monk and through that you experience hopefully, moksha (release) and you experience Nirvana, at-one-ment with Brahman.

Two, the second way to build good karma is the way of activity. That is when you offer sacrifices and offerings to gods and goddesses or spirits. You can do that in the temple or you can do that in your home.

Third way to build good karma is the way of devotion. And that is devotion to a particular god like Vishnu or Sheva (the destroyer god) or perhaps an incarnation of Vishnu or Shiva, like Krishna.

That is the title of this particular message, When Krishna Meets Jesus. Now Krishna is believed to be an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods, Vishnu. Years ago you may have seen Krishna’s at airports. And one of the things they would do is chant, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna.” They believed by chanting Hare Krishna, that Krishna gives them help to overcome bad karma and to be free from the cycle of rebirths. Again, Hinduism made its first in road into popular culture with the Beatles; you can also see Shirley McClain and her teachings on New Age- her teachings on New Age combines a lot of Hinduistic thought.

Right down the street from this church, there is a church called the Unity Church of Christianity. Trust me, that church has very little of anything to do with Christianity. They will take Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism and merge them into some type of New Age – East meets West philosophy. We see the in roads of Hinduism all throughout our culture today. Whether it is directly with temples being built through the Krishna movement or through the New Age movement – which we do not have time to get into tonight.

Let’s look at some of the differences in Christianity and Hinduism. When Jesus meets Krishna. Again, a skeptic is going to say, “Who can know? Who can be sure? You have your God and the Hindu’s have their god or many gods. You have your book the Bible, they have their book the Bhagavad Gītā. They are all the same thing, right?”

Wrong. That is simply not true. Christianity says— there is a personal God. This God created everything we see, there is a distinction between the Creator and the creation. This God sovereignly governs and controls what is happening in this earth through providence, through His Spirit. This God has revealed Himself in a book, the Word of God and we can know in language. This God has also revealed Himself in a person, Jesus Christ. And God sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring us back to Him, to reconcile us to Him. Now, the Christian story it may be true or it may be false, but at least the story holds together. It supports itself. When you look at any other religion of the world or philosophy, you will see contradictions, you will see arbitrariness. This is true in Hinduism. You may say, well… they are the same. No, they are not.

Hindu’s do not believe that god is personal. Therefore their book Bhagavad Gītā is not a personal revelation, it cannot be a personal revelation from god. Suppose you enter into a dialogue with someone from this particular faith and you are talking to them and you say, “What’s the goal of your particular religion?”

I had someone of a particular religion come to my door a while back and I asked him, “What do I need to do to become part of your particular religion?” So, ask a Hindu, “What do I need to do to become a Hindu?” And they will basically say you need to experience enlightenment, you need to experience moksha which is release from the cycle of reincarnation, to realize the great truth that all is one, and we will all be dissolved into Brahman. So you say, “What you are saying is that I just don’t have the knowledge that all is one.” That’s right. “And everything is the same, the trees, the ocean, the sea, the sky, the sun, me, this candle, you and me…we are all basically one – part of this same one, impersonal, universal force.” They would say, well, yeah… that’s right. And then you could say, “Well, that’s great, I’m in man. I’m already experiencing Nirvana right now, I already believe that all is one. All is one!”

They would say, “No no no, you can’t experience Nirvana because you’re in Maya, you’re an illusion, you’re alive, you can’t experience that until a different time.” Then you can say, “Wait a minute, time out. Time out. You just made a distinction between Maya, this world, and Nirvana, a different world and there shouldn’t be any distinction because the core of your religious faith is the belief that all is one. So you are guilty of a contradiction.” Let me give you a common question that you want to keep asking people when you are discussing worldviews. This may be the guy with the Budweiser hat and a big dip, a Redman chew in his mouth. It may be a lady with 10 PhD’s after her name, it doesn’t matter. When you are talking to someone about ultimate issues and you really want to get down to the bottom line and cut through the crud. Keep asking this one question over and over again, “How do you know that?” Just keep asking that question.

I was flying to Chicago recently to speak at a conference. On the plane there was a girl sitting over by the window, a college student. And there was a seat in between us and we just started talking. She was about to graduate from college. We started talking about religious things. And I just kept asking her that question and she was telling me what she believed about God, and life. I just kept saying, well… how do you know that? Now, how do you know that? How do you know that? Basically, it just got down to intuition. She knew everything about her life, about her worldview through intuition. This is a very flimsy way of knowing which I very gently picked apart.

But in Hinduism, if you ask, how do you know that? How do you know that all is one? He will say, “Well, it is in the book.” Who said it? “Well… Brahman.” Well, Brahman said it? How can Brahman say anything, you’ve made a personal statement about someone who has revealed himself as impersonal? So… How can that happen? Again, that doesn’t comport. And this person will say, “Well, that is the reason why you can’t understand Hinduism because you are using western logic. We’re not into logic.” Then all you have to say to them is, “I believe your religion does use logic.” If they say that’s stupid. They can’t contradict you. Then go ahead and say, “Your religion is logical.” Again, their starting point is arbitrary, it is relativism. They basically have no place to stand. Now, I’m not saying that Hindu’s are not ethical people. There are many Hindu’s that are very moral. I had a friend of mine who was Hindu in college. They are very bright and very moral people for the most part, but again, when you look at their worldview and ask a few questions, they can’t account for their ethics or for their morality. Given their perspective that all is one, that all is an illusion, how can you account for good and for evil?

Again, you don’t have the starting point or the basis to account for that so it ends up destroying itself. Now, perhaps you are a Christian pragmatist. You may be saying, “Why are we studying all this stuff? Why is this stuff important? Why do we need to study other religions of the world, other perspectives?”

Three reasons. First reason is, religious pluralism is a reality in our culture today. That means that you may work by someone in one cubicle who is a Buddhist and someone in another cubicle who is a Muslim and your boss is agnostic. We don’t speak the same language anymore- so it is imperative that we understand where people are coming from. We need to learn to ask these four questions and understand how the Christian faith answers them. It prepares you to enter into a much more intelligent and compassionate dialogue with people from different religious perspectives.

Second of all, the Bible says we must be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks. 1 Peter 3:15 says “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” Did you catch that? Always, Boy scouts motto, always be prepared to give a reason to everyone who asks you, the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with- what’s our manner? With gentleness and respect.

Now, to do this it doesn’t mean we have to go out and earn a PhD in philosophy or theology. Again, if we could understand how Christians answer these four basic questions, then this will help us to dialogue, to have a clash of worldviews with anybody from any different religious perspective. And that is ultimately what you are doing when you are talking to someone about ultimate issues. You are entering into a clash of worldviews. As I have studied the various religions of the world and philosophic perspectives, I see that the Christian faith holds together and provides the basis for understanding what is real in this world and beyond. The Christian foundation and worldview provides a basis for things like science and logic and mathematics to exist and operate. The Christian worldview is consistent because God has revealed Himself to us in this way. So when someone says, “What makes Christianity right and others wrong?” Just listen to the different religions on their own terms. The staggering claim of the Christian faith is that ultimate reality, the Creator, Sovereign God of the Universe has become a man in Jesus Christ. If that is true and it is true, then Christ is the starting point of all knowledge and all wisdom. Because He is God in the flesh. Amazing claim.

Third reason is, one of the biggest lies in our society is summed up in this statement, “All religions are the same.” We hear it all the time. And most of the people who make this claim, write this down in your notes, don’t know “jack taco” about world religions. They may know a little about Christianity, but I guarantee they don’t know anything about Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam or other religious perspectives in our society today. That is just a convenient way to avoid God in their life. People who say, “All religions are the same,” and “God is on top of a mountain and there are many paths to get to God,” simply have not studied the religions of the world. If you’ve been here since the first Sunday we started this series, you see that Buddhism and Christianity are radically different. You see that Islam is radically different. Hinduism and Christianity are radically different. If you are here next week, you will see that Mormonism and Christianity are radically different. Now in saying that, are we saying – there is no truth in Hinduism, no truth in Buddhism? NO! There is some truth in those religions. There are different areas I can find common ground with a Buddhist, with a Hindu, with a Muslim. We agree on certain moral principles, but the essence, the key doctrines of our faith are radically different.

The main reason we are studying these perspectives is so that when someone opens his pie hole at lunch or over coffee and says, “All religions are the same.” You can simply say, “Well that is not true. Hindu’s believe this, Muslims believe this, Buddhists believe this, and Christians believe that. So, it is not true that all religions are the same. You can talk to them, answer their questions and clear that confusion up in their mind.

So, if you are here tonight and you are someone who is asking questions – you’re a skeptic. I want to challenge you to consider the claims of Christ on His own terms. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one goes to the Father, to Heaven except through Me.” Jesus said in Matthew 7 if you don’t follow my words then you will experience judgment at the end of eternity. Jesus also said in John 10:10 that I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. I want to challenge you here if you are a tire kicker, a skeptic, a doubter to really look at, examine the claims of Jesus Christ. He is either God in the Flesh or He is not. Look at the alternative. Jesus Christ is either a super nut or supernatural. Put Him in the ha ha house with a straight jacket on Him – let Him burn with David Koresh and Charles Manson – do something with Him. He is either a kook, a nut case or He is God revealed in human flesh. There is no middle ground. But if you are considering the Christian faith, if you are looking at it, consider it on its own terms.

[Ben leads in a closing prayer.]

World Religions 101: When Mohammed Meets Jesus

WORLD RELIGIONS 101

When Mohammed Meets Jesus

Ben Young

May 18, 2003

We continue the series called When Buddha meets Jesus, and we’re not just talking about Buddha and Buddhism, but we are looking at some of the major religions of the world. The goal of this series, which is to teach all of us how to discern the religious and philosophic perspective of any person you may encounter.

I was talking to someone at a coffee bar a while back, and somehow this person said, “Well, I’m not religious.” That is simply not true; everyone is religious—whether atheist or agnostic, Muslim, Hindu, or a Shintoiste. We are all religious in that we all have a basic worldview. We have answered certain questions about ultimate reality, who that is, and how we are to live our lives. And we live our lives according to that particular worldview/religious perspective. Now, someone may not have consciously decided, “This is my philosophy,” or “This is the religion I am following.” They may not have a name for it, but everyone has a worldview. So how can you and I detect the worldview of anyone we encounter? We do that by asking what I call, the Big Four Questions.

Last week we said that the ultimate standard of truth is the Christian faith, the Christian worldview. We answered the Four Questions according to God’s Word. Last week we looked at question number one: What is ultimate reality? Ultimate reality is the ontological Trinity, that is, the pre-existent Christ—God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That is the ultimate starting point.

The second question we looked at is: How do you know? We know primarily through revelation. God has spoken. He has revealed Himself to us in His authoritative self-attesting word. Now, there are many ways we can know things. We can know things through reason—being rational, logical; we know things empirically, through sense observation; we know things pragmatically through experiencing them. But primarily, our ultimate standard and starting point is the Word of God. It is revelational.

The third big question is: What happens at death? God’s Word tells us in Hebrews that when we die there is judgment, and we either spend an eternity in heaven with God or an eternity in hell, separated from Him. When you ask the question, “What happens at death?” that tells you where a person is coming from, as far as what they perceive the problem of mankind to be and the solution. The problem with all of us is that we are separated from God because we are born sinners, and we choose to sin. The solution is that God has provided a solution for us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Question number four: How should you live your life? We live, Galatians 5 says, by keeping in step with God’s Spirit. When you come to know God in Jesus Christ—it’s amazing—He forgives you, He cleanses you of all your sins, He credits to your account (get this) the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that great?! He not only forgives you but He also says you are perfectly accepted because of Christ’s righteousness. And He places His Holy Spirit, a deposit of His Spirit, inside of your life and inside my life so that we begin the process of conforming our life and conforming who we are to Jesus. That’s great. Those are the answers to the Big Four Questions.

In this message, we ask those Big Four questions of the religion known as Islam. It is the second largest religion in the world, just behind the Christian faith. To talk about Islam, in the providence of God, we have had somebody on our campus this weekend, talking to our students in a very effective manner; his name is Afshin Ziafat. Afshin is a graduate of Stratford High School in Houston and went to college at UT (University of Texas). He speaks throughout the country at college campuses and churches on what God has done and what God is doing in his life. Afshin has taken time out of his schedule to be with us to talk about the religion of Islam. Afshin, welcome.

Afshin – Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Ben – Afshin, the first thing I notice about you here tonight is that you are wearing bowling shoes, and I like that. Kind of hold your shoes up there, and let’s get a camera. Those are cool. I’m not that cool yet. I think I may be too old for that.

Afshin – Yeah, you are, I think.

Ben – I am too old?

Afshin – Yeah. I speak on college campuses, like you said. I have to stay younger.

Ben – Okay, I appreciate that. That’s a great way, right off the bat, to kind of offend the person you are meeting with, but that’s great. It’s all part of it (joking here). Afshin, for those of us here who do not know you and know your story, tell us a bit about yourself. I know you were born in Houston…what happened after that? (Laughter)

Afshin – All right, from the beginning. Well, I was born in Houston, and when I was 2 years old my family moved back to Iran where my parents and my family are from. We moved back to the capital in Tehran. Some of you older folks may remember that in the late 70’s an Islamic revolution hit that country, and my family was there in the midst of all that fighting. My dad decided he’d worked way too hard to become a doctor to see everything go down the drain if a bullet were to hit one of us, so we got out of there and moved back to Houston when I was in the middle of the first grade. You want me to keep going?

Ben – Sure, go.

Afshin – We moved back to the states. God was working in my life way before I became a Christian. He provided for me an amazing Christian lady who would become my tutor. This lady taught me the English language by reading me books every day. One day in the second grade, she gave me a small New Testament Bible. She said, “Afshin, you are not going to understand this book, but this is the most important book you will ever read in your life. Hold onto it, and read it later in your life.” She planted a seed in my life in the second grade that wouldn’t ultimately come to fruition until 10 years later.

I grew up a Muslim. I followed the teaching of Islam—that is all I was taught. My senior year in high school I saw a TV show about Jesus—just a secular, historical documentary. I was intrigued by the person of Jesus, and I went upstairs looking for the Bible that I was given in the second grade. I found it in the bottom of my closet after all these years, and I opened it up to the first book of the New Testament—Matthew. It starts off saying, “A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, Son of David,” and it just drew me in, and I read the whole book of Matthew in one sitting. I didn’t understand it all, but God just developed a hunger in my heart to keep reading and reading until I finally understood the truth of Jesus. And it was shortly after that, that I came to know Christ.

Ben – That’s awesome. So you just had this book, the Bible, tucked away in your closet for years and years, and that show just triggered that memory.

Afshin – There was a guy who I played basketball with in high school, and one day I said, “Jesus,” and he said, “Man, that’s my God.” I said, “No, it’s not; it’s your prophet.” And he goes, “No, He’s my God,” and I said, “No, you’re mistaken.” See, I had no idea that Christians believed that Jesus was God in human form. This TV show talked about how some worship Jesus as God. So I said, “Man, I’ve got to find out about this” I was intrigued because Islam, in my opinion, says God is a very impersonal God. So I was intrigued about this Jesus who wanted a personal relationship that is why I went and found the book and started reading.

Ben – Now, when you came to know Christ in high school, you were actually debating with a guy at school and you were actually debating on the side of Islam yet you were secretly doing something else when you went home.

Afshin – Yeah, secretly I am reading through the Bible at home. Reading more and more and hiding my reading from my father and the rest of my family, all the while debating on the side of Islam. I got to Romans where I started reading about a righteousness that comes apart from the law, apart from being good and it says that there is none righteous not even one. It then says that this righteousness of God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe and that nailed me. Because I thought I was born a Muslim, I was stamped a Muslim and I would always be a Muslim. But that verse said that Jesus came for anyone who believes and that righteousness, a right standing with God, can only come through faith in Him. That’s when my eyes just opened up to what the gospel truly is.

Ben – Great story…that is a similar experience, of course he wasn’t coming from a Muslim background, as Martin Luther. That verse in Romans 1:16-17, just totally melted his heart once God showed Him what that meant.

Let’s stop there. Let’s take a time out because I want to talk to everyone here tonight about Islam because we hear a lot about the Islamic faith today in the news. Most of our knowledge of Islam is simply what people are telling them on CNN or Fox, or perhaps they watch Oprah as she brings in different people who say they are Muslim, or Christian or a Jew but they are really a relativist. I want to talk briefly about some of the basic tenets of Islam and really see how Mohammed or the Koran if you would, answers those big four questions that I talked about earlier and you are going to educate us on that.

Afshin – Ok, I’ll try.

Ben – The first question, the first big question we are learning to ask is, What is Ultimate Reality?

Afshin – By the way, I always say this when I do this, I am not a scholar of Islam. However, I have studied it and I was raised and taught it and I do have the perspective of experience. Ultimate reality in Islam is basically Allah, their name for God. Allah, who Muslims ultimately believe Islam is the only real true monotheistic religion. And Islam if you get to the heart of it is basically summed up with the unity and the oneness of God. That is the foundation of Islam and nothing is like and unto him. In fact there is a creed, the Shahada, that Muslims have to recite throughout their life. Basically this creed is, “There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is the Prophet of Allah.” That is why it is so hard for a Muslim to understand the concept of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ as being God in human form. Because to equate a human with God is really to commit the most grievous sin in Islam which is “shirk”- to associate anything with God. So it is very monotheistic, one God who is transcendent over all his creation and we ultimately can’t really know him in a personal way the way we know Jesus – how we know God through Jesus, a personal relationship. But ultimately they can know his will, his attributes and how to obey him. And so it is not a personal relationship.

Ben – Yes and we have to realize too that as you look at the religion of Islam, it is dated to 622 AD which is approximately 600 years after the inception of Christianity around 32 or 33 AD. So when Mohammed was writing the Koran, he wrote much of it, including parts of the Old and New Testaments and mentioning many favorable things to Jews and Christians because he kind of wanted to gain their support early on.

Afshin – That’s right. Do you want to get to the Koran now?

Ben – Let’s go to question number two now, that is the Koran, How do you know from an Islamic perspective?

Afshin – First, Muslims believe Mohammed was born in 570 AD, then at the age of 40 in one of his times of seclusion – you have to know that Mecca was a cultural hub where idol worship was going on. So Mohammed was one of the ones that had an aversion to all these different gods and that is where the strict monotheism comes from. And in one of his seclusions, he claims the angel Gabriel came and pressed on him and basically said, “Read.” In fact, the word Koran literally means reading or recital. And so, he pressed on him to read, he (Mohammed) said, “Read what?” and he just kept saying, “Read.”

Ultimately what Muslims believe is that Mohammed read the word of God literally. Actually Mohammed did not write it himself because he was illiterate. So Mohammed would dictate what he read in his moments of seclusion and he would dictate it to scribes who would write it on parchment, on scraps of leather, on leaves. Ultimately these men would memorize it. As some wars broke out – people were getting killed off that had memorized these writings. So they decided to get all of these writings and bring them together to a book. I must say this now. Muslims believe that the Koran is not made from a human, that literally there is a template, the mother of the book in heaven that this was basically read from, and what we have today is a copy of that template.

The Koran is very revered in Islam. One of the greatest miracles is the miracle of the Koran and by the way, let me say this; one Muslim scholar equates the Koran to Jesus in Christianity. He says, “Jesus is the divine expression of God, God’s will and that is what the Koran is. They compare Mohammed to Mary because Mohammed was the vehicle by which the divine will of God came. Obviously that is a wrong understanding of Jesus.

Ben – Is it true that when he was first having these visions and dreams, he didn’t know if they were demonic or not in nature? Wasn’t it his wife who encouraged him to go with this vision and dreams?

Afshin – Yes. At first he didn’t know, and his wife was older, you said it, that’s exactly right, she encouraged him and it took off from there.

Ben – And the Koran, they do mention there are other revelations of Allah, independent from the first five books of the Old Testament also in the Gospel of Jesus. So they do refer to Moses, David, and Jesus as Prophets. They basically say, just like in the Mormon religion that you need the Koran or you need the Pearl of Great Price to get a correct interpretation of the scripture.

Afshin – Basically, Muslims believe that all the prophets came to point to a certain people, to point them back to Allah, but then the people corrupted the word. And then ultimately, God sent the last prophet, who is Mohammed, and they believe that he completed, that he is the seal of the prophets.

Ben – I think the weakness with that is, when you look at Scripture, really that claim is refuted. Because any claim that came after the Revelation, it says in Scripture that it should be matched up to that standard. There are groups like Islam that started some 600 years after the Christian faith. Or like the LDS (Latter Day Saints) in the 1820’s that contradict the standard. When they contradict the standard, they are automatically casting that revelation totally aside and starting a new thing, a knock-off if you would.

Afshin – Actually, some Muslims claim that Jesus prophesied about Mohammed. Do you know where?

Ben – Yeah, sure, in John, predicting the Holy Spirit, they reinterpret that to be Mohammed.

Afshin – Yeah and sometimes they say that He (Jesus) did prophesy about Mohammed but not at that Scripture, but we won’t go there.

Ben – Number three. This third big question, again, is so important because it kind of sets up from anybody’s perspective what they perceive to be the problem and solution of mankind. What happens at death? And this is where really my heart as an evangelist really starts to pump and that is these next two questions. Islam basically, if I may start at this point, believes that man is born sinless. They don’t believe in the fallen nature of man from Adam and Eve’s sin. They just believe that that just proves man’s weakness and frailty but not that man, his nature was tainted and that he needed to be redeemed. So, if you believe that you are sinless, you don’t need a savior. If I may chase this rabbit for just a second…

There was this scholar that I read once and he said, “The idea of Jesus is like, the notion of Jesus is like I am sitting on a dock … by the bay. (laughter) The idea of Jesus and me sitting on a dock and a man running by and declaring his love for me and throwing himself in the water to prove his love for me is ridiculous, it is absurd.” When I read that, I said, man there it is. See, a Muslim thinks he is on the dock, he’s fine. But a Christian, he understands, he is in the water, he is drowning and he needs a savior. See that is a fundamental difference when you believe you’re sinless and when the word of God teaches we are born in sin.

So you are born sinless and all throughout your life, there is an angel that sits on either shoulder that records your good and evil deeds. This is what Muslims are taught. At the end of life, at the Day of Judgment, your good deeds and bad deeds are placed on a scale and whichever one outweighs the other, will determine your destiny. If you have more good deeds in your life, then you are going to heaven. If you have more bad deeds in your life, you are going to hell. All of your life you are accruing good and bad and you never ultimately know where you stand and you just hope that you are good enough. If your good outweighs the bad then you literally cross over a bridge, over hell, and if your balance is found wanting in the area of good – then you will fall in. Otherwise you will pass over into heaven.

Ben – Let’s talk about this thing that is called paradise in the Koran, seems like a good deal for the guys and a bad deal for the ladies.

Afshin – Yeah, it really does. There are some scriptures in the Koran that say, the men will all be sitting in the thrones and they will all have female companions.

Ben – And they will serve us for all eternity.

Afshin – Yeah, pretty much. Next subject.

Ben – It’s interesting to me because their worldview, their religion, in a sense is very earthly and their very concept of heaven is very earthly. And there is a power in that, especially in recruiting men adherents to your religion. But, you see the same in Mormonism.

In Mormonism, one of the powers in their lie or deception, if you would, about the Christian faith is, Oh, when you get to heaven you are going to be with your family. You are going to have so many virgins, (and this of course that appeals to our sexual nature). It is contrary to reality and contrary to how God has revealed Himself to us in Scripture.

Afshin – Yep.

Ben – Let’s move on to number four, which is, in light of those first three questions which are: What is ultimate reality? How do you know? What happens at death?

Number four, How should you live your life? You get down to the five core teachings of Islam.

Afshin – Yeah. Let me hit those and first I am going to come back to a general thing. Basically, Christianity is a relationship with Jesus Christ. The ultimate goal of that relationship is to be conformed to the character of God. Islam on the other hand is rather a religion, it is just an understanding of what God’s will is and the outcome for that is just obedience. That is how he is to live his life, it is not to know God, it is not to conform to God, but ultimately to obey. Islam literally means submission. Muslim means “one who submits.” And so they view, Allah, as a task master and a slave. It is totally different from our concept of a Father and His children. It is again not a knowing thing, it is a doing thing. So throughout their life they are doing these five pillars of faith.

The first one is the Shahada, the creed that I have already talked about. Basically, they recite this, “There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”

Secondly, there are the prayers that they pray five times a day. They pray. There is a set prayer in Arabic they go through and they face Mecca, a holy site and they pray five times a day.

Thirdly, they give alms, about 1/30 about 2.5 % of their income to the poor.

Fourthly, there is the month of Ramadan were they fast from sun up to sun down. They don’t drink water, eat, no sexual relations- nothing of the physical pleasure at all.

And the fifth one is pilgrimage, ”haj”- which means once in their lifetime, they have to go to Mecca. Here’s the little comma, “if they have the means.” See, that is really subjective, when your salvation is in the balance. What is that, 40K a year? Or I don’t know. Basically, all their life, they are trying to do this. Do you want to jump in for a moment or try to say something?

Ben – No, go ahead.

Afshin – I tell Muslims that Christianity teaches something totally different than the scale idea. Christianity teaches that no man can ever earn salvation on his own. By the way, Muslims believe that Jesus Christ lived a perfect sinless life. But they don’t understand why. So I share with them that He lived a perfect sinless life as God in human form and died on the cross and shed his blood. I explain further that if you receive Him, God doesn’t look at your good and bad deeds on a scale he looks at you and sees Christ’s blood covering you. He sees you white as snow and accepts you because of what Jesus already did in your life. Now, if that is the truth then how do you live your life? How does a Muslim live his life and how does a Christian live his life? A Muslim will look at me when I say that and say, “That doesn’t make any sense. You’re telling me that you receive grace on the front end. You say a prayer and you can just go sin and do whatever you want, you can go murder or you can sleep with whoever you want?”

Paul answers this question in Romans 6, “Shall we go on sinning now that we are no longer under the law, under the rules system? But now that we are under grace. Certainly not. Though formerly you were slaves to sin.” It is not about being a slave to God. Formerly before you were a Christian, you were slaves to sin. You had to – and it had the power over you to sin. It says, “Though you were formerly slaves to sin you have now become slaves to righteousness.” Meaning the Christian does good works also, he must produce righteousness. However, his good works are not a means to his salvation; rather, his good works are a proof of his salvation: a proof that he was saved in the first place.

Now here is the big point, don’t miss this. The motivation to live for God is different. In Islam, what’s the motive? The motive is fear. And not a holy, righteous fear of God like we read about in the Bible, a reverence of God. But a fear, that if I’m not good enough, ok, then I am going to get cast to hell. So my motive for living and obeying is fear. For Christianity, we have a totally different motive. Because if it is already done, Jesus said, “It is finished,” then what’s my motive to live? The motive is the greatest motive in all of life… love. The motive is love.

The motive is love. And the verse I love is 2 Corinthians 5 which says, “For the love of Christ compels us, it pushes us forward. Because we judge thus, for if one died then all die. That those who live in Him, live no longer for themselves but for Him who died and rose again.” You know what, we live our life, and we do good works because of love. That is such a greater motivator in life than fear. Here’s the deal, we live this life because we have been loved so much. Let me tell you, Muslims say that Allah is loving and that true love cannot be earned. That is not what love is. If you love your wife or husband because of the things they do for you then you truly don’t love them, you love what they do for you. A true love is best demonstrated when it is given freely. That is why, one of my favorite Scriptures coming from a Muslim background, is Romans 5:8, “For God demonstrates His love in this, while we were yet sinners, before we did anything to earn it, Christ died for us.” That is the kind of love I want to be a part of.

Ben – That’s awesome. You already answered my next question. I was going to say, “Why didn’t the five pillars of Islam do it for you?” I mean you grew up, born and raised in a Muslim home. Obviously, it didn’t do it for you. Let’s go back and talk about what happened after you received Christ into your life. That is probably not a thing you want to share over a family dinner afterwards. Guess what mom and dad? What happened after that? And what has God been doing in your life over the past several years?

Afshin – After I started reading that Bible, I was at football practice, and a guy came up to me and invited me to free pizza and I said man, “That sounds good.” I went for free pizza on September 28, 1989 and I heard the gospel and I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. After I did that, my first thought was, “What in the world did I just do?” My dad is a very prominent man, I don’t know what kind of father you have, but my dad is the best father any man could ever hope for. He loved his wife, my mom in a way that I have always wanted to be a husband like him, he loved us and he devoted himself to us. I was in fear of what would happen if he knew I became a Christian. I hid my faith from my dad for about a year and a half by hiding my Bible, by intercepting mail from the church I was attending before my parents could get to it. And by putting my church clothes in my car on Saturday night and going and changing at Jo Jo’s on Wilcrest before I went to church so my parents wouldn’t see me dressed up. Until finally my dad found out.

And I want to share this so you can see God and His faithfulness. My dad sits me down and says, “Son, what’s going on?” I basically tell him, “Dad I am a Christian.” He said, “No you are not, you are a Muslim, you will always be a Muslim.“ I said, “No Dad, the Bible says if I believe in Jesus and I do then I am a Christian.” He said, “Then if you are going to be a Christian, then you can no longer be my son.” Everything in me wanted to say, “Forget it I’m a Muslim” That is why I was shocked when these words came out of my mouth, “Dad if I have to choose between you and Jesus then I am choosing Jesus. If I have to choose between my earthly father and my Heavenly Father, then I choose my Heavenly Father.” And then my dad said, “You are no longer my son.” He disowned me. I walked upstairs to my room. Fell on my face and started weeping. I couldn’t believe that God would let that happen. I was very young in my faith and I actually became bitter with God and God humbled me. I said, “Jesus how could you do this if you are real? How could you take my dad away?” And I dare you to speak that openly and bluntly with God because He will answer you. He led me to a passage of Scripture in Matthew 10 where I read these words of Jesus that changed my life. Right after this happened, with my dad, I read these words. Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown. Don’t suppose I came to bring peace, but a sword. I came to turn man against his father.” I was like, that just happened. “A daughter against her mother. A man’s enemies will be members of his own household. Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” It was at that point I understood the cost of following Jesus. But I can tell you, as I followed Him my relationship with my dad has gone through a little bit of a roller coaster. Because then he accepted me back in but he wanted me to be a Doctor. And I wanted to be a minister. I wrestled with that until finally I gave my life to God’s will and I followed Him. But, God has been faithful. I wish I could tell you my whole story. But we are not going to do it now but He has provided for me every step of the way. A place to live for free, a ministry out of Dallas paid for my whole education at Seminary and I have been able to travel all over and preach the gospel. He is faithful and He is restoring my relationship with my dad again.

I can tell you this; God is worthy to be trusted for salvation. He definitely is. Because He is the only one who literally did the thing that you and I could never do. He paid the price for us. For us to say – don’t misunderstand this – for us to say to God… see God will not share His glory with anyone and He has provided the only way through Jesus Christ His Son. That is His Sacrifice, and for you and me to say that we can earn it is to share God’s glory. By the way many people who go to church say, not in those words, but say man, I’ll be in Heaven because I’ve been a good person, or I’ve done this or that. But for us to talk about what we’ve done, or for a Muslim to talk about the things he’s done, is to share God’s glory. He will not share it. He will not. And that’s why I love Galatians that says, “If righteousness, a right standing with God, could be attained through the law, then Christ died in vain.” That means you will be literally slapping God in the face and saying, “Your perfect plan- I don’t need it.” And that is scary ground. He is worthy to be trusted because He paid the price.

Secondly, He is worthy to be trusted with your life, every day – here on earth- not just for heaven. He has done it for me in my life.

[Ben leads in an invitation prayer.]

Trading Spaces: Part 4 – Mom for a Day (Mother’s Day)

TRADING SPACES

Mom for a Day

Ed Young

May 11, 2003

[Ed and Lisa Young come to the stage together]

You know, every week I spend about twenty to twenty-five hours doing research on the weekend message. I read the Bible. I read books. I listen to tapes and talk to people. We have creative planning team meetings. The whole process takes a long time. This week though, I did something totally different. I went away from what I normally do.

Since we are in a series called TRADING SPACES, and we have been talking about trading things, I decided to trade spaces with my wife, the mother of our four children. I did some real research and development. I decided to spend a real “Mother’s Day”. Let me tell you something. I was blown away by what it takes to be a mom. If you don’t believe me, check this out.

[A video is played on the side screens in which Ed, being Lisa for a day, does all of her normal work with the kids and the house. A camera crew follows him throughout the day to see exactly what is entailed in “being Lisa”]

That’s what it’s like to spend a Mother’s Day as Lisa. It was something else. This is my wife, Lisa. Lisa and I have four children and she is an awesome wife and mother. [Ed speaks to Lisa] I have a greater respect and admiration for what you do.

Lisa: Thank you.

Ed: We have many awesome wives and mothers here at church, as well – different women who find themselves in different stages of motherhood. Lisa and I have been talking about this series a little bit and about trading spaces, haven’t we?

Lisa: Yes.

Ed: Basically, Lisa, you came up with a three-fold trade that moms need to involve themselves in.

Lisa: [Speaking to Ed] Since you were working so hard at a Mother’s Day, I had to come to the church and get out of my space and go to Ed’s space – his office. So, it kind of helped with the outline a bit.

Ed: Yeah, it did. Lisa, when you think about the trading situation, when we talk about trading spaces, we need to remember that God asked Jesus to leave his place in heaven and take our space on the cross, and that he offers us grace. Once we receive his grace and we become followers of Christ that affords us the opportunity to talk about and involve ourselves with this three-fold trade that you have come up with. So, I want to hear about the three-fold trade.

TRADE UP

Lisa: Okay. The first trade that we, as moms, make is the “trade up”. Generally, when you are trading something, you want to improve your lot. You want to take something you have and trade it for something that you feel is maybe more valuable, a better deal.

Ed: Trade up.

Lisa: So, that’s the first trade. What we are trading is our objective as a mom, for God’s perspective for motherhood. That’s all about understanding God’s view versus my view.

Ed: It’s kind of like when we built this building. This building is five years old. I remember meeting with our Board of Trustees and other people who were helping us with this whole project. We would have all the plans on tables and we would look at this detail and look at that detail. Then, every time we would look at the plans, we would always try to get as high as possible and look down just to see all the dimensions – to see the big picture. God is that way in our lives. He wants us to have his perspective to see the real stuff in our lives. Yet, too many of us are trying to look at God’s plans through our own perspective and we can’t do it.

Lisa: It’s our view versus his view. When I think about my objective for motherhood, I look back to the time when our first child was born, LeeBeth, who is now sixteen. Basically, up to that point, I had only done a little bit of babysitting. That doesn’t qualify you as a mother. I had taken a few classes about childbirth and the newborn stuff. But outside of reading books, I did not know a lot about the job qualifications or what it was going to involve, especially because the job is not for a short period of time. It’s an extended period of time, a long time. So, I kind of had it in mind that it was important to help keep our daughter well fed and clean – the basic nurturing things that a mom has to do. Those are all very important. But then, I kind of threw in those activities that come with children – doing birthday parties, sports, sleep-overs, and other things. I wanted to be the cool parent, the cool mom, and all these different objectives became my primary focus as a mom.

Then, I realized that God, though, has a much higher perspective. He sees the real responsibility of motherhood and what it should be. Even though those objectives that I had are a small part of it, they are not the big picture.

We find the big picture in a book in the Old Testament called Deuteronomy, Chapter 6. Basically, that is where we can get our cue for parenting.

Ed: This chapter tells moms and dads too, what it means to put the ball through the net.

Lisa: It tells us what it means to be successful, to hit the mark. Basically, Deuteronomy 6 says to teach your children to love the Lord and to live for the Lord. (Read it sometime this afternoon or this week) I remember thinking, “Should it be a little deeper than that? Should it have more to it than that?” But my primary perspective should be to show my children the ways of the Lord. That’s trading up. It’s getting God’s perspective.

Ed: Lisa, read this Verse. This has been kind of a foundation for this series, Jeremiah 29:11, because it really underscores what we have been talking about.

Lisa: Okay. “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

When you think about that, in my greatest day, the objectives or plans that I would set forth, would be so limited compared to the supernatural perspective that God wants to give me. So, I always trade up.

Ed: So, for moms to send their kids out with great trajectory, I like to say, the number one thing, the priority, is teaching them and showing them what it means to have that relationship with Jesus Christ. I remember a guy in the Old Testament, Lisa, speaking of the Old Testament, named Elisha.

Elisha was a man of God, but he had a servant with him who helped him – kind of like his understudy. One morning, the servant got up real early before Elisha. I don’t know if he was sipping espresso or not, but he looked out and saw that Elisha’s place was surrounded by the enemy. He began to freak out, “Elisha, wake up! The enemy is going to take care of us! They are going to kill us!” Elisha said, “Lord, I pray that my servant sees like I see and more importantly, sees like you see.” The Bible says the moment Elisha breathed that prayer, the scales fell off the servants’ eyes and he saw the way God saw. He saw from God’s perspective and he saw this angelic host, all these heavenly beings, actually blockading the advancing army.

I think that a great prayer for parents, especially for moms, is: “God, help me to see from your perspective. Help me to see what you want me to see.”

TRADE OFF

Lisa: The second trade is to “trade off”.

Ed: Number two – trade off.

Lisa: Trade off. That’s where I trade off my activities for God’s priorities.

Ed: What’s a trade off? That’s a good question, isn’t it?

Lisa: I think if there is anything that we struggle with in our society today because of our ability in this time, with the technology and everything that we have at our disposal, is that we can do so many things.

Ed: What happens to us, Lisa, just to interrupt you for a second.

Lisa: [Speaking sarcastically] He never interrupts me. I always complete every sentence I ever start.

Ed: What happens, Lisa, is many times I don’t complete sentences.

Lisa: Yes, because he is ADD.

Ed: Yeah, EDD.

Lisa: EDD. Before Ed finishes a sentence, his thoughts are already on another one, so he just cuts it off. But he assumes that I caught the end of it even though he never said it. So now, after twenty-one years of marriage, I have learned how to deal with this. I’ll say, “Finish that sentence.”

Ed: What was I talking about?

Lisa: I don’t know.

Ed: Activities. Yeah, we let our activities dictate our priorities as opposed to letting our priorities dictate our activities.

Lisa: We’ve got it backwards. That’s generally true in most things. We have this ability to put our ways first and God’s ways last. So, what we must do is pray through and say, “Okay, God, I’ve traded up and I want your perspective. I know that the most important thing is for me to teach my children about you, so what should I be involved in everyday to make that happen? We need to pray that he can actually make it happen through us. So, that’s a question of priority. As we go through our day, we better check the line up. That’s the first thing we should do – line up the activities in our day and recognize how they stack up, how they line up with the priorities that God has set forth. After we line everything up, we need to ask, “Okay, is there too much stuff? What do we need to eliminate?”

Ed: So we line up and then we eliminate.

Lisa: We eliminate. That’s the second thing of the trade off.

Ed: I love this thing “eliminate” because great leaders, great men and women are great eliminators. Don’t tell me what you are doing. Tell me what you are not doing. Tell me what you eliminating. Tell me what you are not doing today that you maybe did last year – whether you are running a company, working, in school – whether you are a coach, a pastor, a mom or dad, a husband or wife. Greatness is all about saying no. It’s hard to say no.

Lisa: There will always be pressing matters. There will always be things that your children will be advocates of to get you. “Please, Mom, sign me up. Please, Dad, I want to do this.” There is always going to be that pull and that tug. But it’s up to us to discern what should be eliminated and what should be chosen. We have to say no to some good things in order to say yes to the best things and so that we truly fulfill those priorities that God has set.

Ed: Lisa, I’ve heard you say what you do is try to line up and try to think of all this stuff against the backdrop of D6, Deuteronomy 6.

Lisa: You know what? This is something that has happened in the past couple of years. Our children will say, “But Mom, so and so invited me over to their house. And you said I might be able to go.” Or, “You never let me go!” Or, “That’s not fair!” I have to take everything that’s, I hate to say thrown at me, but sometimes it feels like they are throwing things at me. I take all these possibilities for activity and say, “Wait a minute, okay, this is what we need to do.”

If I am too activity driven, I am going to become frazzled. I’m going to become frustrated. I’m going to become anything but a spokesperson for the Lord, and sharing with the children about loving and trusting Him. They are not going to necessarily see the best Godly spirit in me when I am just at the end of my rope. That’s usually what happens when we are too heavy on activities. Often, I will tell them, say, “Okay, guys, you are putting it on me that I am suppose to have you at three birthday parties this weekend. You are going to be singing at this little deal at the church and you are going to have three friends over in the next week.” With four children, there is often times that many things going on…”

Ed: Five children.

Lisa: Five counting Ed. So, I said, “Look, I want to tell you something. Deuteronomy 6 does not say anything about I have to have you at Ashley’s house on Wednesday. It doesn’t say anything about having your birthday party at whatever place, the greatest birthday party adventure in the world. It says I am supposed to teach you about the Lord. If some of those other things fit in, hurrah for Mommy. Yeah! You’ve done a good job. But this is the basic foundational stuff. So I even share that with them. I just kind of stumbled upon this because it was like, “Okay, I want to tell you, it’s not just me, it’s God. God said this. It’s not all falling on me.” What that does is it shows them that everything in our lives is painted by the backdrop of the Scripture. It’s put right there for us to see, so that is how we determine how we live. We have to line things up. We have to eliminate. What do we eliminate? What are we saying no to and what do we say yes to? We better be saying yes to time alone with the Lord. We need to be saying yes to time with our spouse.

Ed: Oh, yeah.

Lisa: You like that one.

Ed: That’s right. Lisa and I have talked to so many couples, and we talked about this last night over dinner with some friends of ours, that it’s almost like a man and a woman get married and start our focusing on the relationship. But then what happens? They kind of have that drift because maybe they have a child or two. Then the mom…

Lisa: We kind of hang up our wife jersey for the mom jersey and we forget that it was out of this husband/wife relationship that our children were born. Don’t ever forget that, because the primary relationship is with your spouse. So, make sure that you are saying no to some good things in order to say yes to that best relationship.

Also, you time alone for you. Now, I am a big advocate of this – be by yourself and have some “me” time. [Talking to Ed] You had that at the salon and sometimes I have it at the salon.

Ed: The Bible talks a lot about solitude. I have mine with PMS – pre-message syndrome. [Ed is referring to the time he needs alone before giving the message on the weekend]

Lisa: You get that every week.

Ed: I do. I get that every week.

Lisa: I understand why, now that I am here doing this.

Ed: I have pre-message and post-message.

Lisa: But I interrupted you. What were you going to say?

Ed: I forgot, but let’s go to the second one – third one.

Lisa: Third one. Line up, eliminate, this is under trading off, you need to delegate.

Ed: After we eliminate, we delegate.

Lisa: For husbands and wives, I think now more than ever, the roles of the mom and dad have changed. We don’t see as clearly defined roles as we saw ten, twenty, or thirty years ago. It used to be that the mom stayed at home and the dad went off to work. Now, we see more of a cross, or a trade off, between the mom and the dad. I think a lot of that has to do with the culture, the economy – some men have lost their jobs and the women have stepped up to the workforce. So it is very important that we understand that there can be a trade off in some of these responsibilities, especially if you are a single mom. How much more so does a single parent need to depend upon others with the task of rearing the children?

Ed: Every time I think about a single mom, single parent/mom, I think of what happened several years ago. There was a family in our church who went through a divorce. This was the church we attended in Houston. This mom, who was single, had her kids, her boys, at church in the youth ministry, in children’s activities etc., and her oldest son got to know me. I am about 8 years older than he is. Several other guys and I kind of stepped in and were kind of like his father or older brothers. It is wonderful to see what God has done with that relationship. The guy I am talking about is a guy named Mac Richard. Mac was on our staff here for years at Fellowship Church and we helped Mac start a church in Austin. It’s called Lake Hills Church. That church has grown in five years from zero to 1200 people. Mac will be the first to tell you that several men in our church from Houston actually stepped into those roles of father and brothers, and his mom delegated some of that to people like me and others.

Lisa: I’m thrilled that Fellowship Church has the same type of base. We have HomeTeams that are small groups that are working to help and facilitate single parents to be involved in everything from babysitting co-ops to events that include the children. It’s very important to delegate and get help.

Ed: Speaking of trade off, I want to throw some names out to you. Last night, I surprised Lisa with some Bible trivia. She had no idea. I just put her on the spot in front of several friends, and threw Bible names out to her concerning motherhood and this whole trade off deal.

Lisa: But now I know.

Ed: Yeah, now you know. Jochebed. Talk to us about Jochebed. Who was Jochebed?

Lisa: Jochebed was Moses’s mother. When Moses was born, Pharaoh was killing the young boys because the Hebrews were reproducing, growing in number, and he was trying to stop that. So, he started killing the male babies. Jochebed was so creative and so diligent that she came up with a plan. She said, “I know God has got something really special for Moses.” So, she made this basket to put him in. She put the basket in the water, floated him down the Nile River and Pharaoh’s daughter found him. Miriam, Moses’ sister, was standing close by. Miriam said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Would you like for me to find a nurse for the baby?” Pharaoh’s daughter, not knowing that this was indeed the baby’s older sister, said, “Well, sure,” And Miriam took Moses back to his mother. So, Jochebed got to nurse Moses until he was four or five years of age. He stayed in his original, biological home. Then he went to live in the palace. Jochebed traded off a very important role as mom. And God honored it. Because of her creativity, because of her hard work, this baby was put into a palace and he was able to be educated and exposed to things he never would have been exposed to if he would have been at home.

Ed: I always think that Moses was next in line to be Pharaoh of Egypt, but you know the rest of the story.

Lisa: Several weeks ago, you mentioned a swatch. Often times, God shows us a swatch.

Ed: You mean that illustration with that little fabric I brought up here – that little piece of fabric?

Lisa: Now I sew, so, often times, I go into a fabric store and I’ll have something in mind that I want to make and I will get a piece of fabric, a swatch. No matter how good of an eye you have, it’s difficult to take that little piece of fabric and completely envision what it will look like when it covers a project. That’s a lot like Jochebed. She had a swatch. She knew that God had blessed her with a baby boy, this precious son. But she could not really see all that God was going to do. She knew very little at the time she put that baby in the basket and put him in the water. But she had faith. She had obedience to God’s plans. What an unbelievable thing God created out of that very small swatch!

Ed: Okay, one more mom. How about Hannah? That’s a wild story. You think soap operas and some of these Hollywood shows have a lot of intrigue?

Lisa: Hannah was a praying mom. But if you push the rewind button and go back before she was able to have a child, she faced a difficult crisis that many people face today in our time. That is, infertility. It was further complicated by the fact that her husband, Elkanah, just got himself into a little bit of a bind. It was something that was a problem in the Old Testament. You see it throughout the Old Testament, but it was never honored by God. It was the fact that Elkanah had more than one wife.

Ed: Two wives.

Lisa: That’s never good. Wasn’t then and isn’t now. Elkanah had another wife called Peninnah.

Ed: So you’ve got Peninnah, Elkanah and Hannah.

Lisa: Peninnah was very fertile. She had children. There was kind of a competition between Hannah and Peninnah. Even though Elkanah favored Hannah, she felt weak and insubordinate. She felt very bad about herself because she couldn’t have children. So she prayed. Out of that difficulty she became a praying person.

Ed: You guys ought to read her prayers in the Book of First Samuel.

Lisa: In the Book of First Samuel, she became a praying person and God blessed her with a son. She named him Samuel, which means “God hears me.” There again, she had a very little swatch, but she had prayed and asked God to send her this son, and if he did, she would give him back to the Lord. And she did that. She took him to the Temple to be raised and he became one of the great prophets and judges of Israel. And he also anointed the first two kings of Israel. So her swatch became a great big plan.

Ed: Lisa, what I want to challenge moms to do is to have this question at the forefront of your mind and your spirit. You might have to ask yourself this question over and over every day. What’s the trade off? We need to ask ourselves as parents, especially as mothers, what is the trade off? Activities against the backdrop of priorities. Once we are priority driven, then things will click.

Lisa: It’s said perfectly in a very small verse from the New Testament, Matthew 6:33, the Bible tells us that we are to …

Ed: Seek first.

Lisa: “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” So as we trade off all these different things, we shouldn’t fret because God will add it and put it in the order that it is supposed to be.

Ed: That’s right. Give me the last trait. You came up with three traits.

TRADE IN

Lisa: The last trait is “trade in”.

Ed: Trade in. Do you think about a car when you think about trade in? I do. I think about trading in a car.

Lisa: Trading in a car. This might sound a little corny, but we trade in a lemon for a limo. Is that corny?

Ed: It’s not corny. I like that.

Lisa: ‘Cause you thought it up.

Ed: Yeah, I did. I’m a little cheesy, a little corny. That’s all right.

Lisa: So many times, seriously….

Ed: Have you ever been in a limo before?

Lisa: Yes.

Ed: I have. I have a great limo story. I don’t want to bore them with it. But this is a wild thing. The first time I ever rode in a limo, I was 21 years old. I was finishing up my undergraduate work, and a guy called me because he and World Heavyweight Boxing Champ, George Foreman, were going out to L.A. and they invited me to go. It’s crazy how they invited me to go. I got to ride with him, George Foreman, and a writer for Sports Illustrated in a limousine. It was incredible.

Lisa: The night before, you had just been ordained into the ministry.

Ed: Yeah, the night before I had just been ordained as a pastor. [Sarcastically] See what happens when you become a pastor? You ride in a limo with George Foreman.

[Laughter]

Lisa: Well, I’m going to tell it real quick. Okay?

Ed: Okay.

Lisa: Okay. The gentleman that invited Ed was an attorney in Houston and he thought that Ed had a lot in common with George Foreman, because they were both athletes. Ed played basketball at Florida State.

Ed: Most of the time I sat the bench. I kept telling him, “Hey, I have nothing in common with George. I’m a bench warmer. I never play and he is All-World.”

Lisa: That’s right. Either way, I think it was….

Ed: The reason was because at that time, George was in the ministry.

Lisa: George Foreman was in the ministry. This was before the Foreman Grill.

[Laughter]

Ed: Right.

Lisa: Which, by the way, is incredible! I highly recommend it. Anyway, Ed was invited to go to Los Angeles, but the point was that they were going to meet to an Olympic Athletes Banquet where Muhammed Ali was going to be honored. Ed had just been ordained the night before, the Sunday night before, at our church there in Houston. When they got to Los Angeles, Muhammad Ali asked Ed to talk to him about the Lord. We were twenty-one or twenty-two years old. So, it was really awesome. When he came back (of course I knew none of this until he got back in town) he said, “You won’t believe this, but I got to share my faith with Muhammad Ali!”

Ed: It was kind of surreal. It was George Foreman, my friend, myself and Muhammad Ali for about forty-five minutes talking about Jesus.

Lisa: That has nothing to do with this.

Ed: But we did have a nice limo.

Lisa: It was a nice limo. Okay. There we go.

Ed: Wow, how did we get off the subject?

Lisa: It was a nice limo. But often times, I feel, when I look at my role as a mom, that I don’t have God’s perspective. I am certainly, because of that, not lining things up with his priorities. I feel like a lemon. I feel like I am just not doing the stuff. I’m not doing what he wants me to do. I’m not fulfilling the purpose which is to teach the children to come up as a new generation of Christ-followers. If I just trade in myself and say, “Lord, I want the old to go away and I want a new way. I want you to lead the way,” he will do it.

Ed: He does it every time.

Lisa: And I love what you said at the last service, Ed, because I had not heard this. You said God is not concerned about my ability. He is concerned about my availability. So, if I am available to him, he promises me that he will take care of the rest.

[Lisa takes out a small necklace from her pocket]

I brought this little necklace up that my son made for me. He is eleven years old now and I think he made it when he was six or seven. He gave it to me for Mother’s Day. This is all about being a successful mom. It’s just a string with a button, but it says, written in alphabet beads, “Seek Him.” This hangs by my mirror in the bathroom so I can see it on a regular basis, because the success of being a mother is all about trading up, trading off, and trading in – seeking God and he will truly make me a successful mom.

Ed: That’s a trade, Lisa that is made in the shade. All we have to do is give our rubble to the Lord and he can take it and build something incredible around it.

If you are a mom, would you please stand at this time? I’m going to ask Lisa to lead in a prayer of dedication and a prayer of blessing, because I want you to know that we love you and no matter what stage you find yourself in motherhood, I’m going to tell you something, you have a church that supports you and that prays for you. We are fellow strugglers, all of us, in this exciting role called parenting. So, Lisa, lead us in a word of prayer.

Lisa: Absolutely.

God we just come to you at this time asking you to touch the hearts of every mom here. Father, as we look to you for our guidance, as we look to you for our priorities and our perspective, we ask that we would set aside those things that keep us from doing your will, from doing what you would have us to do. I ask, Father, that right now you would take any things that need to be eliminated and help us to make those decisions and help us to do it effectively. God, we trade in the old for your supernatural ability to make our job successful. We love you. We praise you. And on this day, and everyday, we thank you for moms. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

World Religions 101: When Buddha Meets Jesus

WORLD RELIGIONS 101

When Buddha Meets Jesus

Ben Young

May 11, 2003

Around 525 BC, a little boy was born near India. This boy’s name was Siddhartha Gautama. He was born to very powerful and affluent parents. At his birth some people predicted that this young boy would either become a prince or an ascetic monk. As he grew up, his parents sheltered him from what they perceived to be pain and suffering in the outside world, so young Siddhartha stayed within the walls of this palace. As a young man he married, and one day he broke out of the confines of the palace and saw what he described as four very distressing sights. Now imagine, this guy has been sheltered his entire life from any form of pain and suffering.

The first stressful sight he saw was a sick man. It puzzled him: Why was this man sick? The second stressful sight he saw was an old man. Why did this man look this way? Why did he walk this way? Why was his skin wrinkling? The third stressful sight he saw was a dying man. And the fourth stressful sight he saw was a monk, known in the Hindu religion as a sannyassin—a beggar monk.

He went back within the confines of his palace, his wife became pregnant, and on the day she brought forth their child, he left and became that fourth stressful sign—an ascetic monk. He left the palace, trying to understand the riddle—the problem of pain and suffering—and trying to make sense of the ultimate meaning of life.

After begging and roaming the streets with nothing for many years, he was one day meditating under a boda tree. After an extended time of meditation, he got up, took a shower, put on normal clothes, and said, “My name is no longer Siddhartha Gautama; my name is The Buddha.”

Tonight we begin a brand new series called, When Buddha Meets Jesus. In this series we are looking at some of the different religions that we encounter in our world. Tonight we will look at Buddhism. Next week we will look at Islam; I’ll be talking to a guy from Iran who used to be a Muslim but has converted to the Christian faith. I will interview him about the Islamic beliefs and his story. In the third message we will look at the oldest religion in the world, which is Hinduism. And then finally, we will look at Mormonism, which is kind of an Americana spin-off of the Christian faith.

Now, let me say right off the bat that what we are doing in this series is an introduction to the religions of the world. It will be impossible for me to exhaust the teachings and doctrines of any particular faith anymore than I could exhaust the doctrines of the Christian faith in a 35-minute message—that is impossible. However, I do believe that in our time together we can look at the essential core teachings and the core beliefs of these various religious faiths. One thing I think will be clear to you is that all religions are not the same.

I like what Ravi Zacharias said: “Anyone who claims that all religions are the same betrays not only an ignorance of all religions but also a caricatured view of even the best-known ones. Every religion is at its core exclusive.”

So many times people want to criticize you, if you are a Christian, by saying, “Well, you Christians think your way is the only way.” You can’t escape exclusivity when you are talking about religious or philosophic views. You simply can’t escape it. You will see throughout this series that the religions of the world—Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Mormonism—though they may have some similar teachings, their basic core beliefs are radically different. The big take away I hope you’ll get from this series, as we look at a sampling of the various world religions, is that you will learn to discern the religious perspective of anyone you meet. That is my goal—that you will be able to encounter anyone, whether you talk to them on an airplane or on the street or if it is someone in your family, someone you work with, or if you fly to a remote country on the other side of the world, if you can understand some of the things we will talk about in the upcoming messages, you will be able to understand their perspective. Everyone is religious—religion being described as, having a worldview.

Now you may be wondering, “How in the world are we going to accomplish that?” This is how you are going to learn to discern the religious perspective or philosophic point of view of the various people you encounter; you are going to learn by what I call, getting a grip on the big four questions. You need to learn how to ask the big, write it out: F-O-U-R questions. You are going to be hearing these questions over and over and over again in this series.

Someone once said that repetition is the mother of all skill. I don’t know about you, but my brain is pretty dense and pretty slow; so for my brain to get something I have to pound it in over and over and over and over and over again. But I think once you learn this, it is going to be beneficial. It has really helped me out. It’s like one of those eureka experiences.

The first question that you need to learn to ask is, “What is Ultimate Reality?” In parenthesis you might want to put: “A God question.” This first question is one of the themes of The Matrix movies. If you can remember some of the dialogue of the first movie that was released in 1999, Morpheus—the Messianic or John the Baptist type of character—and Neo—the One, played by Keanu Reeves—discussed many times: “What is real?” Neo is going along in his life, just like we are, and he enters into this different reality behind the reality, and he starts asking all these questions, “Is this a dream, or is this reality?” When you start asking this question, “What is ultimate reality,” you are really asking, “What is the stuff behind the stuff?”

Now, before your brain explodes, relax. Someone may say, there is nothing behind the stuff; the only things that are really real are the things that we can touch, the things that we can taste, the things that we can hear. That is all that is really real. Nothing is really out there. That is one answer. Another answer to this question may be: gods. “There is a multiplicity of warring gods. That is the answer behind all the stuff that we see.” Someone may say that ultimate reality is Brahman—this one universal spirit, which we will look at in a few weeks. And of course, the Christian answer, and the correct answer, is: Ultimate reality is God Himself.

The second big question we all need to ask is, “How do you know?” If you say there is an ultimate reality—there is something or someone behind the things we can see, touch, and feel—then how do you know this? How do you know what you know? There are many ways of knowing. We can know things rationally, through reason. Have you ever heard the saying, “Well, that makes sense?” I can figure things out, learn things with my mind with reasoning and processing. You can also learn things empirically. That is what science is supposed to be about—doing different experiments and tests to verify things and having proofs and proving them time and time again. You can learn things empirically by what you see, taste, touch, smell, feel, and hear. You can also learn things pragmatically. Maybe you say, “I’m not into all that philosophical mumbo jumbo; give me what works.” That is the philosophy known as pragmatism, that is, a way of learning. If it works, then it is true, it is real. And the Christian way of knowing is primarily revelation. We know because God has spoken; He has revealed Himself through His Word, the Scripture, and through The Word, Jesus Christ.

The third question we will ask is, “What happens at death? What happens when you die? Some may say that when you die you get a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance…you are reincarnated. Others say that when you die nothing happens; you are just worm food. You help feed the grass and flowers in some cemetery somewhere. Others say you dissolve into the oneness of this universe that we live in, and you become one with this force that we cannot see but is all around us. Others say, “Who cares what happens when you die; I am living for the moment. You only go around once in life. Matter is all there is, so go for all the gusto you can.” What happens at death is the third big question.

The fourth big question, is: “How should you live?” In light of these truths and these realities, how should you live? This deals with ethics. Some would say, “Obey the Ten Commandments.” Others would say, “Follow the eight-fold path.” Others would say, “You need to adhere to the Five Pillars of Islam.” Still others would say, You need to escape the cycle of samsara by having good karma.” So, how should you live your life?

When you are able to ask these four questions to a person and dialogue with them, you will be able to understand the governing force in their life (or governing forces). What you will discover many times is that people will not live consistently with these big four questions; there will be a contradiction between their view of reality and their view of knowledge and between their view of knowledge and their view of ethics (how they should live their lives).

Before we can talk about Buddhism tonight, we first have to seek the answers. How does Christianity answer the big four questions? And let me say this right off the bat: Christianity is the only standard. It is not like life is some big enchilada that some people want to put green sauce on and some want to put red sauce on and some want to put guacamole on top. It is not as if you can just pick your religion and pick whatever works for you. Some may say, “That is what is true for you; basically, religions are just all trying to do the same thing; you’ve got your view and I’ve got mine.” It doesn’t work that way. Christianity presents itself to us as a comprehensive worldview, a meta-narrative, a grand story for everyone, for every culture, for every background, for every time period that has ever existed. Christianity is the whole enchilada.

I am not trying to be deceptive here and say that I come from a neutral point of view and that I am just trying to look at these different faiths rationally. No, I believe that God has clearly revealed Himself to us in His Word, He has clearly revealed Himself to us in Christ and that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This doesn’t mean that there is not truth outside of the Christian faith. It doesn’t mean that some of the principles and things taught by Buddha and Mohammed don’t contain bits of the truth. But Christianity is the ultimate standard by which we judge that which is right and that which is wrong.

Romans Chapter 1, verse 16 and following: “I am not ashamed of the gospel [the good news], because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’ The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it known to them.” The gospel that we teach and preach is for every person, from every religious background because everyone knows the one, true God. But they take this knowledge of the one true God, and they stuff it and suppress it. Really, on one level, what we are looking at when we look at different religious and philosophical perspectives that are against the Christian faith, is how various people through the centuries have taken the truth of what they know is right and have twisted it and turned it to their own end.

Once again, Christianity is the standard by which we judge all other truth claims. And Christianity is the only religion, the only worldview that can make sense out of our experience and make sense out of the way we live life. So here are the answers to the big four questions according to the Christian faith.

What is Ultimate Reality? John Chapter 1, verse 1 says, “In the beginning was [the Logos] the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Ultimate reality for the Christian faith is the ontological trinity. The word ontology is about the study of being; so the very essence of who God is—God is the sovereign, happy, holy, triune God; He is one in essence and three in persons. When we are talking about the ontological trinity, we are talking about the pre-existent Christ. In the beginning was Jesus Christ (the Word), and Jesus Christ was God, and He was with God. Now this does not mean we are polytheists—that we worship three gods. No, we worship one God in three persons. God is a unity and a plurality and a diversity of persons. That is who He is; that is the God we worship. That is ultimate reality, and He defines everything else.

Second question: How do you know? John Chapter 1, verse 14 talks to us about that. It says, “The Word [that is the pre-incarnate Christ] became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” I love that. I pray that for myself, that when I teach, “God, make me like Jesus, full of grace and full of truth.” How do we know? We know through Jesus Christ. He is the starting point of our knowledge and all knowledge. Colossians chapter 2 tells us this. How else do we know? II Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” We not only know through God revealing Himself in Jesus Christ, we also know through God revealing Himself in the Living Word, the Bible, the Holy Scripture.

Does this mean that we as Christians don’t know things rationally—through reason and logic? Of course we do. Of course we learn through reason. Does this mean we can learn things empirically? Of course we can learn things empirically—by what we can see, hear, touch, and experiment. But, ultimately, our basis for our knowledge is revelational in character. A transcendent God, a God who stands, in one sense, beyond our experience, has spoken to us through His Son, through His Word, so that we may know Him.

Now, the knowledge that we have is a true knowledge. It is not exhaustive. A Christian is not someone who can say, “Well, I have all the answers.” No one can say this because God has not revealed to any one person all the answers. But we can know some very real things about who God is and how to relate to Him. This is the second question that we look at: How do we know?

The third question is: “What happens at death?” Hebrews chapter 9, verse 27: “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment….” When you die in this life, you will face the judgment of God, and you will either spend an eternity in hell separated from God or in heaven worshiping God. Now, that right there tells us a lot. When you ask the question, “What happens at death?” it tells you where a person is coming from. It tells us a lot about where we are coming from as Christians. That is the problem with mankind—we are separated from a holy God. The solution to spending an eternity in heaven, and the solution to meaninglessness right now and a purposeless existence, is to place our faith in Jesus Christ. And when we do that, God tells us we are forgiven, we are cleansed, and we are adopted into God’s very family. And He lays out His plan, His will, His guidelines, for our very lives.

Fourth question: How should you live? Galatians chapter 5, verse 16 says: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. How do we get into the Christian faith in the first place? Is it because you are smarter or you are more moral than your pagan neighbor? No. Is it because you are smarter than your friend who happens to practice Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam? No. You got into the Christian faith, Ephesians chapter 2 tells us, because when we were dead and clueless—we didn’t know God from Godzilla on one level—He opened our eyes up, He awakened us, He gave us life, He gave us a relationship with Him, He gave us this worldview and this new perspective. How did that happen? By God’s Spirit coming in and opening our eyes and filling us.

How do we live the Christian life? The Christian life is not, “Try harder, try harder! Pull yourself up from your bootstraps! You can do it, really!” Though we do try hard and strain, the Christian life is one of power in the Holy Spirit. Outside of God, I am nothing. Without God in Christ, I can do nothing. Through Christ and His Spirit I can do all things. So we are to live a life of freedom, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, and working that out. That is how we are to live our lives and the Holy Spirit will continue that process of conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ and simultaneously pointing us back to the cross and outside of ourselves to the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which gives us our continual hope and acceptance before God. I wish I had time to unpack that more tonight, but we have to go and see what happened to Buddha under the boda tree centuries ago, in around 560 BC.

What happened to Buddha?

How would Buddha answer the Big Four Questions? What is Ultimate Reality? Here’s the problem when you study Buddhism and you look at Buddhist teachings. Buddha was not really concerned about ultimate reality. Buddha was coming out of a Hindu tradition, and he was kind of reacting to Hinduism. And he did not believe in Brahman. He did not believe in a soul or a spirit world. So in many ways, many people look at Buddhism as an atheistic philosophy. He was much more concerned only about existence in the here and now. Here is what Buddha said to a fellow monk named Ananda shortly before his death. He said, “You must be your own lamps; you must be your own refuges. Take refuge in nothing outside of yourselves. Hold firm to the truth as a lamp and a refuge. And do not look for refuge in anything besides yourselves. A monk must become his own lamp and refuge by continually looking on his body, feelings, perceptions, moods, and ideas in such a manner that he conquers the cravings and depressions of ordinary men and is always strenuous, self-possessed, and collected in mind.”

So when you X out God and when you X out a universal spirit, what you are left with are competing ultimate realities. What is really real in Buddhism? One answer could be matter—matter being all the things we can touch and feel; matter being the universe and cosmos. That is all that is there, right? That could be one answer.

Another answer could be suffering. Remember Buddha was primarily trying to deal with the issue of suffering in this life. So suffering, in one sense, could be ultimate reality—what is really real. Nirvana (not the singing group) could also be an answer. Nirvana, in a sense, is the goal of the Buddhist; it is described as a candle blowing out. It is when you can look into a mirror and no longer see a face or a person staring back at you. It is the extinction, if you will, of the self.

Second question: How do you know? How does the Buddhist say you know? He would say that it is primarily through meditation—meditating on the four noble truths. When he was under the boda tree, he was meditating there. When he said he received the enlightenment, he said he received four noble truths—he came to these conclusions:

The Four Noble Truths: Number one, Life is suffering. The second noble truth is, Suffering is caused by desire. Number three, Suffering can be overcome by eliminating desire or eliminating cravings. Now, how do you do that? Noble Truth Number Four, You do that by following what he called the Eight-Fold Path to Enlightenment. The problem is, he said, that all of life is suffering. This is what he said to some of his monks: “Now this, monks, is the noble truth of pain, duka: Birth is painful, old age is painful, sickness is painful, death is painful, sorrow, lamentations, dejection, and despair are painful. Contact with unpleasant things is painful. Not getting what one wishes is painful. In short, the fine components of existence are painful. Now this, monks, is the noble truth of the cause of pain: The craving which tends to rebirth, combined with pleasure and lust, finding pleasure here and there, and namely the craving for passion, the craving for existence, the craving for non-existence. Now this, monks, is the noble truth to the secession of pain: The secession without a remainder of craving—the abandonment, the forsaking, and the release of non-attachment. ” That is the goal of the eight–fold path.

We have these desires for pleasure, for happiness, yet we have all these painful experiences in our life. How do you get rid of this desire that we have? If you get rid of that then you eliminate suffering by simply squelching or killing or eliminating your desire. You do that (as we will discover in the fourth question) by following the eight-fold path.

Now, question Number three: What happens at death? There are two options, from Buddha’s perspective. He says you are either reincarnated or nirvana—your candle blows out. Now, the problem I see between Buddha’s view of ultimate reality and his view of what happens at death is that there is a blatant contradiction. See, if you take out the soul and the spirit…Hindus believe in the transmigration of the soul—that the soul is reincarnated into other forms, other people, or other animals. If Buddha takes that out of the picture, then my questions to him would be, “What is reincarnated?” Once you die and become worm food, what gets reincarnated? Their answers may be, “Well, your desires get reincarnated; your psychological energy is reincarnated.” That is problematic within their view. So what happens at death? You are either reincarnated or nirvana—your candle blows out.

Number four: How should you live? Again, Buddha’s answer is to follow the eight-fold path. What is the eight-fold path? Number One: Right view – that is, to understand the four noble truths. Right thought—that is, to have good motives. Right Speech—that is to tell the truth. Right action—that is never to kill anything; do not commit adultery; do not drink. I guess a Baptist got hold of Buddha a long time ago. Number five: Right living – which means you must have an honorable profession. A Buddhist couldn’t be a butcher; killing pigs and animals like that is against their religious beliefs. Number six: Right effort. Number seven: Right thinking—that is, to be self-aware. Number eight: Right meditation – and that is achieved through raja-yoga techniques. What is interesting is that Buddha went against the caste system in Hinduism that ranked people. Yet in the eight-fold path, laypeople, like you and me, if we went against the Buddhist tradition could only fulfill five of the eight things in the eight-fold path. Six, seven, and eight are really reserved for monks alone. Even though he came and was critiquing a hierarchy, he ended up re-creating the same thing he was critiquing.

That is a thumbnail sketch of Buddhism. Now, let me tell you briefly why I like Buddha but why I can’t follow him. I like Buddha because Buddha was really serious about addressing the problem of pain and suffering. I would not say all of life is suffering, but a good chunk of life is suffering. I like the fact that his philosophy, his view, was all about how you deal with that reality. In my opinion, that is a very important philosophic question; it is a very pragmatic, very practical, question as well.

The reason I can’t follow Buddha is, his solution is inadequate; his solution falls short of the standard that God has revealed to us. What is his solution? It is a “desire reduction” program. To achieve Nirvana you have to eliminate suffering. I agree with what Dr. Peter Kreeft said, a philosopher at Boston College. He says this, “I can’t help viewing Nirvana as spiritual euthanasia—killing the patient, the self, the eye, the ego, to cure the disease of egotism and selfishness. Buddhism eliminates the eye that hates and suffers. But that is also the eye that loves.” He says it is kind of like killing the patient to cure the disease.

Jesus is not anti-desire. God is not anti-desire. The desires that we have—the desire for happiness, the desire for love, the desire for sex, for security—these desires are not in themselves negative or sinful or bad. Our desires go awry when we attach our desires to wrong things. I love the story about Jesus with the woman at the well. I call this story: “Jesus with the whore in John 4.” See, you will never forget where that is now. For those of you who have problems with me using that word, it is mentioned time and time again in the only correct translation of the Bible, the King James Version (Ben is being tongue-in-cheek here). In John chapter 4, Jesus Christ encounters a lady who has been looking or thirsting for love her entire life. She’s been looking to find acceptance and meaning in a variety of relationships with different men. While they are getting a drink at the well, Jesus doesn’t tell her that all desire is wrong, saying, “Your desire for acceptance, your desire for love is wrong.” He tells her basically, “You’ve been drinking out of the wrong well. You’ve been trying to find life and meaning out of this well that is the wrong well. I am going to give you some water today that is living water, and this living water is going to quench the thirst of your heart.” He didn’t say, “I am going to give you this mystical drink, and you are going to learn how to deny and kill all desire.” He said, “I am going to come into your life, and I am going to transform your desires.”

You see, the truth is, we don’t need an eight-fold path. We don’t need more rules and regulations and a self-improvement program. We need radical renovation and restoration. The gospel is not, “Try hard, do better, obey this book, and the boogey man won’t get you. Do good things, be nice, don’t drink, don’t cuss, don’t go with girls who do; don’t do these things. Do go to church. Do this; don’t do that…then God will love you.” That is not the gospel!

The gospel is not, “Look for the love. Look for that special thing inside of you.” That is not the gospel. The gospel is not what happened under a tree in 560 BC; the gospel is what happened on a tree in 33 AD when God became a man in Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ died on the cross. He actually did something about our pain and suffering. He actually entered into our pain and suffering and took all our guilt on Him. He who knew no sin became sin for you and for me. He was buried, put into a tomb, and on the third day He came out of that tomb. And if we place our faith in Him, God says we are forgiven, we are cleansed, we have new life. We become a son or a daughter of the living God.

And all this happened outside of us. It is objective reality, and we can know the embrace of the Father. We can know that God accepts us. We can know eternal life, not because of what we do but because of what Jesus did. And He comes, and He places His Spirit inside of our lives and teaches us His ways and teaches us how to live. And when we are suffering and we are hurting and when we are confused, God through His Spirit is not only in us, but He is also with us, comforting us. Jesus did not come to squelch and kill desire, He came to give us a life—an abundant life. That is the God who has revealed Himself to us and anyone, anyone, it doesn’t matter where you are from, it doesn’t matter what you’ve done, how religious you think you are, how irreligious you think you are, if you come to Him, He can forgive you, He can cleanse you. He can give you this righteousness that is not your own. He can make you a son and daughter of God. He can change you. He can give you the acceptance you’ve been longing for.

[Ben leads in a closing prayer.]