THE RISE AND FALL OF ZOMBIES
For some time now, I have been pondering the best way to approach this subject. I know the majority of the Christian community don't believe in zombies, with only a select few prophetic voices (o.k. -- really only one) proclaiming the dangers of zombies to our modern society. I think the problem is that the vast majority of the Christian community has been lulled into a false sense of security through the media. Zombies have been relegated to mythical creatures seen only in low-budget horror movies with more gore than plot, and the truth of the matter has been hidden by a vast right-wing conspiracy [Just as an aside -- no matter how long you watch "28 Days Later," you will not see either zombies or Sandra Bullock. The antagonists are merely infected with a virus and are not true zombies, and Sandra Bullock was in "28 Days" , something we discovered after watching "28 Days Later" for about 30 minutes.]
However, as I learned during my subsequent research in this matter, zombies are definitely real and very much "alive" in our day and age. According to Wikipedia , the definitive source of all real information on the internet, zombies are considered a vital doctrine and belief in other religions, most notably the religion of Vodoun (or Voodoo) as widely practiced in Haiti and in Africa. To quote from the Wikipedia article:
"According to the tenets of Vodoun, a dead person can be revived by a bokor or sorcerer. Zombies remain under the control of the bokor since they have no will of their own. "Zombi" is also another name of the voodoo snake god Damballah Wedo, of Niger-Congo origin; it is akin to the Kongo word nzambi, which means "god." There also exists within the voudon tradition the zombi astral which is a human soul that is captured by a bokor and used to enhance the bokor's power."
Until I began my research, I didn't know that the belief in zombies was widely held among Christians and other religious people in the middle ages, with references dating all the way back to the Epic of Gilgamesh of ancient Sumer. [Another aside -- isn't it curious how many things have their sources in the region that is now known as Iraq?]. In fact, it wasn't until my recent experience that I became aware of the abundance of biblical information regarding zombies and the very real fact of their existence and interaction with Christians.
I first ran up on this clue to zombies in the biblical record while working on an in-depth study of the Book of Romans. In this epistle, the Apostle Paul lays out the foundations of our faith and the blending of Gentiles and Jews into a new body formed as a result of Christ's atoning death on the cross for our sins. While studying through this book, I stumbled upon Paul's references in many places to the presence of zombies. For instance, consider his phrasings in Chapter 3 when describing the enemies of God: "Their throats are open graves," "The poison of vipers is on their lips," "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness," "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know." Sounds sorta zombie'ish to me!
And then I found the clincher in my quest for more insight on the lives of these zombies among us. In Romans Chapter 6, Paul began to write of his "old self," a self that had been killed, crucified on a cross, dead and buried. But, this "old self" did not go away. It came alive again, living in Paul's heart even though it was dead. It led him to give in to the most heinous acts, such that Paul, one of the world's most dedicated Christian, evangelist, and missionary, could cry out in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." This "old self," this zombie that was living inside of him, was controlling even Paul, making him stray from God's commands and live disobediently and unrighteously from time to time. Paul went on to write in the next several verses (17-21), "As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me."
Finally! This zombie had a name! It was sin! This sin nature that was destroyed by the body and blood of Christ had risen again and continued to live a life of evil within Paul and within us all. This explained it all! In my own Christian walk, I had been attacked on many occasions by zombies. I fought back the best I could, but to no avail. Time and time again, the zombies controlled my actions, forcing me to turn away from God and to give in to the evil that they carried in their bodies. At the time, of course, I didn't know what was going on. I knew that I was a Christian. I knew that I had been washed in the blood of the lamb. I knew that my sins were forgiven. But, yet, that old sin nature, the same one that Paul said had been crucified on the cross with Christ, would come back to life at the most inopportune times, leading me into temptation and sin and evil until I cried out with Paul, "I do not know why I keep doing what I don't want to do!"
Now I know that it was truly an attack by the undead, by a zombie released from the pit of hell itself, all designed to take me down and to destroy, not my flesh, but my very soul. But as I looked up from my research, I found hope. Because evil now had a name. And a named evil, an identified evil, could be destroyed. Unfortunately, the best sources on how to kill a zombie didn't identify how to kill a zombie within, only external zombies that rise from the grave to attack you. Obviously, a bullet or sharp blow to the head wouldn't work. Fire wouldn't work. So what would?
Once again, I found the answer in the Book of Romans. Faced with a similar predicament, the Apostle Paul cried out (7:24), "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" And immediately, he received his answer. Deliverance would only come through Christ Jesus, his Lord! You see, just like vampires can't stand against garlic, just like werewolves are powerless against silver bullets, sin zombies are powerless against the blood of Christ. The secret to totally vanquishing this messenger from hell was to completely saturate and inundate yourself with the blood of Christ, literally turning yourself completely over to Him, making yourself, in essence, His slave, so that He controlled your actions and the zombie could not gain a foothold. Sin zombies cannot stand the sight of Christ's blood. It actually repels them and forces them to flee.
So how is this done in practice? Paul tells us in Romans 12:1-2. We must make ourselves a sacrifice to God. "1. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will." In other words, cover yourself with the blood of Christ and offer yourself as a holy and pleasing sacrifice to Him, dedicating your life and all that you are, and the undead will flee. A life of holiness and righteousness and obedience can be lived, and the undead sin zombies that once plagued you will be gone forever.
Of course, this only works if you continue to remain soaked in the blood of Christ, if you remain in close proximity to Him and allow His very presence to infuse your life. The best way I have found to do this is through prayer, daily Bible reading, regular worship, and participation in the Lord's Supper. When I neglect these daily disciplines, I find the zombie sin monster coming to life again, and I immediately have to turn to Jesus for His grace and mercy in order to defeat this evil from within.
Here are the take-home messages: 1) Zombies are real; 2) Zombies have a name: Sin; 3) Zombies can only be defeated by the blood of Christ; and, 4) You must have daily infusions of Christ in order to maintain vigilance against these evil, undead creatures. Take heart -- the Apostle Paul recognized and controlled zombies in his life, and we can do so, too!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
SERMON: A SKELETON IN GOD'S CLOSET
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
4 March 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15
1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
12. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
-- in 1994, Paul Maier published a fiction book called, "A Skeleton in God's Closet" that really shook up the Christian community -- in this book, Dr. Jonathan Weber, a world-renowned archeologist, discovers a previously unknown tomb in Rama in Israel -- as he starts his excavations, he is shocked to discover that there is writing on the tomb that states it is the final resting place of Yeshua -- Jesus -- the son of Joseph
-- he starts to wonder, "Could these really be the bones of Jesus?" -- he really begins to wonder when he finds a sign in the tomb, written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek, that says, "King of the Jews" -- the same sign the Bible tells us was placed over Jesus on the cross
-- finally, he finds a scroll in the tomb itself telling how Joseph of Arimathea stole the body of Jesus from the Garden Tomb in the middle of the night and carried it off and buried it so everyone would think that Jesus had risen from the dead
-- convinced now that he has discovered the actual remains of Jesus, Dr. Weber breaks the news to the world -- and when he does so, millions of Christians around the world begin to abandon their faith -- churches are left empty -- and only a handful of people still believe in the story in the Bible that Jesus died on the cross, was physically resurrected on the third day, and ascended to heaven, leaving an empty tomb with no body and no bones and nothing but his burial shroud
-- Dr. Weber finds himself identified as the man who destroyed Christianity, and the story follows the rest of his adventure as he is hated and loathed by some and hailed as a hero by others
II. The Lost Tomb of Jesus
-- when I first read this book, it made me really uncomfortable -- it caused me to stop and reflect on what I believe and on what I would do if someone did come forward and say they had found the remains of Jesus -- what would happen to my faith if the central-most important belief of the church was to be suddenly shattered by science? -- what would happen to our churches?
-- well, as I'm sure most of you know by now, the unthinkable has happened -- tonight at 9:00 pm, the Discovery Channel will air a special documentary by James Cameron called, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"
-- in 1980, archeologists discovered 10 ossuaries in the Talpoit tomb in Jerusalem that several people think belong to Jesus and His family -- just in case you don't know, an ossuary is a box that contains the bones of a person who has died -- according to Jewish burial practices, the bones of the deceased were collected one year after burial and were placed in a carved stone box -- these ossuaries were sometimes decorated with geometric or other designs and frequently had the name of the deceased carved on the side
-- the ossuaries from the Talpoit tomb supposedly contain inscriptions that read, "Jesus, son of Joseph" -- "Judah, son of Jesus" -- "Matthew" -- "Mary the master" -- "Mary" -- and "Jose," a shortened form of the name "Joseph"
-- Cameron and some archeologists believe that the inscriptions prove that these ossuaries contain the remains of Jesus, His mother, His wife Mary Magdalene, and His son, in addition to a couple other family members
-- other scholars and archeologists, though, have already questioned the assumptions being made by Cameron and disputed his findings -- they state that the names on the ossuaries were extremely common in that era in Palestine, and that this is a mere coincidence, nothing more
-- one thing is certain -- this is going to remain a highly controversial and polarizing discovery for the next several years, with one side continuing to claim that these are the remains of the Jesus from the Bible while the other side says that they are not
-- regardless of the controversy, we -- as Christians and as a church -- are faced with the fact that someone has produced a skeleton from first century Israel that they claim belongs to Jesus -- which begs the question, "What is our response?" -- I don't mean our official church response -- I mean our response of faith
-- does this discovery -- does this documentary tonight -- cause you pause in your faith? -- does it cause you to question your belief in the Bible and in the resurrection of Christ?
III. The Need for the Resurrection
-- without a doubt, our faith in Jesus hinges on the resurrection -- it is the cornerstone of our faith -- Paul makes that quite clear in this passage from 1 Corinthians -- look back at verse 1 1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
-- if we take all the denominations -- all the different interpretations of the Bible -- all the different ways we worship God -- and if we were to distill them all down to their most basic essence, this is it -- this is the gospel -- this is the message of the New Testament
-- Jesus was the Son of God -- He came to earth and He died on the cross for our sins -- He was buried -- and He was raised on the third day
-- this is what we believe -- this is what our faith and our hope rests on -- and, as Paul says in verse 2, it is "by this gospel that you are saved"
-- we can debate the means of grace -- we can argue about once saved, always saved -- we can have differences in the way we understand and practice baptism -- but there is no debate over the gospel message -- this is foundational -- to be a Christian, this is what you must believe and put your faith in
-- the resurrection has always been at the heart of Christianity -- without it, Christianity crumbles -- so, is there any wonder that this has always been the one facet of our belief that has always come under attack?
-- in Paul's day, there were many people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead -- most notably, the Sadducees, one of the sects of Judaism -- did not believe that people were physically resurrected from the dead -- in Matthew 22, Jesus Himself was questioned about the resurrection by the Sadduccees and affirmed that the dead would be raised by God in the last days
-- evidently, there were others in Corinth who had infiltrated the church there and who were teaching that the dead were not resurrected -- look back at verse 12
12. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
-- Paul starts off his discussion of the resurrection by stating up front that it rests on the resurrection of Jesus -- he then goes on to make the case that our faith depends on this resurrection
-- verse 13
13. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
-- do you see the importance of this claim by Cameron and his followers concerning the remains of Jesus? -- if the documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" is correct and these are indeed the bones of Jesus, it would be proof that Jesus was not resurrected -- it would be proof that He did not rise from the dead -- and, it would mean that our faith is in vain -- useless -- and without merit
-- Paul goes on to make this case -- verse 15
15. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
-- if Christ was not resurrected, then our sins have not been forgiven -- if Christ was not resurrected, then we have no hope of eternal life -- if Christ was not resurrected, then all hope is lost
IV. Our Response
-- so, what is our response to the claims of Cameron and the others who say that these ossuaries from the Talpoit tomb contain the remains of Jesus and His family? -- we can't just dismiss them by saying they don't matter -- they do matter -- Paul makes that quite clear in this passage
-- your response to this documentary and to all the attacks on Christianity by people like James Cameron and Dan Brown, who wrote "The Da Vinci Code" comes down to just one word -- "Faith"
-- the Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" -- "being sure" -- knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt -- knowing in our hearts that what we hope for -- the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with God -- is certain because of what happened in the past
-- things that we did not see ourselves but that we trust in because they are contained in the Bible -- Jesus' life here on earth -- His death on the cross as the atonement for our sins -- and His resurrection proving that He was God and had power over sin and death and was going to resurrect us in the future
-- Faith -- this is all that saves us -- as it says in Ephesians 2:8-9 -- "For it is by grace you have been saved -- through faith -- and this not from yourselves -- it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast"
-- let me ask you this morning, "How is your faith? -- Are you sure of what you hope for? -- Are you certain of what you do not see?"
-- how you respond when your faith is challenged tells you where you are in your relationship with Christ
-- I want to give you a demonstration of faith -- is there any one of the kids here today who would like to get a dollar? -- I'm going to pick one kid -- and all you have to do is come down here -- answer a few questions -- and I'm going to give you a dollar
[go over demonstration of faith with the dollar]
V. Closing
-- Faith -- it all comes down to faith -- do you believe the message of the Bible? -- do you believe the words of God recorded in these pages? -- do you believe the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection preserved in our New Testament texts? -- do your believe in the presence of Jesus in your life?
-- let me tell you what I believe
-- I believe in God the Father Almighty -- maker of heaven and earth -- and in Jesus Christ His only Son -- who was conceived by the Holy Spirit -- born of the virgin Mary -- suffered under Pontius Pilate -- was crucified, dead and buried -- on the third day He rose from the dead and He ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty -- from thence He shall come to judge the quick and dead
-- I believe in the Holy Spirit -- the Holy Catholic Church -- the Communion of Saints -- the Forgiveness of Sins -- the resurrection of the body -- and the Life Everlasting -- Amen
-- I believe in Jesus -- I believe in the cross -- in the atonement of my sins through the body and blood of Christ -- and I believe in the empty tomb
-- I believe that James Cameron and those archeologists might have found some bones in Israel, but they aren't the bones of my Savior -- because my Jesus is not dead -- He is alive and lives forevermore -- I know that beyond the shadow of a doubt, because I talked with Him just this morning
-- I know that my Savior loves and lives and is always there for me -- how can I fail to do likewise for Him?
-- today, March 4th in the year of our Lord 2007, we find our faith and our beliefs challenged by those who would destroy the very foundation of Christianity -- our only response can be one of faith -- of affirmation in Who and what we believe
-- in a few moments, we will join together in Holy Communion -- drawing together as one body -- as one people -- as believers in Christ -- to unite in remembrance of His mighty acts
-- but, before we do so, I want you to take a moment to examine your faith -- do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus is Lord? -- do you believe in Him and are you trusting Him for your salvation?
-- Jesus said that He is the way and the truth and the life -- no one comes to the Father except through Him -- there is no other way to receive forgiveness of your sins and eternal life with God except through faith in the finished work of Christ
-- do you have faith in Him this morning? -- have you received Him as your Lord and Savior? -- if not, then I want you to pray with me right now -- I am going to close in prayer, and I'm going to ask you to pray with me the prayer of salvation
-- if you pray this prayer, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord -- that He died for your sins and rose from the dead and offers you eternal life -- then you will be saved
-- for those of you who are saved -- who have made a personal decision to follow Christ, use this opportunity to renew your faith and commitment to Christ and pray for those who might be making this decision for the first time today
-- let's pray
4 March 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15
1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
12. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
15. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
-- in 1994, Paul Maier published a fiction book called, "A Skeleton in God's Closet" that really shook up the Christian community -- in this book, Dr. Jonathan Weber, a world-renowned archeologist, discovers a previously unknown tomb in Rama in Israel -- as he starts his excavations, he is shocked to discover that there is writing on the tomb that states it is the final resting place of Yeshua -- Jesus -- the son of Joseph
-- he starts to wonder, "Could these really be the bones of Jesus?" -- he really begins to wonder when he finds a sign in the tomb, written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek, that says, "King of the Jews" -- the same sign the Bible tells us was placed over Jesus on the cross
-- finally, he finds a scroll in the tomb itself telling how Joseph of Arimathea stole the body of Jesus from the Garden Tomb in the middle of the night and carried it off and buried it so everyone would think that Jesus had risen from the dead
-- convinced now that he has discovered the actual remains of Jesus, Dr. Weber breaks the news to the world -- and when he does so, millions of Christians around the world begin to abandon their faith -- churches are left empty -- and only a handful of people still believe in the story in the Bible that Jesus died on the cross, was physically resurrected on the third day, and ascended to heaven, leaving an empty tomb with no body and no bones and nothing but his burial shroud
-- Dr. Weber finds himself identified as the man who destroyed Christianity, and the story follows the rest of his adventure as he is hated and loathed by some and hailed as a hero by others
II. The Lost Tomb of Jesus
-- when I first read this book, it made me really uncomfortable -- it caused me to stop and reflect on what I believe and on what I would do if someone did come forward and say they had found the remains of Jesus -- what would happen to my faith if the central-most important belief of the church was to be suddenly shattered by science? -- what would happen to our churches?
-- well, as I'm sure most of you know by now, the unthinkable has happened -- tonight at 9:00 pm, the Discovery Channel will air a special documentary by James Cameron called, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus"
-- in 1980, archeologists discovered 10 ossuaries in the Talpoit tomb in Jerusalem that several people think belong to Jesus and His family -- just in case you don't know, an ossuary is a box that contains the bones of a person who has died -- according to Jewish burial practices, the bones of the deceased were collected one year after burial and were placed in a carved stone box -- these ossuaries were sometimes decorated with geometric or other designs and frequently had the name of the deceased carved on the side
-- the ossuaries from the Talpoit tomb supposedly contain inscriptions that read, "Jesus, son of Joseph" -- "Judah, son of Jesus" -- "Matthew" -- "Mary the master" -- "Mary" -- and "Jose," a shortened form of the name "Joseph"
-- Cameron and some archeologists believe that the inscriptions prove that these ossuaries contain the remains of Jesus, His mother, His wife Mary Magdalene, and His son, in addition to a couple other family members
-- other scholars and archeologists, though, have already questioned the assumptions being made by Cameron and disputed his findings -- they state that the names on the ossuaries were extremely common in that era in Palestine, and that this is a mere coincidence, nothing more
-- one thing is certain -- this is going to remain a highly controversial and polarizing discovery for the next several years, with one side continuing to claim that these are the remains of the Jesus from the Bible while the other side says that they are not
-- regardless of the controversy, we -- as Christians and as a church -- are faced with the fact that someone has produced a skeleton from first century Israel that they claim belongs to Jesus -- which begs the question, "What is our response?" -- I don't mean our official church response -- I mean our response of faith
-- does this discovery -- does this documentary tonight -- cause you pause in your faith? -- does it cause you to question your belief in the Bible and in the resurrection of Christ?
III. The Need for the Resurrection
-- without a doubt, our faith in Jesus hinges on the resurrection -- it is the cornerstone of our faith -- Paul makes that quite clear in this passage from 1 Corinthians -- look back at verse 1 1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.
2. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance : that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.
6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.
7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
-- if we take all the denominations -- all the different interpretations of the Bible -- all the different ways we worship God -- and if we were to distill them all down to their most basic essence, this is it -- this is the gospel -- this is the message of the New Testament
-- Jesus was the Son of God -- He came to earth and He died on the cross for our sins -- He was buried -- and He was raised on the third day
-- this is what we believe -- this is what our faith and our hope rests on -- and, as Paul says in verse 2, it is "by this gospel that you are saved"
-- we can debate the means of grace -- we can argue about once saved, always saved -- we can have differences in the way we understand and practice baptism -- but there is no debate over the gospel message -- this is foundational -- to be a Christian, this is what you must believe and put your faith in
-- the resurrection has always been at the heart of Christianity -- without it, Christianity crumbles -- so, is there any wonder that this has always been the one facet of our belief that has always come under attack?
-- in Paul's day, there were many people who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead -- most notably, the Sadducees, one of the sects of Judaism -- did not believe that people were physically resurrected from the dead -- in Matthew 22, Jesus Himself was questioned about the resurrection by the Sadduccees and affirmed that the dead would be raised by God in the last days
-- evidently, there were others in Corinth who had infiltrated the church there and who were teaching that the dead were not resurrected -- look back at verse 12
12. But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
-- Paul starts off his discussion of the resurrection by stating up front that it rests on the resurrection of Jesus -- he then goes on to make the case that our faith depends on this resurrection
-- verse 13
13. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
14. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
-- do you see the importance of this claim by Cameron and his followers concerning the remains of Jesus? -- if the documentary, "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" is correct and these are indeed the bones of Jesus, it would be proof that Jesus was not resurrected -- it would be proof that He did not rise from the dead -- and, it would mean that our faith is in vain -- useless -- and without merit
-- Paul goes on to make this case -- verse 15
15. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
16. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
17. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
18. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
19. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
-- if Christ was not resurrected, then our sins have not been forgiven -- if Christ was not resurrected, then we have no hope of eternal life -- if Christ was not resurrected, then all hope is lost
IV. Our Response
-- so, what is our response to the claims of Cameron and the others who say that these ossuaries from the Talpoit tomb contain the remains of Jesus and His family? -- we can't just dismiss them by saying they don't matter -- they do matter -- Paul makes that quite clear in this passage
-- your response to this documentary and to all the attacks on Christianity by people like James Cameron and Dan Brown, who wrote "The Da Vinci Code" comes down to just one word -- "Faith"
-- the Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" -- "being sure" -- knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt -- knowing in our hearts that what we hope for -- the forgiveness of our sins and eternal life with God -- is certain because of what happened in the past
-- things that we did not see ourselves but that we trust in because they are contained in the Bible -- Jesus' life here on earth -- His death on the cross as the atonement for our sins -- and His resurrection proving that He was God and had power over sin and death and was going to resurrect us in the future
-- Faith -- this is all that saves us -- as it says in Ephesians 2:8-9 -- "For it is by grace you have been saved -- through faith -- and this not from yourselves -- it is the gift of God -- not by works, so that no one can boast"
-- let me ask you this morning, "How is your faith? -- Are you sure of what you hope for? -- Are you certain of what you do not see?"
-- how you respond when your faith is challenged tells you where you are in your relationship with Christ
-- I want to give you a demonstration of faith -- is there any one of the kids here today who would like to get a dollar? -- I'm going to pick one kid -- and all you have to do is come down here -- answer a few questions -- and I'm going to give you a dollar
[go over demonstration of faith with the dollar]
V. Closing
-- Faith -- it all comes down to faith -- do you believe the message of the Bible? -- do you believe the words of God recorded in these pages? -- do you believe the eyewitness accounts of the resurrection preserved in our New Testament texts? -- do your believe in the presence of Jesus in your life?
-- let me tell you what I believe
-- I believe in God the Father Almighty -- maker of heaven and earth -- and in Jesus Christ His only Son -- who was conceived by the Holy Spirit -- born of the virgin Mary -- suffered under Pontius Pilate -- was crucified, dead and buried -- on the third day He rose from the dead and He ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty -- from thence He shall come to judge the quick and dead
-- I believe in the Holy Spirit -- the Holy Catholic Church -- the Communion of Saints -- the Forgiveness of Sins -- the resurrection of the body -- and the Life Everlasting -- Amen
-- I believe in Jesus -- I believe in the cross -- in the atonement of my sins through the body and blood of Christ -- and I believe in the empty tomb
-- I believe that James Cameron and those archeologists might have found some bones in Israel, but they aren't the bones of my Savior -- because my Jesus is not dead -- He is alive and lives forevermore -- I know that beyond the shadow of a doubt, because I talked with Him just this morning
-- I know that my Savior loves and lives and is always there for me -- how can I fail to do likewise for Him?
-- today, March 4th in the year of our Lord 2007, we find our faith and our beliefs challenged by those who would destroy the very foundation of Christianity -- our only response can be one of faith -- of affirmation in Who and what we believe
-- in a few moments, we will join together in Holy Communion -- drawing together as one body -- as one people -- as believers in Christ -- to unite in remembrance of His mighty acts
-- but, before we do so, I want you to take a moment to examine your faith -- do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Jesus is Lord? -- do you believe in Him and are you trusting Him for your salvation?
-- Jesus said that He is the way and the truth and the life -- no one comes to the Father except through Him -- there is no other way to receive forgiveness of your sins and eternal life with God except through faith in the finished work of Christ
-- do you have faith in Him this morning? -- have you received Him as your Lord and Savior? -- if not, then I want you to pray with me right now -- I am going to close in prayer, and I'm going to ask you to pray with me the prayer of salvation
-- if you pray this prayer, if you believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord -- that He died for your sins and rose from the dead and offers you eternal life -- then you will be saved
-- for those of you who are saved -- who have made a personal decision to follow Christ, use this opportunity to renew your faith and commitment to Christ and pray for those who might be making this decision for the first time today
-- let's pray
SERMON: FASTING FROM THE HEART
Preached by Gregory W. Lee
25 February 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to Luke 5
27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
-- as I'm sure you know, we have now passed from the season of Epiphany -- from the season in the church where we recognize the revealing of Christ to the world -- to the season of Lent -- that time where we spiritually prepare ourselves and reflect on the reason why Christ came to earth -- namely, to die on the cross as an atonement for our sins
-- during this 40-day period of Lent, the church has traditionally focused on the remembrance of our sins and entered a time of mourning and reflection so that we might rejoice all the more on Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
-- it was with that understanding that we joined together last Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday service -- to symbolically represent our humanity and our sinfulness before God and man through the ashes placed on our foreheads -- this is also the reason why the church typically takes up asceticism during the season of Lent -- why we traditionally practice fasting in some form -- it is a way to deny ourselves and to give up some pleasure -- whether it is eating or drinking or some other form of entertainment -- in order to draw closer to Christ
-- fasting and prayer can be powerful means for us to seek God and to draw closer to Him -- the late Bill Bright once wrote that fasting and prayer can be a "powerful means for causing the fire of God to fall again in a person's life" -- through fasting and prayer, we surrender our body, our soul, and our spirit to Jesus and reach the state where we can be fully aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives -- Dr. Bright taught that fasting and prayer was a means by which personal revival could be brought about
-- fasting is a gift from God -- but just like any gift we have received from the Father -- we tend to have the unique human ability to misunderstand and misapply it in our lives, thus turning something sacred and holy into something dutiful and mundane
-- let me give you an example -- God instituted the practice of sacrifice with the Israelites as a means by which they could worship Him and seek forgiveness from their sins -- however, over time, this spiritual act of worship turned into a work -- into a duty done because the law said do it
-- they forgot the heart of the matter -- the heart of worship -- it was never about the sacrifice itself -- it was about drawing near to God -- for that reason, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 51, " You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings" -- instead, what God was seeking -- the sacrifices He desired, were a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart
-- in other words, God was not seeking sacrifices -- He was seeking the heart of the person who was coming to Him in worship
-- in the same way, when we undergo the spiritual discipline of fasting, we must take care to not let it fall into a work -- into something that we have to do -- but let it remain a means by which our heart draws near to our God and Father -- denying ourselves and our body through fasting and using that time to draw closer to God helps us to renew and revive our bodies and our souls and our spirits and to draw near to Jesus -- but we must never forget that God doesn't desire our act of fasting -- He desires our hearts -- He desires us
II. Scripture Lesson -- Luke 5
-- in this passage from Luke, we see Jesus teaching with this understanding of fasting -- let's look at this together and see what we might learn about fasting from this passage
-- look back at verse 27
27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
-- this passage takes place right on the heels of a miraculous healing by Jesus -- as you remember, Jesus was teaching in a house one day when some men tried to carry their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed -- since they couldn't get to Jesus through the door, they dug a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus -- Jesus responded to the faith of those men by not only physically healing their friend, but by proclaiming, "your sins are forgiven" -- immediately, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to object, saying that Jesus was committing blasphemy because only God alone could forgive sin
-- when Jesus left the house where the healing had occurred, He passed by the tax collector's booth where Levi -- Matthew -- sat -- He called out to Levi, "Come, follow Me" -- and Levi immediately left His booth and started to follow Jesus
-- as is often the case when someone is saved and is brought into the presence of Jesus, Levi was overjoyed and immediately threw a great feast -- a banquet -- for all of his friends and for Jesus and His disciples
-- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw Jesus going in to eat with these men who they considered to be sinners and complained to His disciples -- look back at verse 30
30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
-- having already condemned Jesus for blasphemy in their hearts, the Pharisees were looking for confirmation that Jesus was not following God in His life -- when they saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they claimed, "Aha, here is a clear example -- the law forbids us to eat with sinners"
-- do you see what is truly going on in this passage? -- the Pharisees were bound by the law -- they had forgotten the purpose -- the heart of the law -- and had instead turned it into a list of restrictions and regulations that they felt were going to make them holy in God's eyes -- so when they saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and sinners, this confirmed for them that He could not be a man of God -- a true man of God would never associate with sinners
-- but Jesus rebuked them and revealed His ministry on earth that the Pharisees had been neglecting -- namely, to lead others to God -- to call sinners to repentance and to a right relationship with the Father -- we can't forget that the Jews were God's chosen people -- not chosen to be the only holy ones of God, but to the be the ones through which salvation for the entire world would come -- the Pharisees had forgotten that and were not offering God's grace to those they deemed "sinners"
-- having failed at trying to condemn Jesus for eating with sinners, the Pharisees then pulled their trump card and brought up the issue of fasting -- verse 33
33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
-- can't you just hear their arrogance and self-righteousness in this statement -- "If You and Your disciples were truly Godly, then you would fast and pray -- we do -- even John's disciples do -- why don't yours?"
-- and here we get to the heart of the matter -- listen carefully to Jesus' words in these next two verses
34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
-- "they don't fast now, because I am with them"
-- what is the purpose of fasting? -- simply to deny ourselves food or some other pleasure for a period of time? -- no, of course not -- the reason we fast is to draw near to God -- to willingly put aside something in our lives so that we can use that time to seek the presence of Jesus -- as Jesus points out in these verses, the object of fasting -- in fact, the object of all of our spiritual disciplines and acts of worship -- is Jesus Himself
-- why do we pray? -- not to get things, but to spend time with Jesus
-- why do we take communion? -- not to participate in a religious observance, but to experience the grace of God that comes through Jesus' body and blood
-- why do we fast? -- not to just give up something for Lent because that's what Christians do, but to spend time seeking the presence of Jesus -- not just on Sundays -- but in our daily lives
-- the Pharisees fasted because the law said to fast -- Jesus says you should fast because you want to be in His presence
-- Jesus' disciples did not fast while He was on earth because He was already in their midst -- they had no need to seek His presence in this way -- He was with them -- however, Jesus said that later, when He had been taken up to Heaven -- that His disciples would then fast as a means by which they could draw closer to Him and be in an intimate relationship with Him once again
-- let me give you an illustration to help you see what Jesus is talking about in this passage -- shortly after Kim and I started dating, I discovered something about her -- she is a card person -- almost every day, she would leave a card or a short note under the windshield wiper of my truck at school that would say stuff like, "Hi -- hope you're having a good day -- I'll see you later tonight"
-- and I'd read those cards and notes and I'd look forward to seeing her later that day -- I didn't dwell on them, because she was there -- I knew I'd be seeing her in a few hours -- the cards and letters were not what was important -- what was important was spending time with her
-- but after we had dated for several months, we were separated for quite a while -- I was sent down to the island of Antigua to work on a project down there -- and we couldn't see each other or talk to each other like we had been doing
-- but Kim still sent cards and letters all the way down there -- and when they came in, I would pour over them -- I would read them and reread them -- she had poured out her life and love into those cards -- and when I read them, they helped me to remember her presence -- they helped me to draw close to her -- they helped me to maintain our relationship, even though we were miles and miles away
-- there was a vast difference between reading a card when I was in Athens where Kim was and between reading a card when I was in Antigua, separated from her and unable to spend time with her -- when she wasn't there, the act of reading and pouring over the cards became more important -- it was a way for us to remain connected
-- this is the purpose of fasting and prayer and this is what Jesus was trying to get the Pharisees to see -- you don't just fast and pray because you are commanded to do so -- this turns fasting and prayer into a duty -- into a work -- into something that you are required to do
-- no, you fast because you are separated from a loved One and you want to stay connected -- you want to draw near to His presence -- and so you deny yourself pleasurable things -- such as eating or drinking or something else -- so that you can spend that time communing with Jesus and drawing near to Him with your heart
-- the object of our fast is not the act itself -- but the God we are trying to reach
III. Closing
-- if you would, turn over to Isaiah 58 and we'll close there
3. `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6. "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10. and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
-- in this passage, God rebukes those who have turned fasting into a duty and a work -- those who are fasting simply because they think it will make them more holy or more righteous in God's eyes
-- Martin Luther once wrote about the problems of practicing fasting as a good work -- he said that it was pointless to approach fasting as if it were a "meritorious work before God" -- something that could "atone for our sins and obtain grace" -- something that would make us holy in God's eyes
-- approaching fasting like this, Luther wrote, made our fasting a stench and shameful act before God
-- in this passage, God reminds us that it is not the act of fasting that is important, but the heart of the people -- doing without food for a day or a week or even a month has no spiritual value at all, unless you are using this time of abstinence to draw nearer to God and to spread His love to those around you, even tax collectors and sinners
-- the purpose of fasting is not to impress Jesus, but to stay connected with Him
-- fasting and prayer can be important means of grace in our lives, but only if we approach it with the right understanding -- we shouldn't simply fast because we feel it is a requirement -- a duty -- or something we need to do to be holy
-- we should fast only when we sense the stirring of our spirit and desire a renewed closeness with Jesus -- fasting can lead you into a deeper experience with God -- it can help cleanse you from sin -- protect you from the weakness of the flesh -- and help you clearly discern the guidance of God -- but, it must be approached from the heart
-- as we enter this season of Lent -- the traditional time of fasting in the church -- I would invite you to examine your heart and your relationship with God -- if you feel you need to be closer to Him -- to revive and renew your heart with His presence -- then I would invite you to consider entering a time of fasting and prayer during this season -- maybe only one day over this 40-day period -- maybe one day a week until Easter -- maybe longer
-- if you do so, and if you enter this time with the right attitude and with a seeking heart -- then you will find yourself drawing closer to God and becoming more connected to Him in your life
-- Jesus expected us to occasionally fast in order to maintain our relationship with Him -- the important thing is to do it from the heart and not as a duty or an obligation
-- let us pray
25 February 2007
I. Introduction
-- turn in your Bibles to Luke 5
27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
-- as I'm sure you know, we have now passed from the season of Epiphany -- from the season in the church where we recognize the revealing of Christ to the world -- to the season of Lent -- that time where we spiritually prepare ourselves and reflect on the reason why Christ came to earth -- namely, to die on the cross as an atonement for our sins
-- during this 40-day period of Lent, the church has traditionally focused on the remembrance of our sins and entered a time of mourning and reflection so that we might rejoice all the more on Easter when we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus
-- it was with that understanding that we joined together last Wednesday for our Ash Wednesday service -- to symbolically represent our humanity and our sinfulness before God and man through the ashes placed on our foreheads -- this is also the reason why the church typically takes up asceticism during the season of Lent -- why we traditionally practice fasting in some form -- it is a way to deny ourselves and to give up some pleasure -- whether it is eating or drinking or some other form of entertainment -- in order to draw closer to Christ
-- fasting and prayer can be powerful means for us to seek God and to draw closer to Him -- the late Bill Bright once wrote that fasting and prayer can be a "powerful means for causing the fire of God to fall again in a person's life" -- through fasting and prayer, we surrender our body, our soul, and our spirit to Jesus and reach the state where we can be fully aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives -- Dr. Bright taught that fasting and prayer was a means by which personal revival could be brought about
-- fasting is a gift from God -- but just like any gift we have received from the Father -- we tend to have the unique human ability to misunderstand and misapply it in our lives, thus turning something sacred and holy into something dutiful and mundane
-- let me give you an example -- God instituted the practice of sacrifice with the Israelites as a means by which they could worship Him and seek forgiveness from their sins -- however, over time, this spiritual act of worship turned into a work -- into a duty done because the law said do it
-- they forgot the heart of the matter -- the heart of worship -- it was never about the sacrifice itself -- it was about drawing near to God -- for that reason, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 51, " You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings" -- instead, what God was seeking -- the sacrifices He desired, were a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart
-- in other words, God was not seeking sacrifices -- He was seeking the heart of the person who was coming to Him in worship
-- in the same way, when we undergo the spiritual discipline of fasting, we must take care to not let it fall into a work -- into something that we have to do -- but let it remain a means by which our heart draws near to our God and Father -- denying ourselves and our body through fasting and using that time to draw closer to God helps us to renew and revive our bodies and our souls and our spirits and to draw near to Jesus -- but we must never forget that God doesn't desire our act of fasting -- He desires our hearts -- He desires us
II. Scripture Lesson -- Luke 5
-- in this passage from Luke, we see Jesus teaching with this understanding of fasting -- let's look at this together and see what we might learn about fasting from this passage
-- look back at verse 27
27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,
28. and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
-- this passage takes place right on the heels of a miraculous healing by Jesus -- as you remember, Jesus was teaching in a house one day when some men tried to carry their paralytic friend to Jesus to be healed -- since they couldn't get to Jesus through the door, they dug a hole in the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus -- Jesus responded to the faith of those men by not only physically healing their friend, but by proclaiming, "your sins are forgiven" -- immediately, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to object, saying that Jesus was committing blasphemy because only God alone could forgive sin
-- when Jesus left the house where the healing had occurred, He passed by the tax collector's booth where Levi -- Matthew -- sat -- He called out to Levi, "Come, follow Me" -- and Levi immediately left His booth and started to follow Jesus
-- as is often the case when someone is saved and is brought into the presence of Jesus, Levi was overjoyed and immediately threw a great feast -- a banquet -- for all of his friends and for Jesus and His disciples
-- the Pharisees and the teachers of the law saw Jesus going in to eat with these men who they considered to be sinners and complained to His disciples -- look back at verse 30
30. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
31. Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
32. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
-- having already condemned Jesus for blasphemy in their hearts, the Pharisees were looking for confirmation that Jesus was not following God in His life -- when they saw Him eating with tax collectors and sinners, they claimed, "Aha, here is a clear example -- the law forbids us to eat with sinners"
-- do you see what is truly going on in this passage? -- the Pharisees were bound by the law -- they had forgotten the purpose -- the heart of the law -- and had instead turned it into a list of restrictions and regulations that they felt were going to make them holy in God's eyes -- so when they saw Jesus eating with the tax collectors and sinners, this confirmed for them that He could not be a man of God -- a true man of God would never associate with sinners
-- but Jesus rebuked them and revealed His ministry on earth that the Pharisees had been neglecting -- namely, to lead others to God -- to call sinners to repentance and to a right relationship with the Father -- we can't forget that the Jews were God's chosen people -- not chosen to be the only holy ones of God, but to the be the ones through which salvation for the entire world would come -- the Pharisees had forgotten that and were not offering God's grace to those they deemed "sinners"
-- having failed at trying to condemn Jesus for eating with sinners, the Pharisees then pulled their trump card and brought up the issue of fasting -- verse 33
33. They said to him, "John's disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking."
-- can't you just hear their arrogance and self-righteousness in this statement -- "If You and Your disciples were truly Godly, then you would fast and pray -- we do -- even John's disciples do -- why don't yours?"
-- and here we get to the heart of the matter -- listen carefully to Jesus' words in these next two verses
34. Jesus answered, "Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?
35. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast."
-- "they don't fast now, because I am with them"
-- what is the purpose of fasting? -- simply to deny ourselves food or some other pleasure for a period of time? -- no, of course not -- the reason we fast is to draw near to God -- to willingly put aside something in our lives so that we can use that time to seek the presence of Jesus -- as Jesus points out in these verses, the object of fasting -- in fact, the object of all of our spiritual disciplines and acts of worship -- is Jesus Himself
-- why do we pray? -- not to get things, but to spend time with Jesus
-- why do we take communion? -- not to participate in a religious observance, but to experience the grace of God that comes through Jesus' body and blood
-- why do we fast? -- not to just give up something for Lent because that's what Christians do, but to spend time seeking the presence of Jesus -- not just on Sundays -- but in our daily lives
-- the Pharisees fasted because the law said to fast -- Jesus says you should fast because you want to be in His presence
-- Jesus' disciples did not fast while He was on earth because He was already in their midst -- they had no need to seek His presence in this way -- He was with them -- however, Jesus said that later, when He had been taken up to Heaven -- that His disciples would then fast as a means by which they could draw closer to Him and be in an intimate relationship with Him once again
-- let me give you an illustration to help you see what Jesus is talking about in this passage -- shortly after Kim and I started dating, I discovered something about her -- she is a card person -- almost every day, she would leave a card or a short note under the windshield wiper of my truck at school that would say stuff like, "Hi -- hope you're having a good day -- I'll see you later tonight"
-- and I'd read those cards and notes and I'd look forward to seeing her later that day -- I didn't dwell on them, because she was there -- I knew I'd be seeing her in a few hours -- the cards and letters were not what was important -- what was important was spending time with her
-- but after we had dated for several months, we were separated for quite a while -- I was sent down to the island of Antigua to work on a project down there -- and we couldn't see each other or talk to each other like we had been doing
-- but Kim still sent cards and letters all the way down there -- and when they came in, I would pour over them -- I would read them and reread them -- she had poured out her life and love into those cards -- and when I read them, they helped me to remember her presence -- they helped me to draw close to her -- they helped me to maintain our relationship, even though we were miles and miles away
-- there was a vast difference between reading a card when I was in Athens where Kim was and between reading a card when I was in Antigua, separated from her and unable to spend time with her -- when she wasn't there, the act of reading and pouring over the cards became more important -- it was a way for us to remain connected
-- this is the purpose of fasting and prayer and this is what Jesus was trying to get the Pharisees to see -- you don't just fast and pray because you are commanded to do so -- this turns fasting and prayer into a duty -- into a work -- into something that you are required to do
-- no, you fast because you are separated from a loved One and you want to stay connected -- you want to draw near to His presence -- and so you deny yourself pleasurable things -- such as eating or drinking or something else -- so that you can spend that time communing with Jesus and drawing near to Him with your heart
-- the object of our fast is not the act itself -- but the God we are trying to reach
III. Closing
-- if you would, turn over to Isaiah 58 and we'll close there
3. `Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
6. "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10. and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
-- in this passage, God rebukes those who have turned fasting into a duty and a work -- those who are fasting simply because they think it will make them more holy or more righteous in God's eyes
-- Martin Luther once wrote about the problems of practicing fasting as a good work -- he said that it was pointless to approach fasting as if it were a "meritorious work before God" -- something that could "atone for our sins and obtain grace" -- something that would make us holy in God's eyes
-- approaching fasting like this, Luther wrote, made our fasting a stench and shameful act before God
-- in this passage, God reminds us that it is not the act of fasting that is important, but the heart of the people -- doing without food for a day or a week or even a month has no spiritual value at all, unless you are using this time of abstinence to draw nearer to God and to spread His love to those around you, even tax collectors and sinners
-- the purpose of fasting is not to impress Jesus, but to stay connected with Him
-- fasting and prayer can be important means of grace in our lives, but only if we approach it with the right understanding -- we shouldn't simply fast because we feel it is a requirement -- a duty -- or something we need to do to be holy
-- we should fast only when we sense the stirring of our spirit and desire a renewed closeness with Jesus -- fasting can lead you into a deeper experience with God -- it can help cleanse you from sin -- protect you from the weakness of the flesh -- and help you clearly discern the guidance of God -- but, it must be approached from the heart
-- as we enter this season of Lent -- the traditional time of fasting in the church -- I would invite you to examine your heart and your relationship with God -- if you feel you need to be closer to Him -- to revive and renew your heart with His presence -- then I would invite you to consider entering a time of fasting and prayer during this season -- maybe only one day over this 40-day period -- maybe one day a week until Easter -- maybe longer
-- if you do so, and if you enter this time with the right attitude and with a seeking heart -- then you will find yourself drawing closer to God and becoming more connected to Him in your life
-- Jesus expected us to occasionally fast in order to maintain our relationship with Him -- the important thing is to do it from the heart and not as a duty or an obligation
-- let us pray
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