Sermon Notes for May 14th

May 14, 2006
“Cleansed by the Word”
John 15:1-8; I John 4:7-12

1. I never thought I would say this, but I am thinking of having a bumper sticker printed up that would say, “Help Fight Biblical Illiteracy.” Well, maybe, I am just kidding.

But, it is a problem. According to the United Methodist Reporter “the widespread decline of religious literacy in America is not only a mark of ignorance but it is potentially dangerous.”

Dr. Stephen Prothero, a professor at Boston University, states that only 11 per cent of his students could pass a simple biblical literacy quiz.

For instance, they could not name the Ten Commandments, couldn’t name the four Gospels and did not know the Golden Rule. They also could not connect Paul with the Road to Damascus or the serpent with the Garden of Eden.

Every once in a while I watch J. Leno - maybe you have seen the part called Jaywalking where he goes out on the street and randomly asks people the simplest questions and they can’t answer correctly.

2. Well, here are some examples – and these are real people … ordinary people … adults …

Q - Where was Jesus born?
A - Jerusalem

Q - What does BC stand for?
A - Bicentennial

Q - Name Jesus parents …
A - God …
Q- You have had Bible study?
A - Sarah? … then after Jay tries to help her out she finally gets it right … sort of … Mary ……Joseph – she asks tentatively?


Q - Where does the Pope live …?
A - England? … Amsterdam?

And here is the best one.

Q - What cites did God destroy?
A - The Twin Cities…?

3. In the 19th Century, most Protestants knew the Bible to a much greater degree than today … because they often learned to read … by reading the Bible. But, by the 20th century this began to diminish greatly.

In fact, by the 1950’s, many clergy were more interested in psychology than scripture because church members increasingly looked to them for help in being successful and in dealing with personal anxiety. Back then we had a whole bunch of popular books like Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking. Not be outdone, many Catholics turned to Bishop Fulton J. Sheen whose TV show “Life is Worth Living” was a big hit. And then there was the great Harry Emerson Fosdick who had a pop best seller called How to Be a Real Person.

America, for whatever reason, has always been a ripe field for self-help books. And there is often a close connection between them and religion. In a way it is “Religion Lite.” Low Calorie Religion – so to speak. It tastes just as good without the side effects and it will get you where YOU WANT TO GO.

And now, in the last twenty years, ever since Jimmy Carter we have seen religion come back into politics. At one time, you may remember, back when Kennedy was running for office, it was not a good practice to be out in front about ones religious faith (if you remember Kennedy had to almost disavow is Catholicism in order to be elected). Now, however, the reverse seems to be true, and many politicians are figuring out how to use religion to their own benefit. In short what it comes down to is “What are we gonna say about God that is going to get us elected.”
Does that sound too cynical, especially from a clergyman?

Well, what does the Bible warn us about if not to beware of those who pretend to be religious for personal gain?

As it says in Psalm 36: The words of his mouth are mischief and deceit. He has ceased to act wisely and do good.

4. Now, I am not necessarily against politicians being religious. In fact, if they are sincere, I am all for it. And I am sure there are many good men and women in political life. But, it is not just a matter of sincerity that matters for I am more concerned that in addition to sincerity --- they not be biblical illiterate.

Perhaps the most biblical literate president, of course, was Abraham Lincoln.

Dr. Mark Noll, professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, a Baptist School writes that Lincoln himself read the Bible throughout his life, quoted from it extensively, and frequently made use of biblical images (as in the "House Divided" speech of 1858). It was said of him, perhaps with some exaggeration, that he knew by heart much of the Psalms, the book of Isaiah, and the entire New Testament.

And there is little doubt that Lincoln was a man of exception Christian virtue:
He was scrupulously honest in repaying debts from ill-fated business ventures of the 1830s. He offered tender sympathy to the widows and orphans created by the Civil War. He pardoned numerous sleeping sentries and other soldiers condemned to death for relatively minor lapses. He kept his head concerning the morality of the contending sides in the War, refusing to picture the North as entirely virtuous or the South as absolutely evil. And during his years as president he did regularly attend the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington.

On the other hand, Lincoln never joined a church nor ever made a clear profession of standard Christian beliefs.

5. So, we will never know what he really believed. On the other hand, Lincoln's speeches and conversation revealed a spiritual perception far above the ordinary.
Professor Noll writes that: It is one of the great ironies of the history of Christianity in America that the most profoundly religious analysis of the nation's deepest trauma came not from a clergyman or a theologian but from a politician who was self-taught in the ways of both God and humanity. The source of Lincoln's Christian perception will probably always remain a mystery, but the unusual depth of that perception none can doubt.

Nowhere was that depth more visible than in his Second Inaugural Address of March 1865: "Both [North and South] read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes." Even more to the point was his reply when a minister from the North told the president he "hoped the Lord is on our side." Responded Lincoln, "I am not at all concerned about that. . . . But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side."

Now, that is, I think, what I mean by Biblical literacy. Not only to be able to quote the Bible, but to understand its deeper meaning is what we should all strive for and look for in our ministers and leaders. Obviously, Lincoln had a deeper and more profound understand of God’s will than some of the over simplistic “Good Guy – Bad Guy” stuff we hear today. Can you see the difference?

6. Well, I am tempted, at this point to get into the whole DaVinci Code business, but I am mostly going to hold off until after I see the movie.

For the moment, however, I will say this since I have read the book (along with 20 million other people) … the movie is bound to be a big success because it is a very exciting action thriller. If you like that kind of stuff – you know murder mysteries … etc … then you will enjoy the movie. On the other hand, especially because of the widespread biblical illiteracy in this country, a lot of people will be further confused about all the religious stuff in the film … which is very cleverly contrived to appear true and factual … but is mostly not.

Interestingly enough, regarding the accuracy of the books and the film, both liberal and conservative scholars (who mostly never agree on anything) are all agreed that much of it is entirely based on conjecture and there are also glaring discrepancies in many of the so-called facts in the film. But, of course, that is why it is so interesting. Because, of course, we all like to be in on a big secret – don’t we? And the movie is all about a lot of supposedly secret knowledge.

So, I basically agree with what the religion teacher at Hamline University who said last fall when I attended the seminar on the Gnostic Gospels … “If it gets more kids interested in religion then it can’t be all bad.” “After all,” she said, “any movie that can get college students to write research papers on the Nicene Creed has got to have some positive aspects.”

7. And, of course, part of the problem, I think, is that the church itself (and I am referring to the Protestant Church) has often let down the lay people in past by not honestly exploring some of the difficulties and problems which are evident in the scriptures and have been known about by scholars for years. So, why is it all coming out now? – you ask.

Well, part of it has to do with the fact that, when I grew up, a majority of Americans still believed that the Bible was the literal word of God. And no smart minister was going to get up and say that it wasn’t – or run the risk of finding himself in trouble.

Isn’t that right?

But, now things have changed, and a majority of Americans know that God did not hand write the Bible. For, while it was actually written by people who were inspired by God – they were still people, nevertheless, and hence the Bible is not infallible any more than the Pope, who is a real human being is infallible.

And the other thing is that we don’t even know, in many cases who the writers of the Bible were because they often used the names of the Disciples (Mathew, Mark, Luke etc.) instead of their own - just like in the Old Testament many of the scriptures are attributed to Moses but were actually written by other people. (After all this was just the way they did things in those days.) In fact, the Gospel of Mark actually says, the Gospel According to Mark … it doesn’t say Mark wrote it.

And now, in recent days, we suddenly find out that a lot of other Gospels were written which contradict much of what is in the New Testament and it looks like the church covered it all up! All of which has everyone going back to the Council of Nicea to try to figure out what that was all about all over again.

And, I think, this is good because maybe it is time for everyone to really re-think what our faith is all about and what we really do believe. In this respect, the movie is good; it definitely has some people thinking. Maybe, I hope, we can start to reverse some of the biblical illiteracy as a result!

8. So, today, we are called to examine the Gospel of John and also the document called 1st John. These are books attributed to the disciple called John the son of Zebedee (or, the beloved disciple) – who is the one who appears next to Jesus in the painting of the last supper by DaVinci and has long hair which makes him look like a woman – possibly Mary Magdalene.

(This is, of course, problematical, because during the Renaissance it was conventional for most men to be depicted with long hair. But, I am getting off the subject, again.)

So what is the origin and background of these two books – we may ask?

Well, the noted Biblical Scholar, L. Michael White, who is the Chair of the of the Department of Classics and Christian Origins at the University of Texas, and who was part of the PBS series on the New Testament: “From Jesus to Christ” (which we watched in our Wednesday discussion group last year) points out that while we don’t exactly know who actually wrote the books they are very similar in nature (although they are probably not written by the same person). The similarity is probably because the come out of the same religious community.

9. Now, because this biblical literacy thing is so important, I want to point out that while we often read the Bible for answers to problems today …they were originally written for specific groups of people in response to issues that were highly important and debatable in their day. In other words, these are real books, written by real people, and they are addressed to real problems at that time.

And yet what makes the Bible such and interesting and powerful book is because it has both a literal meaning which pertains to events long ago and at the same time it can be interpreted spiritually in a number ways that are RELEVANT TODAY. This is amazing – really. Think about it … how many books written two millennia ago can actually speak meaningfully to us today … on not just an intellectual level … but on a spiritual level?

How is it, for instance, that you can open up the book of Psalms and as you read from it … the words suddenly are no longer just words on a page but God is actually speaking to us in our hearts. Think about that! How does that happen? Well, it is because, as we say, the Bible is a Living Book. But, in truth it is not the book alone which makes this happen, it is really because God is a Living God in the world today.

Consequently, we should not confuse God with the Book as some people do. We are not here, really to worship a book; we are here to worship the Living God. Does that make sense?

And, yet, when it comes to current matters of faith and morality we must be careful not to literally take some scriptural passages from the long-ago past and expect that they are 100% relevant in today’s world. After all, back in those days they thought the world was flat!

Let me explain further …

10. Suppose, for a moment, I would ask you a much more difficult question than the ones on Jay Leno?

How many of us today would understand what Docetism is all about? How many of us would even be concerned about Docetism?

Any hands?

Well, of course, most of us wouldn’t be too concerned at all. But in the early church (particularly for the group in John and 1st John) Docetism was a huge issue … in fact, in these writings we see how it was a struggle for the very heart and soul of Christianity.

So, what is Docetism?

Well, in terms of the early Christian church, Docetism (which comes from the Greek δοκέω [dokeō], which means "to seem") is the belief that Jesus' physical body was an illusion, as was his crucifixion; that is, Jesus only seemed to have a physical body and to physically die, but in reality he was incorporeal, a pure spirit, and hence could not physically die. This belief has historically been regarded as heretical by most Christian theologians including those at the council of Nicea who banned the Gospel of Thomas, for instance.


This belief is most commonly attributed to the Gnostics, who believed that matter was evil, and hence that God would not take on a material body. This statement is rooted in the idea that a divine spark is imprisoned within the material body, and that the material body is in itself an obstacle, deliberately created by an evil lesser god (the demiurge) to prevent man from seeing his divine origin. Humanity is, in essence, asleep.

Docetism could be further explained as the view that, because the human body is temporary and the spirit is eternal, the body of Jesus therefore must have been an illusion and his crucifixion as well. This belief has the tendency to undercut the importance of the belief in resurrection of the dead and the goodness of created matter, and is in opposition to this orthodox view.

Docetism was rejected by the ecumenical councils and mainstream Christianity, and largely died out during the first millennium A.D.

And, yet, while we aren’t all that aware of it … there is a lot of docetism around nowadays. This shows itself particularly in commonly held ideas today that reject or downplay the human side of Jesus and his concern for the poor and even that he had doubts about God and actually even suffered pain on the cross. In fact, many people today still believe in a one-sided supernatural other worldly Jesus. But the creeds say different. They say that Jesus was not just human and that he wasn't just a spritual being, either. They say that he was BOTH!


11. So, it was this whole question of docetism that forms the basis for many of the statements in the Gospel of John and 1st John which are clearly attempts to refute the Gnostic influence which is seen most especially in the recently rediscoverd Gospels of Thomas and Judas and many of the other so called heretical scriptures.

The most telling example of this controversy comes in the famous passage in John about Thomas, the doubting disciple:


24Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
26A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
29Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

12. Notice the key point in the story is that Thomas had to physically touch Jesus … before he believed. In other words, this is not some otherworldly Jesus.
So, what is happening here is that John is making the case that Jesus was definitely a flesh and blood person who lived and died and was resurrected.

And so, also, we have the argument of 1st John in the passage which occurs right before the one we read this morning:
2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
In other words, the “anti-Christ” refers to those docetic Christians who deny the incarnation or the flesh and blood nature of Jesus and who were at odds with the group in which the writers of John and 1st John belonged.

And, the argument gets even more intense a little further on. I read from Eugene Peterson:
4My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. 5These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world's language and the world eats it up. 6But we come from God and belong to God.

13. So, this is a serous disagreement which is followed by a call for the faithful community to stick together and not give in to this false belief.

7My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. 8The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love--so you can't know him if you don't love.

Love, then, according to 1st John, is the distinguishing characteristic of Christians, not some secret knowledge or inner spiritual path alone. It’s really all out in the open – or it’s supposed to be… that should be pretty clear and it should, indeed, be part of our life together today in this and every church – right? And, in this way, this scripture has meaning both in terms of its original intent, but also for us today.

But, while we must be careful about endorsing the so-called Gnostic and Docetic ideas just because they seem new and different, we may also ask the question; “Did the Council of Nicea in its efforts to clear up everything and to throw out all heresies -- go too far?

Did the church become too rigid and instead being a living faith community – did it turn into a hierarchical and autocratic organization more interested in self preservation than in doing God’s will?

How would you answer that question?

Or we may ask ourselves today, is the church really about love? Or do we just talk the talk and not walk the walk?

Lastly, we should ask ourselves: “Are we really rooted in the spiritual presence of God in our lives -- or is it all external pretense which covers up a deeper lack of faith and caring?

14. In recent times it has become apparent that the church in various ways has covered things up – particularly the scandals in the Roman church – and, of course, we must realize, as Protestants we are not without sin in this matter, either.
Further, we may ask: Has the church really emphasized too much that you can only find salvation through believing in what the church teaches (or doesn’t teach) and not allowed people to find their own spiritual path?

In the words of the Gnostic scholar, Elaine Pagels, has the church been unwilling to trust people’s own capacity to make discriminations and insist on making them for us? -- Which, is, of course, what more and more people are doing nowadays whether the church likes it or not. Is that good? Is Do-it-yourself religion the antidote to the seemingly boring and stuffy old truths of the church? What do you think?

Has, as Pagels asks, the idea that religion is a matter of unquestioning acceptance of religious authority led many to live foolishly, shallowly, and in self-serving ways – all in the name of God?

How do we know what is true and what is fake nowadays?

And how do we discriminate or discern the true path of God in Christ and not go down the path of sentimentality and delusion like the madness behind religious cults like the one in Waco, Texas which ended in death and destruction largely because the government largely failed to understand that David Koresh had deliberately staged the whole thing in order to go down in blaze of apocalyptic glory.

In fact, regarding that incident, Dr. Mark Prothero -- who I mentioned at the beginning, writes in the Methodist Reporter that during that event “I felt like I wanted to call the FBI and tell them how eerily they were playing into the part assigned to them.” And it wasn’t just the FBI, it was Janet Reno and most of the rest of America who didn’t really get what was going on with Koresh and his little religious sect any more than the Hale-Bopp Comet group that all committed suicide.

Again, what we have here is a case of lack of religious understanding and indifference on the part of authorities and the general public and, a the same time, a misguided and delusion religious understanding on the part of Koresh and many other groups and churches. And that is, in a nutshell, the whole dilemma of religion modern America. Compared to Europe, we are a very religious people – but on the other we don’t understand very much about our religion. It’s very prevalent – but unfortunately it is not very deep.

Maybe it is really a call for stamping out Biblical illiteracy.

Anyone want to buy a bumper sticker?