Christ: No More, No Less
Sunday AM – Lynn Haven – 01/27/08
FOCUS:
• Postmodernism
• Christ
FUNCTION:
• To educate the church on how people think, why they think that way, and how to disarm their philosophies with the logic of Christ.
A. Pleasantries
B. We are living in an uncertain world.
1. And when I say that, I mean that in more ways than one
a. Yes, we are living in a time of perilous Islamic radicalism that threatens the freedom & stability of our society, which we are striving to hold in balance at this very moment with our rather shaky-looking economy – it is an uncertain world.
b. But, also, that statement has deeper meaning.
c. We are living in a culture where, increasingly, the idea of “truth” is becoming a relative matter.
2. If you are over 50, you may be completely unaware of this movement.
3. But if you’re under 50, you may be aware of some changes but haven’t fully grasped how far-reaching this movement is.
4. What movement am I talking about?
a. Well, to tell you about it, I have to tell you about History.
b. About 1,000 years ago, our world lived in what is known as the medieval times – some folks call it the dark ages.
1) Knowledge was scarce.
2) People lived in fear.
3) There was little to no organization of thought or reason.
c. Long about 500 years ago, beginning in Europe, the world began to pull out of the Medieval age as they began to experience “The Enlightenment” -- some folks called it “The Renaissance.”
1) Knowledge became attainable.
2) Countries began to come together & be organized, and people no longer lived in as much fear.
3) Universities began to spring up, and people began to organize their bases of knowledge.
d. The Age of Enlightenment gave birth to the Modern Age.
1) In this age, knowledge became power – so the pursuit of it was paramount.
2) Countries began to industrialize, and people began to live with more & more creature comforts.
3) Universities began to be more in service of industrial preparation rather than solely a place of learning only.
e. The height of the Modern Age was probably the 1950’s.
1) Many of you and much of our nation look back to the 50’s as sort of a Utopian period – a sort of perfect, idyllic world.
2) Industry continued to churn along like an army of steam-rollers
3) Universities continued to crop up & proliferate in service of our culture.
f. But world events began to chip away at the seemingly rock solid foundation that our modern world had been built upon.
1) The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the U.S. & Soviet Cold War made people begin to question how good it was for society to continue to modernize its weaponry & arsenal if such a pursuit might mean the end of the world itself.
2) People began to recognize that while we gained a lot with all the new technology in our homes, we weren’t any happier or significantly better off. In fact, the more technology we got, the more we began to erode.
3) And especially at universities, places where it was people’s jobs to examine the world & ask such questions, people were starting to come to the conclusion that modernism wasn’t helping our world as much as it was hurting our world. And that modernism wasn’t answering as many questions as it was raising.
g. So people began to reject long-held assumptions about everything.
1) Some things long-held assumptions that were rejected were good, and led to social justice – such as the Civil Rights Movement.
2) Some things that have been have been rejected by culture were not so good – such as faith in God.
3) A new generation, the baby-boomers, rose up to reject everything that their predecessors accepted.
a) If our predecessors were for falling in line, the new generation decided to rebel.
b) If our predecessors wore short hair, the new generation decided to wear their’s long.
c) And if our predecessors were for war, the new generation decided to be for peace.
d) Everything was flipped on its head:
i. The government and establishment were bad
ii. Change from the norm was good
iii. And all the old assumptions were bunk.
h. As we moved from the 60’s & 70’s into the 80’s, this movement never truly died.
1) Its members grew up, got jobs, and perhaps even became a part of the establishment.
2) But they held onto many of their ideals for society.
i. A movement was born then that doesn’t even have a name of its own.
1) The movement continues to be defined by its rejection of the one that came before it.
2) And that movement is called The Post-Modern Age.
j. In this post-modern world, the long-held assumptions that we have accumulated over hundreds of years are in the process of being deconstructed.
1) And it isn’t all for bad.
2) Whereas the Modern movement was characterized as being more individualistic, the post-modern movement is moving toward being more communal.
3) Whereas the Modern movement was characterized as being more materialistic, the post-modern movement is moving toward being more spiritual.
4) Whereas the Modern movement was character as being more mechanistic, the post-modern movement is moving toward being more holistic.
k. So, though that is a very simple explanation, that is the essence of what has been happening at a root, worldview level in our world.
l. We are living in an increasingly post-modern world, where people don’t accept the commonly long-held assumptions of generations past.
5. That’s why I say that we are living in an uncertain world.
C. Well, so what? Who cares? How does that apply to me?
1. Well, one of the commonly long-held assumptions of the world was that there is an absolute truth, and if we put all these building blocks of knowledge together, we can figure it out.
a. That is what science is all about – it is about pooling together the observations of many to piece together what humanity believes the world is all about.
b. That has even been the basis of our own Christian beliefs – that if we piece together all the sayings about God in Scripture we can figure out who God is, what He is like, and we can have a theology that explains God.
2. However, those commonly long-held assumptions about the world are being rejected by the up-and-coming generations in our world.
a. Instead of believing that there is an absolute truth that may be known, new generations of humanity are beginning to assume that there is no absolute truth – there is only what is true for you.
b. And what is true for you may not be true for me, and vice versa.
c. And how dare ANYONE tell anyone else what is true for them.
d. Absolutism becomes an offense in this new, post-modern world.
3. So evangelism becomes tough…
D. So what do we do?
1. Should we try to go back to modernism? Sell people on that?
2. We can’t. There’s no going back.
3. Trying to sell post-moderns on modernism is like trying to sell the dark ages to modernists.
4. They’re reacting to PRECISELY that – they’re not going BACK to that.
5. There is no going back.
E. So, how can you be a Christian in a post-modern world?
1. This is a defining question for our culture in this day & age.
2. And, for the answer to this question, we are going to turn to the book of Colossians.
3. We don’t know exactly what they were dealing with in Colossae, but Paul describes it as a “hollow & deceptive philosophy” in chapter 2.
4. And how does he attack it?
5. Paul talks about Christ.
6. No matter what the question is, Paul says the answer to any hollow & deceptive philosophy is Jesus
I. Jesus is the Answer
A. Verse 15 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
1. Translation: Jesus is just like God.
2. He represents God: what He says is as good as God saying it.
B. Verse 16 – “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.”
1. Translation: Jesus created everything.
2. As a result, the logic of Christ (that thing we call “The Gospel”) is woven throughout all creation.
C. Verse 17 – “He is before all things…”
1. Translation: Jesus is timeless.
2. As a result, Christ is not dependent upon one school of thinking or age for his precepts to ring true.
D. Verse 17 – “… and in Him all things hold together.”
1. Translation: Christ holds everything together.
2. Even though things seem chaotic, from world events to the way people think, Christ is sovereign with God & is holding everything together in perfect tension.
E. Verse 18 – “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”
1. Translation: He is the head of the church.
2. God made a way out of chaos.
a. And those who would choose this way would be members of his institution: the church.
b. And Christ is the head of this church.
F. Verse 19 – “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,”
1. Translation: All of God was in this one man.
2. As a result, we can trust Him.
G. This is the message of the Gospel.
1. This is what we hold onto when everything else around us falls apart in our deconstructionist world.
2. Above all else, we know THIS is true.
3. Or, as Paul says, we are saved “if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”
H. What is the Gospel’s answer to a world that is questioning & rejecting long-held assumptions about the world?
1. You can question & reject a lot of things, but one think you cannot reject is Christ.
2. He IS absolute truth.
a. Though the world may move further & further into relativism.
b. Though we as a church may even come to accept & embrace certain elements of postmodernism, that is one point we will always disagree on.
c. There IS an absolute truth out there…
1) Whether we believe it or not
2) Whether we accept it or not
3) Whether we even KNOW ABOUT IT or not
4) Absolute truth exists.
II. Two Verses
A. There are many passages of Scripture that we can speak to this post-modern challenge.
B. But there are especially two verses that I find to be handy.
1. John 14:6 – “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.””
a. The world doesn’t so much have a problem with Jesus if he was just “a way.”
b. But it’s that word “the” that makes the world so angry at us these days.
c. This verse teaches us that there aren’t many paths & only one end. There is only ONE way to the Father.
2. Acts 4:12 – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
a. Not Buddha.
b. Not Mohammed.
c. Christ alone.
CONCLUSION
A. There is a lost world out there.
B. It is lost, and it won’t find its way unless we get convicted about sharing the good news we have in here out there.
C. We need to share that message.
D. Or maybe you’re here & you’ve never accepted that message in the first place…
