WHO IS JESUS?
John 14.6
S: Jesus
C: Religion, pluralism
Th: Confusion
Pr: RESPOND TO THE UNIQUE CLAIMS OF JESUS.
CV: “We will clearly communicate the transforming truth of the Bible.”
Type: Inductive
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Recognize that pluralism has difficult inconsistencies as a belief system.
• Examine the life and sayings of Jesus.
• Follow Jesus!
Version: ESV
RMBC 16 November 08 AM
There is a lot of confusion about religion in this world.
There are so many!
Besides Christianity, there is Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Sikh, Taoism, Confucianism, Baha’i, Judaism, Shamanism, and Animism.
It is hard keeping them all straight!
ILL Religion (H)
It was the week before finals at the university and everyone in the comparative-religion class was frantic because of all the complex words and ideas they needed to know. The professor had just finished reviewing an Eastern concept he identified as Taoist, when a fraz¬zled student protested, "But you said that was a Buddhist belief!"
The professor looked up with a smirk and said, "I’m afraid not. You see, that was Zen. This is Tao."
Well, it is all pretty confusing.
And, who is telling the truth?
Is it none of them?
Or is it some of them?
Is it all of them?
Or is only one of them telling the truth?
As Christians, we have some confusing questions as well.
Is there truth in other religions?
Is there truth that can be helpful to us?
Is there truth in them that is helpful to humanity at large?
And perhaps even more strategic for our understanding is…
Can a follower of a non-Christian religion be saved?
This is the third message of four in a series called “Confusion.”
And…
We have been asking some basic questions about life: What is truth? and What is sin?
When we ask the question, what is truth, we want to know what is true versus what is false.
What is right versus what is wrong?
We also want to know whether truth can be known?
This is where a distinctive is set-up between the modern worldview and the postmodern.
The modern worldview, which many of us fall under, believes that truth can be discovered and known objectively.
In contrast, the postmodern worldview says that truth is subjective.
In other words, one’s understanding of the truth is dependent on the experience you have.
Last week, when we asked, what is sin, we first discussed the postmodern belief of relativism.
Relativism is the belief that truth is dependent on a person’s culture, class, or individual experience.
Simply stated, truth is relative.
Truth is shaped by how you live.
It is shaped by where you live.
It is shaped by the relationships you have.
Ultimately, truth becomes what we want it to be.
Today, we are going to discuss the postmodern concept of pluralism.
Pluralism is relativism applied to religion.
There is a distinction that I want to make here.
I am not offering any evaluation or criticism regarding cultural pluralism.
We live in a country where we are free to believe what we want religiously without any political coercion.
This is great!
No one should be forced to believe what they are not convinced of in their mind.
This is what freedom of religion is all about, and as Christians, we had better appreciate that, and hold that dear.
What we want to zero in on is the idea of theological pluralism.
Theological pluralism believes that all religions ultimately have the same message and the same spiritual end.
This is very well illustrated by the Hindu writing Bhagavad-Gita:
“Howsoever men may approach me, even so do I accept them; for, on all sides, whatever path they may choose is mine”
According to this line of thinking, the Divine reality has many names – Buddha, Krishna, Allah, Jesus.
And they are all pathways to the same place.
Though it is not true for all, too many pluralists are casual in their thinking.
It seems it has become fashionable to just believe whatever you want from each religion.
It is popular because it seems to have a morally superior air of tolerance and acceptance.
“Oh, they are all good.”
But there is a problem with this for the postmodern.
This definition makes few intellectual demands of you.
Because…
To insist that the world religions teach the same things distorts what they actually teach.
You see…
As long as the meanings of the doctrines within the respective religions are preserved, they cannot be jointly accepted without absurdity.
For example…
The Bible asserts that Jesus died on the cross.
This is fundamental to the understanding and the obtaining of salvation for the Christian.
The Koran, on the other hand, asserts that Jesus did not die but was replaced on the cross.
Islam and Christianity are in direct contradiction.
They both cannot be true.
It was Mahatma Gandhi who said:
“I am a Muslim and a Hindu and a Christian and a Jew.”
Though Gandhi did many great things for India and humanity, his understanding of religion was not objective.
For this statement was profoundly un-Muslim.
It was profoundly un-Christian.
It was profoundly un-Jewish.
But it was very Hindu.
Note this as well…
With atheism, it is impossible for the religionist to be right. For the theological pluralist, it is impossible to be wrong.
The atheist believes we are all wrong.
Our sense of spirituality and practice of faith is nonsense to him.
To the pluralist, it is the opposite.
No one is wrong.
Everyone is doing the best they can.
For all the religions are more or less equally true.
Therefore, it is impossible to make a mistake, either morally or cognitively.
But does the pluralist really want to say this?
For example, don’t we find the former Hindu practice of widow burning horrific?
Don’t we find the ancient practice of the Roman religion of temple prostitution morally wrong?
How about the Islamic war against the infidel?
After all, such a belief causes men to fly airplanes into tall buildings.
And what about the Aztec practice of human sacrifice?
Do we condone that?
Or what about some of the Christian crusades?
They were more political than Christian.
I think this severely weakens the pluralistic position.
For if all religions are equally true, they need to start making some adequate excuses for all this stuff.
To be consistent, they are forced to accept all these practices.
The problem is that consistent pluralism tolerates the intolerable.
ILL Exclusive (S)
Do any of you remember this? It’s “Where’s Waldo?” I enjoyed these books with my children when they were younger. You look all over this page to find the character called Waldo.
There is something significant about these pictures.
There is only one Waldo.
And there is an interesting fact about this. Waldo can be found!
“Dude...I am right here!”
Do me a favor and keep that all in mind as we shift gears here.
A lot of those that are theological pluralists say they have a great appreciation for Jesus.
But Jesus does not really do them any favors.
For…
Jesus is exclusive (John 14.6).
Jesus says…
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
But you know, when Christians repeat the exclusive teaching of Jesus, often the accusations come.
Christians are accused of being bigots.
How can you be so sure of yourself?
How can you be so arrogant?
Ill Christianity (S)
In Dan Kimball’s book, The Emerging Church, he speaks of the opinions that college students have of Christians. Here are some of the things that were said in interviews:
Christians have taken the teachings of Jesus and really messed them up.
I would want to be a Christian, but I have never met one.
Christians are dogmatic and close-minded.
Christians are supposed to be loving, but I’ve never met any who are.
Christians should be taken outside and shot.
I mention these things so that we will remember that we must do our best to represent Jesus to the world.
We cannot dodge His exclusive claims.
But we can work to communicate in such a way to at least get a hearing.
When it comes right down to it, though, it could be said that Jesus’ exclusive claims about Himself did not go so well.
They took Him to the cross (Mark 14:61-64)
Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” And the high priest tore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they all condemned him as deserving death.
We need to realize, including the pluralist, that Jesus did not just talk about love and peace.
He was controversial.
He talked a lot about money, judgment, and hell.
I think a lot of us would be mad at him today if He was here.
To be honest, from an intellectual and emotional standpoint…
Christianity does have its frustrations.
There are aspects that are troubling.
Because Jesus is so exclusive in who He is and what He does, some things are difficult to figure out.
The question of fairness comes up.
For if Jesus is the only way of salvation, what about people that lived before Jesus?
And what about infants who die or whose lives are aborted before they have had the chance to live?
What is their destiny?
Or those that are mentally challenged?
And of course, what about those that have never had an opportunity to hear the name of Jesus, much less the good news about Him?
As a person who has come to the conclusion that the Christian worldview best represents truth and reality, let me admit freely, these questions are frustrating and difficult.
I do believe, though, that there are some bedrock foundational principles that can help us through these matters.
First, let us understand that…
God’s work is perfect, void of even a tinge of unfairness (Deuteronomy 32.4)
“The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is He.”
In the character of God, there is not even the faintest tinge of unfairness.
You see, we can be confident about the character of God.
He does not do evil.
He does not do what is wrong.
God will treat each person with perfect love and perfect justice.
Simply, in His dealing with each person, He is not going to get it wrong!
Second…
Jesus is the definitive and fullest revelation of God (John 1.1-3).
John describes this at the beginning of his gospel…
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Ill Jesus (S)
The Nicene Creed would also affirm this:
Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made.
You see…
God reveals Himself in creation.
This earth, this universe, speaks volumes about a Designer, if we will just look and listen.
He also reveals Himself to us with our conscience.
He puts within us a sense of right and wrong.
But He has not done it any better or more profoundly than in Jesus.
This is the most definitive way God shows Himself.
Third principle…
There is no other means to salvation apart from Christ’s death on the cross (Romans 5.8-9).
Paul writes…
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
When we speak about the atoning work of Jesus, this is what we mean.
In God’s economy, sin deserves punishment.
The just punishment is nothing less than death.
God, in the person of Jesus, came to earth.
And being sinless, He is able to take our sin upon Himself and take the punishment we deserve.
This is the greatest act of love and grace.
All we need to do is understand that there is nothing we can do and accept and receive this provision – this is the gift of salvation.
This is the fundamental understanding of salvation of the Christian worldview, and it makes us distinct from every other religion.
For every other religion, in some way, says you have to earn your salvation.
Fourth…
We humans are finite and sinful, and far too quick to speak of things we don’t understand (Job 42.3).
When Job was confronted by the reality of God in his life, he said…
“Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”
I think it is good for us if we cultivate a healthy measure of theological humility.
We do not understand it all.
In fact, a lot of what we do understand, we don’t understand well.
Paul expresses this in Romans 11, when he exclaims…
How unsearchable are His judgments and inscrutable His ways…
Our choir number expressed some of this same mystery about the majestic eternity of God when they sang…
He hath eternal life
Implanted in the soul,
His love shall be our strength and store,
While ages roll.
Praise to the living God!
All praised, be His name,
Who was, and is and is to be
Still the same.
I think as Christians, it is good for us to live under these principles.
We believe Scripture to be infallible.
On the other hand, our understanding of them is not.
It is an important and humble distinction.
Finally…
We remain under the mandate to make disciples among every people and nation (Matthew 28:19-20).
Jesus said…
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I was questioned not long ago about this by a student at UB.
She asked, “Why are Christians so pushy about their beliefs?”
I gave her two reasons.
The first is that if I love God, then I obey Him.
If I understand that He has told me to share my faith and I do not, then I show that I do not love Him.
So, I obey out of love for Him.
The second is that I care about you.
If I decide to be quiet, I show I don’t care a whit about you.
You see, if I knew you were going to die, and you did not, and I knew how to prevent it, and said nothing, I would be an accomplice to your death.
That would be horrible according to anyone’s account.
But I show I care if I say something and even try to do something about it.
What you do with the news, though, that’s up to you.
You can choose to believe me, or not.
Return in your mind for a moment to Waldo.
Note to two facts.
There is only one Waldo.
He can be found.
With that in mind, let me encourage you today, no matter where you are in your relationship with God today, to…
RESPOND TO THE UNIQUE CLAIMS OF JESUS.
ILL Jesus (S)
C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity again encourages us to understand who Jesus is…
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish things that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”
No one is forcing you today if you are not a follower of Jesus.
I want you to note that.
But I do believe that Jesus is not an issue that can be ignored.
He is so unique in His claims that a decision is to be made.
You either follow or you do not follow.
And note, even a decision to wait is a decision to not follow.
It is my prayer that you will know the joy of following Him.
BENEDICTION:
Respond to Jesus today – for it is in following Him that one truly finds the love and peace that our hearts long for – He is the way, the truth, and the life!
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy — to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
RESOURCES:
Clendenin, Daniel B. "The Only Way." Christianity Today, January 12 1998, 34-40.
Geisler, Norman, and Frank Turek. I Don’t Have Enough to Be an Atheist. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2004.
Kimball, Dan. The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.
New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics. ed. W. Campbell Campbell-Jack, Gavin J McGrath, C. Stephen Evans and Steve Carter. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2006.
Rosenfelder, Mark. The Intolerance of Christ. Garland, TX: American Tract Society, 1986.
