We are discovering the ways we shrink Jesus in our own minds, from the robust love and nature that is truly His.
? The great "I Am" is calling you and is with you to transform you and this world.
? Either/or thinking often shrinks Jesus in our minds and in our lives.
* Trip to the Optometrist.
* Binary: 0’s and 1’s. Forks in the road. Separate. And not trinary. Useful when deciding where to turn, where to live, who to marry.
* But not useful when baking cookies: sugar or not (how much), oven or not (what temp), how much oats? Recipe doesn’t work well with ) 0’s and 1’s.
* Visa: doesn’t always work: African/American, white.
* It doesn’t work with God either, but we do it over and over again.
* "Was Jesus God or Man?"
* "Was the Bible written by man or by God?"
* "Do we choose Jesus or does Jesus choose us?"
* "Should I be more truthful or more loving?"
* "Should I be more disciplined or flow more with the Spirit?"
* "Is Christianity a more Eastern (holistic, mystical, relational) or more Western religion (logical, individual)?"
* "Is God more Republican or the Democrat?"
* "Should I be more modern or postmodern in my thinking?"
* "Is this the right Church (or movement) or is that one the right one?"
* The way the question is posed creates an incomplete answer.
* I suppose it would be like an alien asking us do you have a house or a yard? Do you eat carbs, protein or fat?, Are humans children or adults? Do you earn money or spend it? Is a rainbow red or blue? Does ice cream have cream or sugar?
* Life, especially God, is more complex than a binary system.
* This gives me confidence in Scripture, that it doesn’t dumb God down. It describes things that a mere man could not make up.
? Certain either/or thinking is good, but often we subconsciously do it to reduce the mental tension and make God smaller. Too often God ends up looking like us.
* Without revelation all theology is merely a study in anthropology: how we think about God.
* This morning I want to focus on the most popular subject recently, which is: Is Jesus God or Man?
* This is what the controversy over the De Vinci Code, Gnostic Gospels was all about this.
* Let’s begin by looking at the beginning of every Gospel.
* Jesus: God or Man? (Mat 1:18-24; Jn 1:1, 14, 18)
Matt. 1:18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Matt. 1:20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
Matt. 1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"-which means, "God with us."
Matt. 1:24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
* Obviously, in these Gospels Mat and John are clear. Jesus is radically man and God.
* This is a problem that plaques young Christians. Some treat Jesus more as if he were a afterthought of God. Others as if there was no God the Father, only Jesus.
* My own experience with t. JW’s shortly after my conversion forced me to consider who Jesus was.
* Deism, Christian Science (Mary Baker Eddy), Jehovah Witnesses (Russel?), Mormans (Joseph Smith), Richard Hawkins, Islam.
* Da Vinci Code comes from a fictional story built around Gnostic Gospels.
* There was a heresy that started to develop toward the end of the writing of the NT that came to be called Gnosticism. Influenced by Greek philosophy and mystery religions it did not believe that Spirit (which was good) could be defiled with matter (which was evil).
* Their God could not have been fully incarnate. If Jesus was God he only appeared to be a man (didn’t leave footprints, didn’t really die), or he wasn’t fully God (he married, had sex, and had children).
* This comes out in the Gnostic books. These were 2nd century books named after leaders of the church (pseudopigraphal writings). Gnostic refers to knowledge because of their belief of special knowledge they must learn to free their spirits from their bodies. Furthermore, the knowledge was more subjective (within) than objective revelation about Jesus.
* They have been found in various places but many in Nag Hammadi Library, an archeological dig in Egypt in 1945.
* Though there are many, the primary ones are The Gospel of Mary (recovered in 1886), Gospel of Thomas (1898 & again in Nag Hammadi), Gospel of Truth (Nag Hammadi), Gospel of Philip (Nag Hammadi), Gospel of Judas (recovered from antiquities black market in 1983, then reconstructed in 2006).
* Mary found in 1886 on a 5th century papyrus. In this narrative Jesus departs as resurrected Jesus and Mary comforts the disciples with her wisdom when Peter asks her to. She says, she saw the Lord in a vision and he said, "Blessed are you, that you did not waver at the sight of me. For where the mind is, there is the treasure.’ Jesus in the vision proceeds to teach Mary, that the inner self is composed of soul, spirit, and mind, and visions are seen and understood in the mind. Then the text breaks off and the next four pages are missing. When the narrative resumes, Mary is no longer recalling her discussion with the Savior. She is instead recounting the revelation given to her in her vision. The revelation describes an ascent of a soul, which as it passes on its way to its final rest, engages in dialogue with four powers that try to stop it. The Gospel concludes with Peter and Andrew questioning whether this revelation is truly from Jesus and given to a woman but Levi defends her.
* Thomas (discovered in Nag Hammadi Library) begins with: The Gospel begins with the words, "These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymus Judas Thomas wrote down. It is not in the form of a gospel narrative like the four Gospels but contains 114 sayings.
* Some of these are mentioned by Ireaneus (2nd century and condemned as being fallacious and heretical), and again by Jerome in 4th century with the same.
* The theory or "conspiracy" is that the leaders were holding out on us and teaching us something other than what Jesus taught or what the early disciples believed. That gradually the church created this doctrine of the God/Man.
* That’s nice except it embraces the Gnostics and discards older Scripture. And it allows us to shrink Jesus.
? Jesus is God! (John 1:1, 14; 5:18; 8:24, 58 [Exo 3:14]; 10:30-33; 20:28; Col 2:9; Phil 2:5-8; Heb 1:8 [Psa 45:6].
* Jesus is described as having God’s DNA (virgin birth) (Mat & Luk).
* Jesus is worshipped: Mat 2:2, 11; 4:10; 14:33; 28:9; John 9:35-38; Heb 1:6.
Matt. 2:2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
Matt. 2:11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
Matt. 4:10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ’Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"
Matt. 14:33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Matt. 28:9 Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
John 9:36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
John 9:37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
John 9:38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.
Heb. 1:6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says, "Let all God’s angels worship him."
* Jesus is Creator: Mat 14:25; Jn 1:3, 10; 11:44; Col 1:16; Acts 3:15.
Matt. 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.
John 1:3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
John 1:10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
John 11:44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
Col. 1:16 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.
Acts 3:15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
* Jesus is Sustainer: 1 Cor 8:6; Col 1:17; Heb. 1:3.
1Cor. 8:6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Col. 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Heb. 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
* Jesus is Ruler (Lord): Matt 28:18; Rom 14:9; Rev. 1:6.
Matt. 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Rom. 14:9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
Rev. 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth..
* Forgiver: Mar 2:1-12; Luk 24:47.
Mark 2:1 A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
Mark 2:6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 "Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
Mark 2:8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ’Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ’Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, 11 "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"
Luke 24:47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Acts 6:15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Col. 3:13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
* Jesus is prayed to: Acts 7:55-60; 1 Cor 1:2 [1 Kg 18:24; Zech 13:9]; Rom 10:13-14 [Joel 2:32].
Acts 7:55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."
Acts 7:57 At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
1Cor. 1:2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours:
1Kings 18:24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The god who answers by fire-he is God."
Then all the people said, "What you say is good."
Zech. 13:9 This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ’They are my people,’ and they will say, ’The LORD is our God.’"
Rom. 10:13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Rom. 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
* He is the First and Last: Rev. 1:17 [Isa 44:6].
Is. 44:6 "This is what the LORD says- Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.
Rev. 1:17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.
* He is the "I am" (John 8:24, 58 [Exo 3:14]).
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."
Rom. 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Rom. 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
* Jesus imparts eternal life Acts 4:12.
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."
Rom. 10:12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
Rom. 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
* Nicea Council (325 AD) affirmed Jesus to be fully God.
1st Council called by Constantine to solve the schism created by the Arians who had reacted to the heresy of Sebellius. who believed in Modalism, which stated that there were not three actual persons in one God but one person who manifested himself in three forms. Arias and his followers believed the Son was created (the first creation) separated from God entirely.
* Like an actor who wore three different masks.
* Must say "Jesus is Lord" in early church.
* New Age friends. Transcendent God.
? Jesus’ divinity forces the issue of the Trinity (Deut 6:4).
Deut. 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
* One but distinct (John 14:9; 20:17; 16:7; Gen 1:26;
John 14:9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
John 20:17 Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ’I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’"
John 16: 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
Gen. 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
* Jesus is the dispenser of the Spirit (Mat 3:11; Acts 2:17, 33)
Matt. 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Acts 2:17 "’In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.
Acts 2:33 Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
? Jesus is fully human! (Mat 4:1; Luke 2:52; Jn 19:28; Rom 5:8; Luke 24:39, 20).
* He prayed, was tempted, grew in wisdom, he thirst, he died, had body of flesh and bones, was raised as a man, walking, talking and eating fish, etc.
Matt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
John 19:28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."
Luke 24:39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."
* Had to become a Man to fulfill the human destiny-image of God on earth (1 Cor 11:7; 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15).
1Cor. 11:7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.
2Cor. 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
* Had to become a Man to pay the sacrifice (Heb 10:12, 14).
Heb. 10:12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.
Heb. 10:14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
* Had to become a Man to fulfill Israel’s destiny (Isa 53:11).
Is. 53:11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
* Had to become a Man to begin a new race of faith-the church (Rom. 4: 13, 16; 5:7, 12, 15, 17, 19).
Rom. 5:7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.
Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-
Rom. 5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
Rom. 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Rom. 4:13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless,
Rom. 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
* Constantinople Council (381 A.D.) affirmed Jesus to be fully human.
From this 150 Fathers revised the earlier Creed of Nicaea to give us the Nicene Creed. It met to refute Apollinarias who taught Jesus as in Platonic thinking, had a human body, and soul, but a divine spirit. Jesus was affirmed to be fully human.
? Fully human and fully divine
* Chalcedon Council (451 A.D.) affirmed Christ to be fully human & fully divine.
Met to resolve the Nonphysite controversy, in which Eutyches had refused to confess the existence of two natures in Christ. This council affirmed Christ to be fully human and fully divine.
Need to look at these councils without chronological snobbery.
They were intelligent people, often better schooled and trained in their thinking than we.
? This is Orthodox, Ancient Christianity, all over the world.
* It is unfair and improper to ignore context and culture when interpreting Scripture. To interpret all of this as saying Jesus was just another Buddha does an injustice to Jewish culture and to Eastern culture. To interpret someone’s letter according to what we want it to say rather than what he intended to say is flat out wrong.
* It is possible to see this deifying of Jesus in an Eastern world but not in a Jewish world. This kind of thought was forbidden, and to awesome that the disciples easily went there or conspired to go there and lose their life for the idea is preposterous and irrational.
If you are to follow Scripture and the testimony of those who walked with Jesus and the conclusion of the historic church from the beginning
Our culture would love to shrink Jesus into a great Maharishi Jesus who was so enlightened that he become One with the Divine.
Our Post-Christian culture would love to call Jesus God but dismiss him from being involved in out day to day lives.
He is both, and in that tension is not only orthodox Christianity but life. The story of a god who became a man finally came true and our call is to believe in all he said and did and follow him.
He is my connection with God by faith. He is the missing link. He is the Holy Grail. He is the Secret.
My Lord and my God!
? Who Jesus is has huge implications as to how I live.
* If He was just an enlightened man then he is merely a model to imitate in my piety.
* If He was God only, then everything he did was not as a man and I can’t relate. He was superhuman, a god only posing as a man. And he can’t empathize with me.
* If He was both. Then his life, his death and resurrection say volumes about God’s love and understanding for me, God’s solution to the sin-trap, and God’s plan to redeem this planet.
* Heb 4:15; Rom 5:19; Heb 7:25
Heb. 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet was without sin.
Rom. 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Heb. 7:25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.
* The Shrinking Power Of Either/Or Thinking
? Of course there are certain either/ors: Is He God or not, does he love me or not, should I serve him or not?
? But we must be cautious about trying to fit God into our brain and allow the revelation of Scripture to stand without imposing our limited system on it.
? The enlarging power of both/and thinking.
? Learn to lean on wiser saints than yourself, who appreciate church history and Jesus’ work worldwide.
* Was Jesus God or Man?-yes.
* Does Scripture teach freewill or predestination-yes.
* Should I be more truthful or more loving-yes.
* Should I be more disciplined or flow more with the Spirit-yes.
* Is Christianity a more Eastern (holistic) or more Western religion (rational)-yes.
* Is God more on the side of the Republicans or Democrats-yes.
* Should I be more modern or postmodern in my thinking-yes.
* Live in a day of the Democratization of God.
* Dogmatic without
* Not rational or irrational but trans-rational
* Horseshoe
* Boating -broken steering shaft.
* Whitefield and Wesley
* Simple Christian-Prem.
* Taking It Home
? Why is our "either/or" thinking often the cause of our limited understanding?
? Who did you think Jesus was in the early stages of your faith?
? How has that changed? What was the cause(s) of your changed understanding?
? What honest doubts or questions still linger inside of you?
? Because Jesus was a man what are the implications of this solidarity with you? (e.g. Heb 4:15; 7:25; Rom 5:19). How does this affect your prayer life?
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