WHAT IF JESUS HAD NEVER BEEN BORN?
LIFE WITHOUT RESTRAINT
Philippians 1:27
S: Jesus’ Importance in all of Life
C: The essentiality of the Incarnation
Th: What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
Pr: WE HAVE STANDARDS.
?: How? How is it observed?
KW: Culture
TS: We will consider several cultures that demonstrate the difference Jesus has made in the world.
Type: Clarification
I. CANAAN
II. GREECE
III. ROME
IV. BARBARIANS
V. VIKINGS
VI. AUCAS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Understand the impact Jesus has made in morality.
• Live the faith.
Version: ESV
RMBC 18 December 05 AM
INTRODUCTION:
What if it was always winter and never Christmas?
That is the question one finds in the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
ILL Narnia – no Christmas
In the book, in describing the White Witch to her siblings, Lucy says:
“She has made an enchantment over the whole country so that it is always winter here and never Christmas.”
I have begun to wonder if the enchantment has moved from Narnia to this world, because so many churches are closing for Christmas.
Many churches are keeping the doors closed because, as they say, seekers are not looking to go to church on Christmas day, and/or worship is a matter of every day, not just one day of the week.
So, if Christmas is missed, this is not a huge problem.
I disagree with those conclusions because I believe it gives in to a consumer mentality and our culture of individualism.
We are afraid to make church inconvenient, or worship a “have-to” instead of a “want-to.”
Personally, I am rejoicing in the opportunity to worship on Christmas Day.
Christmas is certainly a family day.
But before it is a family day, even more it is a commemoration of our Savior’s birth.
We should not get the priorities of the two mixed.
In addition, we send a mixed message to our culture.
We complain that retailers refuse to say “Merry Christmas,” but then apparently believe that Jesus’ birth is not important enough to go to church for.
What if it was always winter and never Christmas?
I believe it is worthwhile to see the film, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I think our outing last Sunday afternoon was a tremendous success, along with our supper and discussion time afterwards.
We were intrigued by the parallels that are drawn by C. S. Lewis in the land of Narnia.
And we better understand Lewis’ view of Jesus in his own life, for when he writes about the four children from earth entering into Narnia, Lewis views himself as Edmund, the betrayer, for he had long betrayed the Lord with his atheistic belief.
Lewis puts it this way…
“I wrote fairy tales because the Fairy Tale seemed the ideal Form for the stuff I had to say.”
Perhaps you can relate to the experience of Lewis, for it is Jesus that has come to you and broken the spell in your life.
It had always been winter, and never Christmas.
The story that you have longed ended up coming to life for you.
The promise that was given was true (Isaiah 9:6)…
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
You see…
Jesus has come, and He has made the difference.
TRANSITION:
Now, let me ask you this…
1. Is there such a thing as right and wrong?
I contend there is, for if I brought you up here and stomped very hard on your foot, you would not only have a hurt foot, you might think I am not very nice.
Even more, you might say that it was wrong for me to do so.
Why would you say that it is wrong?
Who says there is right and wrong?
It is C. S. Lewis again, that directs our thinking in this area.
In his book, Mere Christianity, he encourages us to understand that God has set into the heart of every person a sense of right and wrong.
We may not always agree in what is right and wrong, but we do agree that right and wrong exists.
In other words, we have standards.
Further, I want to propose to you today that because Jesus came, the standards that he set for us as believers in Him, have had a profound effect on this earth.
Wherever the word has gone about Jesus, and His standards truly lived out, it has been effective, changing the world for the better.
Now, as Christians, we are not naïve.
We know a lot of bad has been done in the name of Jesus.
When the church has exercised political control, the standards of Jesus are often compromised, and it gets messy: the Crusades, sectarian wars, inquisitions, witch hunts, oppression of dissenters.
These are the type of results we have when Jesus’ standards are subdued and ignored.
But when they are not ignored, when they are embraced, the changes are staggering.
Consider the changes over the centuries that have been made in language, literacy, education and science.
The influence of Jesus has been for the good, especially when it comes to morality.
You see…
2. WE HAVE STANDARDS (Philippians 1:27).
The apostle Paul encourages us in this when he says…
Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel…
As believers in Jesus, our conduct is to reflect our citizenship.
We belong to the kingdom of God, not any kingdom of man.
So, we are to behave the way kingdom citizens are supposed to behave.
It is to be worthy of the good news of Jesus.
It is to be living in a way that is considered worthwhile.
We are to make sure that the good news about Jesus really is good news, and is observed to be so by how we live.
Sometimes I wonder what has happened to good conduct…
ILL Courtesy: faint [go right]
We have become like the man who gave up his seat on a bus to a lady. She fainted.
On recovering, she thanked him. Then he fainted.
Courtesy has become a lost art.
And often right conduct has become a lost art.
But when Christians have gotten it right, it has been effective.
For…
3. Changed lives make a difference in our culture.
This is something the leadership is attempting to clarify with the new vision statement.
As a church, we are to be about changed lives…
Randall Memorial Baptist Church desires to glorify God by leading people to maturity in Christ and equipping them to make a difference in the world.
Today, we must not lose sight of the difference and the change that Jesus has made through the ages.
And we are to be unwavering and undaunted in proclaiming Him in the now.
He is still making the difference today.
So, we must remember that in our own fellowship that…
4. Unity of heart, mind, and activity are persuasive.
If we fail to stand together, our testimony is ineffective.
Jesus will not use us.
He won’t.
So we must remove our competitiveness.
We must set aside our hurts and our grievances.
We must confess our sin and repent of them.
Then we must live lives of no compromise.
We will be loyal to the Lord together.
We will help one another.
We will encourage one another.
We will build each other up in the faith.
When we do so, the effectiveness of Jesus will continue, for our unity of heart is persuasive.
We have standards.
We have a sense and knowledge of right and wrong.
And through the centuries, the Judeo-Christian ethic has made its impact to bring positive change to this world.
So…
5. We will consider several cultures that demonstrate the difference Jesus has made in the world.
OUR STUDY:
ILL Difference: D. James Kennedy book
In the 19th century, there was a great attack on foreign missionaries in The London Times. An experienced traveler wrote a letter to the editor in which he criticized this attitude. The letter writer said that such an attitude on the part of any particular voyager was particularly inexcusable – for should he happen to be cast ashore on some uncharted island, he would devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary had preceded him!
Interestingly, the writer of the letter was no less than Charles Darwin. At the very least, Darwin recognized the utilitarian value of the Christian faith.
So how did this all get started?
Well…
1. Judaism gave us the basics.
When the Hebrew people entered into the Promised Land, it was a land that was dominated by the gods of Canaan – Moloch, Baal, and Ashtoreth.
They were all extremely horrible.
The worshipers of Moloch offered their children as sacrifices to appease him.
The worshipers of Baal and Ashtoreth honored their gods with temple prostitutes of both sexes.
It is against this backdrop that Israel is formed, living according to a moral code that began with the Ten Commandments (something so basic and so plain and so true that our courts no longer can bear to expose them to the public).
Israel understood there was right living and there was wrong living.
It was not anything goes.
As these civilizations waned in Israel’s shadow, the gods of the Greeks, and then the Romans, reflected the power of their new cultures.
But…
2. The finite gods of the day were dangerous and unpredictable.
They were neither infinite nor almighty.
These gods were to be feared and placated because of their arbitrary nature.
If any morality was accomplished, it was of men, not the gods.
This was engrained into the Greek culture by no less than Socrates.
He could conceive of no higher morality for any person than to simply live according to the laws of the city of Athens.
As the Greeks gave way to the Romans, we learned that…
3. The Roman world could be especially cruel.
The Roman emperor at the time of the apostle Paul was Nero.
He killed his wife so to legitimize his affair with another woman.
When his mother objected, he killed her.
Later, in a fit of rage, he would kick the new pregnant wife, killing both the unborn child and mother.
This was the morality of the day that Jesus was born into.
But…
4. Jesus turned the values of the day upside-down.
There were a growing number of people that took seriously the teachings of Jesus, this itinerant teacher of Palestine.
He encouraged people to not only love their neighbors, but to love one’s enemies as well.
He encouraged people to have a higher standard of morality.
It was not only killing a person that was wrong, it was hating a person as well.
It was not only committing adultery that was wrong, it was thinking it too.
These new believers lived differently than the rest of the world.
They lived cleanly.
They were known for their piety and decency.
With a quiet happiness and a confident faith, they looked out for the other guy.
When the moral convictions of the Christians were so strong that they were willing to die for them, it had a profound impact.
It was this kind of behavior that eventually brought an empire to its knees.
So, in turn…
5. Christians brought civilization to…
5.1 …the barbarians
The Roman Empire was besieged constantly by tribes that would kill everyone – men, women, and children.
They were a people of great vengeance.
And it was people like this that the Christians went to live among.
People like the Franks.
Any French among us?
You used to be quite the barbarians…
People like the Anglo-Saxons.
Any English among us?
You used to be quite the barbarians…
People like the Germanic tribes.
Are there any Germans here today?
You used to be quite the barbarians?
Or are there any among us today of Scandinavian heritage?
You have ancient ancestors known as…
5.2 …the Vikings
You were quite the plunderers and pillagers.
Known as the beserkers, you would put whole villages to the torch.
But when the Christian faith came, a whole new morality began.
Blood sacrifices were eliminated, as well as black magic, setting out of infants, slavery, and polygamy.
But not all the changes were in the ancient past.
In the 1950s, five missionaries in Ecuador were killed when they tried to tell the good news about Jesus to…
5.3 …the Aucas
ILL Sacrifice: Aucas
After attempting to make positive and friendly contact for months, twenty to thirty Aucas were coming to their camp.
At their camp, they flew into action straightening it up. Little did these five men know that this would be their last few hours of life. The last radio contact they made was Jim Elliott calling his wife, Elisabeth, saying, "We’ll call you back in three hours." As they lived their last minutes during the attack, they did not injure one Auca.
The women back at the base were praying the entire time for their husband’s time with the Aucas and asking God to keep them safe. At 4:30 there was no reply, which immediately put the women in alarm. An hour later helicopters and planes from the Ecuadorian Air Force, the US Army, Air Force and Navy swarmed along the Curray River looking for any sight of the missionaries. Finally, one of the helicopters radioed in saying that they had found their bodies on the beach. Jim Elliot’s body was found down stream with three others. Their bodies had been brutally pierced with spears and hacked by machetes. All of the plane’s fabric had been ripped off as if they had tried to kill the plane. Nate Saint’s watch had stopped a 3:12 p.m. So it was concluded that the Indians had attacked them at that time.
After their deaths, there were many conversions to Christianity among the Indian tribes of Ecuador. After Jim Elliot’s death, Elisabeth Elliot and her daughter Valerie moved to work with the Auca Indians.
Forgiveness allowed them to have amazing success with the once murderous Indians. The Aucas are now known for being entirely Christian because five men lived what they believed.
It is this kind of morality that makes an eternal impact.
It is a faith that loves in spite of murder.
It is a faith that forgives in spite of the loss.
So, what do you think?
When it comes to our own culture and society in the western world…
6. Are we going forward or backward?
As our culture becomes more morals-free and values-free, we are destined to miss the positive effect that Jesus makes through the Christian faith.
We are moving toward a life without restraint.
However, our faith, when properly lived, has valued and celebrated life.
It is a shame when this faith is trivialized.
It is a shame when this faith is not lived by those who claim to live for and love Jesus.
APPLICATION:
ILL Christmas: Here comes the star!
Bill Keane’s comic strip, Family Circus, has communicated a beautiful truth about Christmas. As the children were setting up their nativity set, little Dolly held up the baby Jesus and declared, “Here’s the star of Bethlehem!”
With that in mind…
1. Let’s not be guilty of this repeated tragedy of Christmas – the trivialization of Jesus.
You see, it is my fear that it is the believers that trivialize Jesus, not the unbelievers.
We know where we come from.
We know where we are headed.
We know who we belong to.
We know who holds tomorrow.
So, we can take whatever comes.
We can handle whatever life throws our way.
Not because we are tough.
Not because we don’t care.
But because of the One who lives within us.
And since this world is not our home, we can afford to be selfless, generous, and considerate.
So…
2. Let’s not forget that our conduct still potentially makes an impact to better society and culture.
Good arguments don’t always change people.
But changed lives do.
Changed lives change the lives of others.
ILL Faith: Amazing Race
The Amazing Race’s Family Edition finished this week. I usually don’t get into these reality shows, but I did watch the last few weeks of this particular competition.
There was one family whose circumstances were particularly sad. The husband and father had died, and so this mom and her kids were using this as a bonding time, and they were being quite successful in the race, making it to the last three families to compete.
Interestingly, from time to time, they talked about God and said little prayers. But I could not root for them. They were so obnoxious at times, especially when they taunted the other teams.
That is the kind of faith that makes no impact.
The team that won demonstrated unity. They were three brothers and one sister who were sometimes playfully rude to one another, but they didn’t argue. Overall, they appeared to be having fun, really appreciating one another, apologizing when they made mistakes. It was a formula for success.
We have been given a faith that has a formula for success, so to speak.
All you have to do is study the history to see the impact Jesus made.
It started in Bethlehem.
And perhaps today is a day that we should all appreciate that.
And perhaps today is a day that we should determine to live that faith.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let’s rejoice in our God…who has set in the mind and heart of every one of us a sense of right and wrong; He cares that we live in a way that benefits each of us and cares enough to communicate it to us.
Let’s rejoice in the standards Jesus gave us…for when He came, He gave His people a mission to live with higher, wider, larger and deeper things in mind than just what we can see and hear.
Let’s rejoice that we can make a difference…by His grace and His power, we can still make this a world a better place for all to live in and enjoy life to its fullest.
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Books:
C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
D. James Kennedy, What If Jesus Had Never Been Born?
SermonCentral:
“Commitment to the Truth,” Steve Shepherd
“Christian Conduct,” Stephen Fournier
“Conduct Yourselves,” Phil Anderson
“Living Together with the Right Conduct,” Kenneth Henes
“Forever Living in a Whatever World,” Roger Thomas
Web:
“Book Shows How Christianity Helped Us,” Richard N. Ostling, www.indystar.com
“Living with Christmas,” Jill Carattini, 12/9/05, A Slice of Infinity, www.rzim.org
“Some Churches Taking Heat for Closing Doors Christmas Sunday,” Allie Martin and Jenni Parker, December 14, 2005, http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/12/142005a.asp
