Note: The first part of this sermon is actually a process that I went through this week in preparing for the message I had intended to preach about The Davinci Code.
Process: Last week, after I announced in the late service in Junction that I would be preaching this week on “The Davinci Code” and someone asked me why Preachers all across the country are preaching on a book that is “fiction”? That’s a great question, and normally I might not, though I do often preach sermons that I believe are timely. After Sept 11th, I responded with a sermon, or two. After the Tsunami; Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita I responded with a pastoral response. In fact, it may the best preaching that occurs when it is timely to our lives. And if preaching isn’t timely, then it probably shouldn’t be preached.
But the question is well taken, “Why preach on a book that is “fiction”? Though I may have used an illustration from it, I have never preached on Frank Peretti’s “This Present Darkness” or “Piercing the Darkness”. I have never preached on any of the books from the “Left Behind” series. And those books too, like “The Davinci Code” are not found in the “religion” or even the “non-fiction” section, but rather they can be found in the “Fiction” section of your Library or Bookstore, or perhaps on the “Best Seller bookshelf”...
So why have I decided to divert from what I had previously planned and embark on a sermon that deals with a book and subsequent movie that was released this weekend. I was all prepared to hammer home my points against The Davinci Code, but in the process of answering this question I was forced to rexamine what I was about to do, but still be faithful to the Gospel. One reason that I was going to preach against The Davinci Code is that the author Dan Brown claims it to be “fact”. (1) On NBC Today, October 10th, 2005 “Dan Brown was asked by host Matt Lauer “How much of this book is based on reality, in terms of things that actually happened?” Brown emphatically replied “Absolutely all of it…is historical fact”. (1) On ABC Good Morning America, December 3rd, 2003 “Host Charlie Gipson said to Dan Brown, “If you were writing this as a non-fiction book, how would it have been different?” Brown responded, “I don’t think it would have”. USA Today reported “Historic fact with contemporary storyline” (1) (Bob Minzheshimer “Code Deciphers Interest in Religious History” December 11th, 2003, p. D1) So it is not that I want to preach about the book, but statements made compel me to address the issue. I also had to ask myself, why did I not respond to this book sooner, but why have I waited so long and now find myself responding to the movie and not the book?
Secondly, I am aware that other pastors across the nation have had pastoral responses on this issue. I am not responding because of someone else’s passion, but I feel myself lead to have a pastoral response to the theological issues “The Davinci Code” addresses. We live in a time where entire generations are un-churched and any “man on the street” interview would reveal people unable to say clearly who Mary Magdalene was, or what her relationship with Christ might be. I find that books like the “Left Behind” series did include fictional interpretation of the Scripture, but the interpretation did not largely challenge the divinity of Christ or what might be called mainstream theology about Him. “There is no doubt that Dan Brown has written a spell-binding novel. We all love a good story. Even more we love a “good conspiracy theory”.” (1) “The Davinci Code”, though an intriguing mystery novel, presents an interpretation that is in (places) direct opposition to core theological teachings.
Because of this I have decided, not to personally address The Davinci Code by telling you what I believe, but to let you form your own search. You may judge the book and film for yourself, but I ask that you do it, in search of truth. This will be the question that I challenge you with: To ask for yourself "Is it the truth?"
Message: Jesus Himself said (John 8:31-32 (KJV) “to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; [32] And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” That is an important part of our dialogue about this book, that we can accept the fiction, but seek to know the truth. So the question we need be asking about the book or the movie, or perhaps about anything that we might read or see that pertains to Christianity, is this: “Is it true?”
If you watch a commercial and it reports to you that the product can do certain things, do you just believe it? Or do you put it to the test? Do you check to see if they are telling the truth. Before my son Daryl and I went to visit the Conservatory in New York, I checked them out. They said they were accredited. I checked, and they have been accredited for fourteen years. We went to see it, and we toured and investigated their program. This is a way of determining, is the offer they were making Daryl, true?
But some may say, what is truth? One definition of “truth” is “conformity to fact or reality”. So the question becomes in Christianity, “What is the fact or reality to which we conform?”
In Christianity we follow the teachings of the Bible. John Wesley one said “He was the man of one book”. Martin Luther declared “Sola Scriptura” the “principle that scripture alone is sufficient”. But I ask you, “Is it true?”
The Bible teaches that Jesus was without sin. 2 Cor. 5:21 (NIV) states: “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” But the question is “Is it true?” Do you find for yourself that this is truth. In the Davinci Code, Dan Brown portrays that Jesus Christ actually married and had sexual relations with Mary Magdalene. From this relationship comes offspring that carry the holy bloodline, the holy DNA. I ask you the question: “Is it true?”
The Bible teaches that a sinless spotless lamb is required to carry the sins of the people. The Bible teaches that we do not have to be from a royal bloodline, but that when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord “we are adopted and become joint heirs of the promise.
In the Course of Study School at Perkins School of Theology I had an Old Testament Professor (Howard) who declared that we had to look at the Old Testament with no knowledge of Jesus Christ. He was determined that we had to interpret passages like in Isaiah about the “suffering servant” without making the assumption that it was about Jesus. He said that early Hebrew writers did not have knowledge of Jesus and so we were to examine it looking for what the early Hebrews might have believed it to mean. One day I raised a question: Professor (Howard), when you go to a play, do you leave after Act I and believe you understand what it means?... Or do you watch the entire play, and then when the surprise ending happens you say “A-ha”! And you now understand with a freshness what the entire beginning meant? The Professor laughed, and said, “You also wouldn’t want to miss Act I or you might not ever under stand the second act or the ending.” My point exactly, I thought. And then the Professor (Howard) said, “Now let’s get back to the Old testament, and remember we are looking at it as Jesus is not in the Old testament.” And we did, but “is it true?”
The Davinci Code maybe a wonderful spellbinding mystery? But is it true? Ron Howard may have directed the greatest film ever, but is it true? Tom Hanks is a marvelous actor and I can watch him in Big, Sleepless in Seattle, Forest Gump, and maybe I could even watch him in The Davinci Code. But is the story I am watching true? Or am I watching something that is simply entertainment?
Is what I hear about the secret group Opus Dei true? Better yet, is what I hear about my neighbor true? Or is it gossip? Is it truth about the Priory of Zion?; the Knights Templer?; Davinci? Newton? Is it true because Oprah or Dr. Phil say it? In other words this is a question that we should be asking about all of life: Is it the trhuth?
In the preparation period for Operation Desert Storm, my Captain (Steven Triplett) returned from the Expo Center in Dharahn, Saudi Arabia, where he had been in a meeting with a Bn Commander (LTC) whose unit from Ft. Lewis, Washington was operating this personnel staging area. The complaint was that $50,000 worth of lumber the LTC had ordered had been stolen by 1st Sergeant whose unit was now forward in the desert somewhere along the Saudi border with Iraq. My Captain promised the Bn Commander that we would get this guy. He had signed the delivery statement. The Captain said we had that 1st Sgt by (well I can’t say what the Captain said). But was it the truth?
I was a Special Agent with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID). My Captain was an MP Officer who was Administrative, and had never conducted an investigation of his own. I began my own investigation to find the truth. I found a duty log for the gate guard, which had an entry on that date that the lumber had arrived and the guard called the TOC. The guard, a member of the Bn Commander’s own troops recalled that the SDO (Staff Duty Officer) a Lt. responded. The Lt., also a member of the Bn Commanders own chain of Command called back to the TOC for them to call a specific unit that was staging at the Expo Center and about to move forward and was expecting a delivery of lumber. The 1st Sgt of that unit came and signed for the lumber. I went forward in the desert and interviewed the 1st Sgt and discovered he had indeed ordered an order of lumber that was actually about $70,000 worth of lumber. He did know that this was not his complete order, but he was happy to have the lumber in preparation for the war. I went to the supply depot where the lumber orders were being processed, and I found that due to a shortage of supplies the 1st’s unit order had been canceled, but they had no process for telling the units they would not get their lumber. My Captain wanted the 1st Sgt arrested for larceny and he told the Bn Commander that we would nail him. But was it true?
I myself believe that Jesus was the Son of God. I believe that He was truly human and truly divine. I believe that he was the sinless one who takes away the sins of the world. I believe that by faith in Jesus Christ I will receive the promise of eternal life. But you must ask for yourself: Is it the truth? Is it true? And if you determine that it is, then you must live your life for Christ, and for Christ alone!
(1) – 164 page study note, Josh McDowell
