Several years ago Jack Lemon and Walter Matthau made their last movie together. It was the second of two movies which told the story of two elderly neighbors. They were best friends as children, but time and circumstances had turned them into cantankerous, grouchy and bitter rivals.
Although John and Max normally called each other sarcastic names unsuitable for sermon material, they had called a truce for the sake of Max’s son and John’s daughter, who were to be married. But a minor tiff between the engaged couple caused a setback to the wedding plans. Max blamed it on John’s daughter and told John the truce was over. As Max stormed off-screen, John gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes and spat his words at Max’s disappearing form, Let the games begin! [1]
In much the same way Dan Brown did the same thing a few years ago when he released his book, The DaVinci Code. Dan Brown’s fiction work is billed as fact. He tells the world that the church has lied and the Bible is untrue. The world is awaiting our answer.
Paraphrasing the words of Jack Lemmon’s character, John Gustafson, The game is on!
Now, “the game” has contestants and a goal. On one side is the “testimony” (or word) of a man – in this case, Dan Brown. On the other stands the Word of God. The goal line is the hearts of men and women everywhere. The question that begins the game is Who is this Jesus…I mean, REALLY?
God has an answer about authority. Dan Brown has said that the Bible is not it; God says differently:
If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; 1 John 5:9a (NRSVA)
Dan Brown contends that Jesus was a very good man who turned his church over to Mary Magdalene. God says differently:
• God says Jesus was fully God who became fully man:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.Philippians 2:5-7
• God says this God/man, Jesus, became our sacrifice:
And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Philippians 2:8
• God says this God/man, Jesus became exalted:
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11
• God says this God/man, Jesus will become our judge also:
11Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. 13And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15
Now, those are the components of the Gospel as we understand it from a traditional-historical approach. In a nutshell,
• We sinned
• God loved and God came to die in my place, and rose again
• God offers forgiveness and relationship with Him to any willing to repent of sin…and…
• God is coming back to balance all the scales one day.
A side observation at no additional charge – be on the right side of those scales!
I was going to give you several pages of proofs of why the things that Dan Brown proposes as fact are indeed fiction. For the sake of time and boredom I’m going to pare that down a bit and concentrate on who Jesus really is, and what the followers of this Lord of Glory ought to be doing.
Biblical Criticism
Most people like Dan Brown say you cannot trust the Holy Bible. The thinking is that we do not have a good “chain of evidence” from the first century to now of the factual events surrounding traditional Christianity. Listen to one preacher’s rebuttal of that:
…the Greek poet Homer…wrote among other things the Iliad. Homer wrote this book in about 900 BC. The earliest copy we have is? 400 B.C. That’s a 500 years gap! Do you hear people doubting the accuracy and authenticity of The Iliad? There are only 643 manuscripts still in existence from antiquity! Homer’s writing was the most well supported document in antiquity with 643 copies.
The New Testament has over 24,000 manuscripts with the earliest one dating 125 AD, within 25 years of the completion of the New Testament. From 125 A.D. to 325 A.D. we have over 5,000 partial or full Greek (we have close to 20,000 in other languages like Latin) manuscripts of the different books of the Bible. When you put all of them together, there is less than one half of a hand-written page (of over 500 pages in the Greek) of the New Testament that comes into question. None of that ½ page changes any doctrinal teaching.[2]
There are literally hundreds of examples like that, demonstrating how we may be assured that the Book we call the Holy, Inspired Word of God is just that!
Reality checks, however, tell us that whenever there is a dispute, it all comes down to a matter of faith. “Whom do you trust?” is the bottom line. Somewhere along the line you must make the leap of faith that says, I choose to believe God…and not Dan Brown.
If you, or someone you know, is struggling with that decision I want you to know that is an honest struggle. You are not alone. People have struggled with believing the words of man or God ever since Adam and Eve.
The critical issue in the struggle is not evidential. The evidence, honestly compared is all on the side of Scripture. Dan Brown’s research and claims are weak and unscholarly. The veracity of the Holy Bible’s message and the integrity of its continuity from ancient times, down to this very moment are indisputable; even under the most powerful magnifying-glass kind of scrutiny.
Who is most at risk?
Who is going to be upset by DaVinci Code? Believers and open-minded seekers who are poorly-schooled or “grounded” in Scripture are most at risk.
Believing Christian people who do not have a firm understanding or conviction of the Bible’s message are most at risk; they are those who have embraced the faith of their parents or grandparents, but never thoroughly examined for themselves the evidence surrounding the claims of Christ. It is not that they haven’t embraced a faith in God. They just have not developed that faith with a firm and clear forward progress of perfecting grace. A man can be a Christian for 50 years, and be as naïve as a newborn babe in Christ when it comes to spiritual issues. You do not have 50 year’s experience just because you made a decision 50 years ago; you may have one year’s experience 50 times over! A simple equation to express this is:
No growth = no strength = open invitation to fall!
Remember…this is the same approach the Tempter used with Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus was skilled in the Scripture. Three times he was tempted; three times he said, It is written…![3] Hey, in order to say it is written, you’ve got to know what’s written!
A second group is the “seekers” folks who are really struggling and have not yet made a decision for Christ. They’re seeking answers. People like this are under the influence of prevenient grace…being drawn to Christ, but as yet unsure of, and unskilled in the use of God’s Word. People like this can be turned away from a commitment to Christ by the kind of sensationalism a Hollywood production possesses. People in this group are like the little ones Jesus said needed to come to him. He said to make certain they were not hindered! [4] We bear a responsibility to speak up on their behalf!
In the end, the deck is stacked against anyone who will not take the time to examine the evidence in light of honest Biblical searching. As a pastor I have had people argue with me that the Bible contains errors; to this day I have never had a single one pointed out. Mostly that is because people are saying what they have heard…they have not read the Scriptures for themselves.
Dr. Ken Baugh was quoted in U.S. News & World Report last week as saying that, Dan Brown did the church a favor…he forced people who call themselves followers of Christ to investigate what that really means.
The Scriptures contain a promise, actually many promises, that those who investigate the Word of God will not be disappointed:
13When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart,… Jeremiah 29:13
17I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
Proverbs 8:17
39“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. John 5:39
Here is one other promise to those who struggle.
10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. 1 John 5:10a
If you heard that, you understand that the person who truly surrenders the key to his or her heart to the love of God, through faith, unilateral, unconditional, unalterable faith in Jesus Christ, truly have his testimony in their hearts. That means, in short, that there is assurance – peace within – that you belong to God. That is what I have; that is what He offers to you! It is true, not false…and you will know it!
I used to be a bank teller, and then a supervisor of the tellers back in seminary days. (It helped to have food on the table for those three kids). Whenever we got a brand-new employee who needed to be trained as a teller, the first thing I would do is sit him at a table with money…piles and piles of money. I would instruct the new teller to begin counting the money. He or she would sit there for three solid days, counting money…$10, 20, 30, 40…. We never showed them, or even mentioned a counterfeit.
By the time that new employee had counted out several hundred thousand dollars in $5 and $10 bills, they knew the real thing. If there was a counterfeit bill within 500 yards they could smell the thing! When you know the genuine, the fake stands out like a sore thumb!
What Now?
So – what should we be doing about the counterfeit? Not a whole lot…really. If you have genuinely made the decision in your heart to follow Christ, the testimony is there, deep within. You know you are His; you know He is yours! You’ve received Christ; you’ve received His testimony. There is peace; your heart has been strangely warmed.
But, it was warmed for a purpose…not just your comfort. Your heart has been warmed so that you can bring that to others. Our mission statement says we exist to bring that light to every member of our families, every person in our community, and every person in the world.
The call today is to come to the altar to pray for ourselves as we carry that message; and to pray for those to whom we will carry that message.
Dan Brown’s heresy will pass from the scene. It is inevitable that when darkness is exposed to the light, it is the light which will endure. In the presence of light, darkness shrivels up like a spider poked in the underbelly.
But, when you get up from this altar and go into the world, carry that light; hold up that light – go poke the spiders of darkness in your family, community and the world.
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ENDNOTES
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1] Grumpier Old Men
2] Exposing The Da Vinci Code, Pt. 3 by Dave Kinney on SermonCentral.com [abridged for space]
3] Mark 4
4] Mark 10:14
