NAIL IT DOWN
“In Christ Alone”
1 Timothy 2:1-6
So let’s go back to school for a moment and pretend it’s test time. Remember there are a variety of tests that the teacher can decide to give you. Essay. True false. Fill in the blank. Another way is multiple-choice. The answer could be (a). Could be (b). Or (c). I liked those, especially the easy ones. Like, who was the second president of the United States? Is it (a) Tom Brady (b) Jimmy Kimmel (c) Hillary Clinton or (d) John Adams. Then there are those that the teacher puts in (e) all of the above.
We live in a multiple-choice world. Like a buffet. Not just out in the world as we might say but in our spiritual choices as well. How we understand God. How we understand what it means to have a relationship with God. We live in a multiple choice world. Now here’s the thing. More and more I have noticed that we are living in an option (e) world. All of the above. All of them are correct. Doesn’t matter which one you choose-why-because one is just as good as the other. In fact in America today I think there is really only one thing we can all agree on and that is that we cannot all agree on anything. We have no idea what we believe. So people say all the time, there is no absolute truth. I always want to say, are you absolutely sure? Your truth is good for you. My truth is good for me. But what if, what if all of the options aren’t true? What if really only one of them is true?
This book teaches us that all the options are not correct. It teaches there is only one God and one road that gets you there. Verses 5-6. Today everyone just things everything is correct. But if you go back 500 years ago there was a different problem and the problem was religion. And religion was doing this and that and they were saying this is not enough so we must add to it, and there are rules and hoops to jump through and just when you think you’ve made it, there’s another one. They just kept adding to this simple gospel message. Recently they featured on one of these nature shows on TV, they showed a huge sea turtle swimming through these coral reefs. Had swam over 1600 miles to get there. By the time he got there he was covered with algae and with barnacles. And as he got to the coral reefs there were fish there that gave him a good cleaning... They ate the algae, remove the barnacles... He got cleaned up... If he had continued like that he would’ve been so weighed down he would no longer have been able to swim and would have died. Now this is what happens many times in the movement of Jesus... Over times things get added to the gospel message and soon you can no longer recognize the original message --because it has changed so much. And before long it will die, if we just keep adding to it.
500 years ago religion was taking people to option (e). If you wanted to get to God there were a number of things you had to do. So Martin Luther wrote his complaints against the church and if you pull them all together they basically amounted to five things. And the Reformation was the result.
• Scripture alone-final authority. Sola scriptura
• Grace alone-not by works. Sola Gratia.
• Today. Jesus alone-there are not multiple choices. Solus Christus.
No going back 500 years ago, the problem was religion. Because Luther looked at the church and he looked at Scripture and came to the conclusion they were too far apart. And he posted this on the door in Wittenberg, it went viral. It began to spread throughout all of Europe. And as you can imagine, Luther’s life-changed drastically. He was suddenly thrust into the public eye. He was called in for public debates. He was criticized. And eventually as the storm continued he was excommunicated from the church. When he died they dug up his body and burned it and tossed it into a river.
It was during that time that he wrote three books and he wrote this: if we are justified by faith alone, then it must be that we look to Christ alone, not to the church and not to the sacraments. Christ alone. The church looked to numerous sacraments at that time.
• Baptism
• Confirmation
• Marriage
• mass/communion/Eucharist/elements became body and blood of Jesus
• confession
• last rites
It was the belief that the act of taking of the wine and eating of the bread that while doing so these became the actual blood and body of Jesus Christ and would atone for your sin at that moment. That is why the crucifix existed in that day and does today in the Catholic Church because it is as though Jesus is still dying for our sins.
But Luther looked at all of that and said this doesn’t match up with what I find in the Bible. Luther looked and said I see that we need:
• mass/worship service
• Lord’s supper-yes, but with a different meaning. It is not changing into the actual blood and body of Christ. It is a picture. Baptism does not wash away your sin. It is a picture. Both are a picture of what the blood has done for us.
So where do we go now for grace? Luther said easy. Christ alone. The cross alone. It’s not multiple-choice. It is not all of the above. It is wrapped up in the simple message that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
Look at this. Verse five. (1) Christ is the only Savior and need. There is one mediator. Now the word mediator is not used anywhere else in the New Testament. It reminds us of someone who brings two parties together. For instance, if you get into legal trouble, who you gonna call? Not Ghostbusters. You’re going to call a lawyer. Not a pastor. Who’s the best lawyer? Why, because you and I haven’t studied the law. You want someone who has. Now legally you can represent yourself but that’s not usually good advice. You need a mediator. Christ is our mediator.
In OT, we find in Job, chapter 9:22, Job said, I can’t find God... God is not like me... He said if only there was a mediator between us. Someone who can bring us together. The Bible says there is one and only one. He is God. He became man and he stands between God and man. He is the only one who can bring men to God and he is the only one who has brought God to man.
Now this is a unique claim. It is not made in other religions. Buddha did not claim this. Muhammed did not claim this. CS Lewis said something like this is out of the question. The only person who can say something like this is either God or they are complete lunatic. There is no in between. Jesus was never regarded as just a moral teacher. Or a good man. No one just gave him mild approval. He was either loved or he was hated. And Jesus said, if you have seen me, you have seen the father. Jesus and Jesus alone is our mediator. I don’t need to pray to:
• Angels
• Saints
• Mary
Why? Because I can pray in and through the person of Jesus Christ. The religion of Luther’s day had people praying to all kinds of persons rather than Jesus. 1505. Luther studied law. Caught in a lightning storm. Pray to St. Anne. Save me. Now St Anne if you do not know is the recognized mother of Mary. Husband of Joachim. We go to people we say would you pray for me? Nothing wrong with that. But we don’t go to dead people and say that. So when we go to marry are we honoring Mary as the church says or are we praying to marry? Both. Their thinking was we will ask St Anne to got to Mary and then she can go to Mary and Mary can go to Jesus. That was the thinking, so in 1505 Luther is in trouble-and who does he go to? St Anne. There were all kinds of patron saints and still are.
Travel-Christopher
Soldiers-Joan of Arc
Toothache-Antipas
How many? Over 10,000. In 2013, 802 were added.
Would you make intercession on my behalf?
You have probably heard of the teaching/doctrine of Immaculate Conception. If you do not know, Immaculate Conception is not the same as the virgin birth that we teach. In the virgin birth we teach that Jesus was born of a virgin, the Virgin Mary. And that is what we believe. That is what Catholics teach as well. But Immaculate Conception teaches that Anne, the mother of Jesus, when she was born, that she was free from the stain of sin. We do not teach that. Why? Because nothing in the Scripture tells us that. They also teach that Mary never sinned and in fact that she never died. She was taken up. They also teach what we call the perpetual virginity of Mary. We know that the Scripture says that Jesus had brothers and sisters. She is also seen as a co-mediator. So do we need a mediator for the mediator? Do I need to go to her and say would you introduce me to him? Do I need to go to her to get to Jesus? No. Only one. I need people to pray for me. But I do not need a priest, I need Christ.
It is the teaching of the church that the priest actually brings Christ down from heaven thousands of times as a fresh sacrifice and that is why you still see a crucifix in the church. Listen, one sacrifice was made and it is for all. Jesus did that. I do not come to the church to dispense grace to me. I am the church because I have already received grace in Christ.
Now again today, let me remind you that this is for you. Because all of this is necessary because all of this is still a problem today. Through legalism, we have added rules. In the churches today pastors have become superheroes and rock stars. And the church is often a far cry from what God intended it to be. It is Christ and Christ alone. You are called to serve Jesus. Not just the pastor…. being called. You are called.
(2) Jesus is the only sacrifice that saves. Verse six. He gave himself as a ransom for all. A testimony at the proper time. It is the right message at the right time. It is exactly what we need to hear today. No hoops to jump through. No works. No barnacles.
In Arkansas I read that a state trooper came up a minor accident, no one seriously hurt, only to realize it was his wife as one of the drivers AND she was at fault. What could he do? He wrote a ticket. She went to court. He stood in court to agree she was guilty. Then he took her by the hand, went downstairs and paid the ticket.
Listen when you faced death, whether I’m standing there or not you will have all you need. On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
