Most of the time on Sunday mornings I “teach” through a sermon. Today I will preach this sermon. Teaching is an indirect way to your heart through your head. When the logic and information go through the filter of the brain, God’s Spirit molds it, shapes it into an inspirational reality and pierces your heart. Seeing as His Spirit has already gripped all of us, I am going right for the heart today!
What I say today is aimed at your heart. If it hits its target, I invite you to grab a copy of the sermon on the way out today and take it home for later on this evening – or whenever it hits you this week – that you must review…must drag it out of your heart and let it filter upward to your mind.
This morning I want to aim directly at your heart and ask you to not slow-up, to go forward. God started the bush burning here at Bethany. He is giving us the opportunity to join with Him. And I want to tell you why we should do that. I want to tell you what’s at stake – what hangs in the balance.
So, hang-on, dig-in and open your hearts today.
We are going to see the trailer of a movie being released next month, The DaVinci Code. The basic message of this Hollywood production is a powerful indication of where our culture is right now. Here is the story line:
Harvard scholar Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is drawn into an investigation of the murder of Louvre curator Jacques Saunière. Langdon is a symbols expert, and together with Saunière’s code-breaking granddaughter Sophie Neveu sets out to decipher various clues Saunière has left to discover the identity of his killer. What the pair gradually realise is that Saunière was the Grand Master of an ancient secret society, the Priory of Sion. The Priory holds documents inherited from the Knights Templar which reveal an astonishing secret: that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and fathered a child by her, whose blood line [became] the early medieval rulers of France, the Merovingians. The Catholic church has consistently suppressed Jesus’ original teaching - that woman is sacred and that it was Mary Magdalene whom Jesus intended to take the Church forward…Grand Master…Leonardo da Vinci…concealed coded messages in a number of his paintings - hence the title of the book. The DaVinci Code…[an] extreme Catholic movement Opus Dei, killed Saunière and is now trying to silence Langdon and Sophie too.
The DaVinci Code is an exciting book. The movie promises to be just as entertaining. Watch closely:
If you watched the movie trailer closely, you may have noticed that, after all the action shots, fast-paced music and intentionally-exciting dramatic effects, the screen shows the words which unlock the sole key to the success of the novel and the expected success of the movie: a Biblical truth is used to disguise falsehood.
Look at the three words: SEEK THE TRUTH. Do you note how the word “seek” was highlighted…as if in the process of seeking you are bound to find truth? Now this is a little bit of Biblical truth. Jesus said to seek and you will find. Jesus called himself the truth. His meaning was, seek Truth and you will find ME!
Dan Brown is a master at combining a lot of falsehood with a little truth in such a way as to present it as absolute truth. His message is, seek the truth and you’ll find whatever makes you happy. To quote just about everybody’s grandmother, a HALF truth is a WHOLE LIE!
This morning’s message is part 1 of 4 messages I plan to present on this topic, and the reasonable question is:
• Preacher, why all the fuss? If it’s just a novel that Hollywood made into a movie, well, nobody will really go to Hell over it. What’s the big deal?
And what does that have to do with Bethany and our mission?
The main reason for all the fuss is two-fold in my estimation:
1. A lot of people do believe it – as if it is fact.
2. Even though I don’t believe what Dan Brown has written, I do believe what Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse about the age we’re living in, and the kind of stuff all the Dan Browns write. Note what Jesus said when His disciples asked Him about the how the end times would play out:
For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Matthew 24:24 (NRSVA)
What Jesus said means that Satanically-inspired people will show up in whatever places they can have an impact. Their main purpose will be to lead astray anyone they can…even God’s blood-bought family…IF it were possible…to take us away from His keeping grace.
Now, “leading astray” is Satan’s one focus. If he cannot keep you from accepting Jesus Christ as Savior, he will do the next best thing; confuse you so that your witness will count for nothing. We must speak out on this! And so, that verse (Matthew 24:24) will be our governing text for this whole series of messages.
Christianity is not going to go away because Dan Brown wrote a book full of half-truths based upon poorly-researched myths. But this reality exists: people who do not know enough about church history and the Bible are being deceived — led astray because Dan Brown is an excellent writer who uses these myths like they are documented truth.
If you check deeply into Dan Brown’s sources you see that he relied heavily on a book called “Holy Blood, Holy Grail”. Here is a clip from a National Geographic special – an interview with the author of that book who says that Brown took his “theory” too far:
So, here’s the author of a book which Dan Brown used to help write his novel, saying Brown presents as fact that which he presented as “maybe”. To make the point clear, please note that the author of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail” was a Biblical scholar; Dan Brown was an English teacher, turned novelist. Now, that certainly should qualify him to change all our thinking on Jesus! Maybe Steven Spielberg will be the next pope…or Stephen King should write a new ending for Revelation.
What’s at Stake
What does this mean for our society? The current generation is forsaking the faith of our fathers for hypotheses, myths, and fables; most of which is being presented as The DaVinci Code does…a small slice of truth mixed with a huge serving of lie.
Josh McDowell has worked with youth for three decades. He writes in his latest work, The Last Christian Generation:
"It is apparent that here at the beginning of the twenty-first century we face a generation of young people who no longer hold to what most evangelicals consider to be the true foundations of the Christian faith:
belief in the deity of Christ,
the reliability of Scripture,
and the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
For our culture all over this nation and the world…for our community right here in Randolph County, what is at stake in all of this is the fact that God has charged each generation with the responsibility of passing along the faith to the next generation." *2
Our “job” as believers is to speak out as witnesses of the truth.
Jesus said just that in Acts 1:8…
…ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
We, here at Bethany have chosen to express those “marching orders” as our mission statement:
THE MISSION AND MINISTRY OF BETHANY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH WILL BE TO HONOR CHRIST THROUGH WITNESSING TO OUR FAMILIES, COMMUNITY AND THE LARGER WORLD
In addition to “just doing our job” as Jesus’ ambassadors to this generation, is the reality that, as people who have been converted, we cannot stand by motionless and mute while this incredible opportunity passes. The outrageous claims made by The DaVinci Code novel have gotten the attention of over 40 million readers. It is the #1 best-selling novel of all time.*3 The movie will get an even greater attention from the non-reading public. And most of them will be impressionable teenagers and young adults. What better conversation initiation do we need to talk about spiritual things?
As a young man I went to work for a sales organization. They taught me to listen carefully to a prospective customer’s objections. If he told me, “I don’t need that,” he was really saying, “show me why I need that.”
The success of the novel, coupled with the movie’s release next month, indicates that the dialogue between the church and the unbelieving segment of America is ON; it is in-progress NOW!
This is the next great arena of evangelistic opportunity in America. It is a “window of opportunity” which God has opened for anyone who cares about people who are lost, without Christ.
Tom Hanks (star of the upcoming movie) says that the movie…will have people flocking to church. He told Entertainment Weekly magazine:
"I think the movie may end up helping churches do their job. If they put up a sign saying: ’This Wednesday we’re discussing the gospel’, 12 people show up. But if a sign says: ’This Wednesday we’re discussing The DaVinci Code,’ 800 people show up,"*4
That sounds logical, and may even prove to be true. However, with all due respect to Mr. Hanks’ fame and box-office appeal, the church does not use poor scholarship, half-truth and speculation to do it’s job. Truth is all we have, both from our mouths and hearts, and the leadership of the One who said He IS the truth!
Dr. James Garlow is a Wesleyan pastor who wrote the NY Times bestseller Cracking the DaVinci Code. In his follow-up book, The DaVinci Codebreaker, he specifically points to Dan Brown’s being “extremely bright” and yet doing such a “shoddy historical work.” The meaning is that Brown knows what he’s doing; he’s not naïve. He then points out what he believes is Brown’s real agenda:
To destroy, as best he can, the credibility of orthodox Christianity by refuting two themes: the authenticity and reliability of the New Testament and the full divinity of Jesus.
Overarching both is the redefinition of God…God, to Dan Brown, is not the transcendent,, above-and-beyond God portrayed in the Bible. God is creation itself – something within me. It (god) is, in fact, me. I don’t look to the Bible for truth. I simply look within. *5
This view is entirely anti-Biblical. God says we are to look to Him (and by implication, in His Word) for our direction. The prophet Jeremiah specifically warned us to NOT look within for our guidance, because you cannot trust what you’ll find there;
The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—
who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:6 (NRSVA)
Where did Dan Brown get these ideas? The concept is entirely Satanic. It has its basis in the attitude of the one about whom it was said (by the prophet Isaiah):
13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Isaiah 14:13-14
Satan’s thinking has many followers. Nimrod built the tower of Babel because he wanted a higher place than anybody…pride! Today New Age, Scientology, most of the eastern religions (Hinduism, Buddhism) and many more all point to the power within, rather than THE genuine POWER above!
Unfortunately, even in the Christian pew only 9% of professing born-again believers have a Biblical worldview, claiming the Scripture is authoritative *6(i.e. What God says about us is more important than our ideas or our hearts’ conviction about who we are and what we should believe, think and do).
So…what’s at stake is a matter of us bowing to God, or bowing to self. This generation is slowly turning away from bowing towards God, and has begun to set self up upon the throne. Our mission is to turn the culture.
God’s prescription is a little bit of what we saw at Jerusalem Walk. We smiled at our community, shared a good time and the truth with them. It got noticed.
God’s Rx for turning in the wrong direction is the same as it has always been. We need to keep these few things as our priority:
#1. We Need to Preach the Word
Our regular routine of Sunday and Wednesday worship and Bible Study is important for the enriching, training and cleansing we receive. This must be first priority if we are to reach the world. Weak soldiers fight a puny battle! Keep the worship day holy!
#2. We Need to Persist in Winning
By “persist” I mean we are to give great priority to winning our community. Everything we do must have as a goal witnessing to our families, community and the larger world.
At least one of our worship opportunities each week ought to be “seeker-sensitive” – it ought to be done in a way where young adults and teenagers will be drawn…their kind of music, their kind of pace.
With all due respect to those of us who love “the old ways” – you will not win an MTV generation with organ music. We want to pass along the faith to today’s generation? Then you’ve got to pass it along in ways they will understand. One preacher said it this way: About the only place you can still hear a pipe organ is in churches. What does that say? We invite the unchurched to come and sit on 17th century chairs (which we call pews), sing 18th century songs (which we call hymns), and listen to a 19th century instrument (a pipe organ) and then we wonder why they think we’re out of date! *7
Please do not suggest I am asking you to put aside your convictions about Christ or worship. We need to worship in the way we best connect with God…within the confines of what God has said about how He wants us to worship Him. But He has also told us to witness…and to be understood as a witness, you’ve got to speak the language that the lost person understands.
Dan Brown has done this. He is capitalizing on a generation hungry for filling that spiritual void. He has done it with half-truth, sensationalism…even to the point of dragging our Lord’s name and divinity through the mud.
Many of you would not want to go to a service designed for young adults…
• Loud, blasting music.
• Long periods of standing and singing songs that say the same thing over and over.
• Short sermons (well, maybe some of you would come)
• Basic Christian doctrine…Gospel 101 stuff that says simply Jesus loves you…we know it…the Bible says it.
No, many older and middle-aged adults would say “that’s not worship”. Folks, I understand, and would agree if we say, “that’s not how I would worship.” I am not asking you to change your worship. But we need to speak the language of those who do not worship…and that is their language…an introduction to worship!
I have counseled with many parents over the actions of their children who have gone astray. In each case, 100% -- when a child came back into the fold it was because they were loved back, not because they were shamed back, or excluded.
If we refuse to do something to love the lost back into the church, there will be a fulfillment to Josh McDowell’s new book’s title: The Last Christian Generation. And, for our part, it will be like the wicked servant of the talents. The Master gave talents…or money to watch over. The one who was given 10 invested and got 10 more to present to His master when he returned. The one who received 5 got 5 more. But the wicked servant buried his in the sand. He was fearful and just held onto what he had.
At Bethany we have good people, generous people, strong Christian believers who see themselves as a church family. We are also stewards of all that with which Christ has blessed us.
There is a spirit of love and genuine Christian excitement over the God-thing going on here. We can see, feel and sense the bush burning. All that’s required to put that out is to pour some cold-water committee complaining on the fire.
But rather…let’s go on…let’s take this Aldersgate of strangely warmed hearts and wake up a generation for the Lord. Let’s do it!
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ENDNOTES
1. National Geographic Channel June 19, 2005 as
quoted in The DaVinci Code – definitive or
deceptive document? Ewen Huffman on
SermonCentral.com Columbia Pictures 2006 PG-13
2. Josh McDowell, The Last Christian Generation,
2006, Green Key Books Holiday, Florida
3. NY Times Best-Seller List
4. Asian News International, April 25, 2006
SermonNews™ Staff.
5. Garlow, James L., The DaVinci Codebreaker, (2006,
Bethany House, Bloomington, MN), p.12.
6. Barna Research Group 2006
7. Rick Warren, Ministry Toolbox, Issue #256,
4/26/2006 www.pastors.com
