Excerpt From: The Da Vinci Quest
3-Part Sermon Series
By: Josh McDowell © 2006
Josh McDowell’s 3-part sermon series titled “The Da Vinci Quest” was
developed to compliment a collection of Da Vinci equipping resources
released in March 2006.
For more information, visit josh.davinciquest.org.
(Read slowly and dramatically.)
(Pronunciation guide: Louvre=loove; Jacques=zhahks; Saunière=sown-YAIR;
Caravaggio=care-uh-VAH-jio.)
Louvre Museum. Paris. 10:46 pm.
“Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum’s Grand Gallery. He lunged for the nearest painting he could see, a Caravaggio. Grabbing the gilded frame, the seventy-six-year-old man heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunière collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.
“As he had anticipated, a thundering iron gate fell near by, barricading the entrance to the suite. The parquet floor shook. Far off, an alarm began to ring.
“The curator lay a moment, gasping for breath, taking stock. I am still alive.”
You might recognize those opening lines from author Dan Brown’s bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code.
“Minutes later, elderly curator Jacques Saunière is dead, murdered by a massive albino monk in the Grand Gallery of one of the world’s most renowned art museums, the Louvre.”
Without giving away the plot, The Da Vinci Code revolves around three main characters:
Robert Langdon, middle-aged American professor, a Harvard expert in ancient religious symbols and their meanings.
Sophie Neveu (noo-VOH), young French codebreaker who works for the French equivalent the FBI.
Langdon and Neveu are mysteriously brought together to solve the murder of the late curator. As the plot thickens, they seek the help of Sir Leigh Teabing, wealthy Royal Historian of England, who for his whole life has sought to unearth a priceless ancient relic.
The murder inquiry quickly becomes a quest to expose a shocking ancient conspiracy—the greatest cover-up in human history—that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene… fathered a child… left a line of descendants still alive in Europe… and that our traditional, biblical picture of Jesus is wildly amiss from the real truth.
For us as Christians, The Da Vinci Code should spark questions… discussion… concern… but for many of us, I hope it also gives a measure of excitement at the opportunities it creates for spiritual conversation, speaking the real truth about Jesus in a fresh way.
We might disagree about whether to read The Da Vinci Code. Many regard the book as a captivating novel, nothing more and nothing less. Others are angered at what they call “a sackful of lies, an insult to the Christian faith.”
We might find it objectionable to see the movie. We might be reluctant to give support to the author, Dan Brown, or vote with our dollars that Hollywood should make more movies in the vein of The Da Vinci Code.
We might even be concerned that a sermon series about The Da Vinci Code needlessly exposes us to untruth. We fear that the book will sow dangerous doubt and confusion even in our own hearts.
But we can’t ignore this highly significant book and movie. There’s a way we can respond to it—by using it to engage others in spiritual conversation.
Let’s pray. God, help us understand the phenomenon of The Da Vinci Code. Whatever we think about the book and the movie as works of popular art, help us wrestle with how we can respond. Show us how we can even take advantage of this controversy to strengthen our own faith and help others discover the real truth about who Jesus is.
Amen.
There’s no question that The Da Vinci Code book has engaged our culture— and the [upcoming] movie has rekindled that interest.
Many people judge it to be a spellbinding novel—easy to read, hard to put down, a genuine page-turner involving deep intrigue and endless twists. Some 40 million copies have been sold, with possibly more copies of the book sold in a single year than any work of fiction in history.
The movie is poised for an even wider impact. Tom Hanks, star. Ron Howard, director.
Pop art in the form of a book or movie doesn’t get much bigger. It’s a phenomenon. We’re hooked.
But reasons for concern about The Da Vinci Code are obvious. Couched within an action-packed plot, there’s a philosophy, a set of teachings, a skewed view of our faith and of Jesus that is far-flung from what we know in Scripture.
Within the context of that fast-paced plot, The Da Vinci Code lures us into a mire of imaginative teachings:
…That Christians don’t have the real story of Jesus
…That the institutional church is the enemy of spiritual truth
…That the genuine spiritual facts are guarded by secret societies
…That priceless works of classical art reveal these hidden messages for those who have the special knowledge to decipher them
…That Jesus isn’t divine—isn’t really God—but his wife, Mary Magdalene, should be worshiped as a goddess, and
…That for two thousand years the church has conspired to suppress this truth.
If that doesn’t concern you, then you haven’t been paying attention!
All of these points—ingeniously woven into the plot and subplots, into historical and theological dialog that is surprisingly readable—sift down to
two major concerns.
The first: The Bible is an unreliable source of information about Jesus.
The second: Jesus isn’t who he claimed to be, God in the flesh and the Savior of the World.
Within The Da Vinci Code there are countless wrong assertions about art, history, the development of the Bible, and all the Bible teaches us, but as
Christians, we should be most concerned about these false claims—that the Bible is unreliable and Jesus isn’t really divine.
Let me say up front that the claims couched within the story of The Da Vinci Code don’t hold up under scrutiny. They don’t match up with historical reality—the true story of how the Bible came to us, and who Jesus is.
We will look at a number of false claims and present clear answers you can count on—answers you might need for your own peace of mind, or to share with a friend or loved one.
Next week, and the week after, in my next two sermons, we will look specifically at those two topics—Scripture and Jesus, in relation to The Da Vinci Code and fact.
However, before we move to those crucial topics, we will look today at some crucial Bible principles for talking about these issues.
Rather than fearing The Da Vinci Code as a threat to our faith, we want to take advantage of it as a unprecedented opportunity to discuss spiritual topics with everyone around us—neighbors, friends, coworkers, and classmates. We have an opportunity to explain what we believe—and why—in a fresh way.
But how do we share those deep facts? How do we invite others into a discussion rather than scaring them off with a declaration that “We know the truth and you don’t”? Whether or not you have read The Da Vinci Code (or plan to see the movie) this is a chance for us to learn crucial principles of evangelism.
First, it’s fair to say that as Christians we want to fix things—that we want to provide others with quick retorts to false statements.
When we encounter mistakes about our faith, we want to enlighten the ignorant—especially when the topic comes down to life-or-death spiritual matters. Mix in our feelings of offense at The Da Vinci Code, and we can quickly become aggressive in our presentation of the facts.
But many of the assertions in The Da Vinci Code are outside our expertise. They’re about art. History. Ancient mystery religions. Details of how the Bible developed. In other words, we can have a fair amount of ignorance of our own. So if someone threw down these assertions—we would be forced to say, “I don’t know.”
Let’s take that as a reminder that our job is to avoid heated, aggressive arguments with people. We are better off entering into a process of discovery with the people around us—a discussion, a period of persuasion. Over time we can aim to graciously pull the pieces together, to lead people to a choice for truth, for Jesus.
We also need to realize that many people find The Da Vinci Code so fascinating that it’s amazingly easy for the fictions of The Da Vinci Code to
become lodged in people’s minds as facts. Even if they don’t swallow every theory the book or the movie presents, The Da Vinci Code can sow enough confusion that people decide that discerning the real truth is impossible.
So how do we engage people in a quest for truth?
To answer that, my Scripture text is a single verse that gives us a world of insight into this process. It’s 1 Peter 3:15:
“But dedicate your lives to Christ as Lord. Always be ready to defend your confidence in God when anyone asks you to explain it. However, make
your defense with gentleness and respect” (GWT).
From this brief verse we can unlock four principles that teach us how to effectively engage others in spiritual conversation, how to winsomely
share our faith and wisely respond even to subjects as complex as this novel and movie.
When we want to talk about real truth with others, Principle 1 is DEDICATION.
Peter starts with our devotion, our commitment to our Lord. He says it simply:
“Dedicate your lives to Christ as Lord.”
It might be easy for us to lean back with our arms crossed and make a mental checkmark. We think, “Done that. I’m dedicated. I belong to Jesus. I live for him.” But let’s think about the writer of Scripture who makes that statement, “Dedicate your lives to Christ as Lord.”
It’s Peter. The one who waffled in his dedication to Christ yet found his way back. He’s the disciple who swore he would stand by his Lord, even to the point of death. If you had asked Peter, he would have told you he was sold out to Jesus, one-hundred percent dedicated to his Master. Yet hours later Peter denied Jesus three times.
Still, the Lord forgave him. Jesus invited Peter back into relationship, and then Peter became a truly uncompromising follower of Jesus.
That tells us something about our not needing to be spiritually perfect to begin in this process. It also instructs us to continue to take our faith to the next level—to stay fresh in our ongoing commitment to Jesus, to make it real in everyday life.
Here’s what this has to do with talking truth with people. Dedication keeps us honest before God and ourselves, but it has an enormous effect in our
talking with others. Our sincere, thorough commitment makes us authentic to others. When our words and our lives line up, our message rings true. So the Word of God reminds us, “Dedicate your lives to Christ as Lord.”
Principle 1 is DEDICATION.
Principle 2 is PREPARATION—in other words, readiness.
Peter says, “Always be ready to defend your confidence in God.”
Many people find The Da Vinci Code an engaging read. But its themes aren’t the easiest to decipher.
Your job isn’t to unravel every last mystery of The Da Vinci Code,because as a Christian your focus is “your confidence in God.” Being able to
thoughtfully explain that hope. If you have any expectation, however, of helping others sort through the issues raised in the book or the movie, you need to do some specific preparation. You need to think hard ahead of time about what Dan Brown is saying, and how the Bible answers these issues.
You aren’t at all alone in this search. As a church we are tapping into tools that will guide us in this quest. These are very affordable tools helpful to all of us, both adults and youth. Let me highlight two (hold up book and Pocket Guide):
The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers is a 128-page book that answers questions raised by the movie. It is an easy-to-read, positive book built
around real-life conversations on these topics.
The Da Vinci Pocket Guide compares the claims of The Da Vinci Code with the real record of history.
I also want to invite you to join a small group study where we study these issues—more about that in a moment.
There’s no point in getting all geared up if we don’t make practical use of everything we learn. So the process doesn’t stop there. There are two more principles for talking about truth with people.
DEDICATION.
PREPARATION.
Principle 3 is CONVERSATION.
“Always be ready to defend your confidence in God when anyone asks you to explain it.”
(If time allows, share a story of how you or someone you know has used The Da Vinci Code to spark conversations about Jesus.)
I have already hinted that our goal isn’t aggressive confrontation, but conversation. Our aim is interaction—talking and listening, giving and taking, asking and answering.
The phrase “when anyone asks you” doesn’t mean you ever have to sit back and wait for someone to literally ask, “Will you explain what God has to say about The Da Vinci Code?” But there has to be an element of invitation. Another person opening up to what you share, rather than you forcing a conversation with someone who isn’t ready.
That small group study I mentioned helps us discern who we want to talk to— who we want to begin a conversation with. It’s an opportunity to bring focus to this principle.
And we have another tool to help us talk:
The Da Vinci Code: A Companion Guide to the Movie is ideal to give to anyone trying to make sense of the movie. It’s a 20-page, full-color mini-magazine you can use to start discussions.
DEDICATION.
PREPARATION.
CONVERSATION
Finally, principle 4 in talking truth with others is COOPERATION—mutual discovery.
Peter makes one final point: “Make your defense with gentleness and respect.”
Peter is the last guy in the Bible you would expect to say “be gentle.”
He was fearless when he jumped out of the boat to walk with Jesus on the water (Matthew 14:29). He confidently vowed that he would never deny Jesus (Luke 22:33). When soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he drew a sword and sliced off the ear of the high priest’s servant (John 18:10). And in Acts we see him standing boldly to preach, despite warnings by religious leaders that he be silent (Acts
4:19-20).
But this is the man through whom God spoke this profound truth, “Make your defense with gentleness and respect.”
(If time allows, relate a story of doing the opposite of cooperation, coming on too strong with your faith and needing to regain a nonbeliever’s trust.)
We need to find our voice between those extremes—not shying away from sharing, but likewise not overwhelming others. If others disagree with the truth about Jesus, let them be offended by truth spoken with gentleness and respect, not offended by our offensiveness.
Friends, we have an opportunity before us.
Some of us view The Da Vinci Code as a piece of harmless entertainment, nothing more or less. Others have real concerns, for all the reasons I have been talking about. But each of us can make a choice to speak truth about Jesus, using this book and movie that has grabbed our culture as our starting point.
For the next two weeks we will continue with information that is useful to all of us—being grounded in our convictions that the Bible is reliable, and that Jesus is who he claimed to be.
I want to invite each of you to take another step and join that small group study I have been mentioned. We will be reading through The Da Vinci Code: A Quest for Answers and making specific plans as individuals.
(Provide details on where and when groups will meet.)
As we move ahead to make the most of this opportunity to share the real truth with others, let’s ask God’s help.
(Close with prayer.)
