Know What You Believe

Luke 20:41-44

Sir Ian McKellen is an accomplished Shakespearean actor who is probably best known for his portrayal of Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. If you saw the trilogy, you can’t help but like Gandalf. He is the ultimate warrior fighting for truth and justice against Satanic-like evil. But sadly, in real life, McKellen is not fighting for the right side. McKellen also stars in the Da Vinci Code movie so he took the opportunity last week to take pot shots at the historicity of the Bible and Christianity. He said, “I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.” There’s the breaking news folks. According to the wizard Gandalf, the Bible is nothing more than a bunch of made up stories. He also said, "I'm very happy to believe that Jesus was married. I know the Catholic Church has problems with gay people and I thought this would be absolute proof that Jesus was not gay." Do you see his logic? Jesus was married so he could not have been gay. This is important to McKellen because he is a gay man and a gay activist. He has his own version of the truth but he has closed his mind to the real truth. By his own admission, in every hotel room he stays in around the world, he pulls the Gideon Bible out of the drawer and rips out the entire book of Leviticus because it condemns homosexual behavior. So if you ever find a Gideon Bible that is missing the book of Leviticus, you can know Gandalf stayed in that room! Please, no one tell him about the first chapter of the book of Romans! McKellen thinks it’s ridiculous that some Christians are boycotting the da Vinci Code film while at the same time he practices the most severe form of censorship by mutilating private property and the word of God. The irony here is that Christians are the ones who are accused of being closed-minded!

Our church has been preparing to have conversations with people about the Da Vinci Code and to defend Jesus and the Bible against numerous lies, but have you begun to think that maybe we are spending too much time on this? If you think so, please listen to the results of a poll that was released last week. Of those who had read the Da Vinci Code book, a full 60 percent believed Jesus had children by Mary Magdalene, compared with just 30 percent of those who had not read the book. Now there are actually two surprising things about this poll. The first is that 60% of readers think Jesus bore children with Mary Magdalene. That is much higher than I would have expected and runs contrary to the people who keep saying, “Come on you Christians, relax—this is just a fictional story.” Dan Brown believes it’s true and apparently so do the majority of his readers. But the truly surprising result from this poll is that 30% of those who haven’t read the book believe the lie about Jesus and Mary. In my 26 years of being a Christian I had never heard this notion of Jesus having children before, had you? And now an enormous number of people know and believe the lie. I believe this is because even if you have not read the book, most people have read about the book or have had conversations about the book and have adopted the conspiratorial theory that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and had children together. Can you see why we need to be prepared?

In the last two passages we studied, Jesus defended himself against the lies and accusations of his enemies. The Pharisees sent spies to trap him and the sad Sadducees tried to make him look foolish. He silenced each attack, but in this morning’s passage Jesus goes on the offense against those who don’t believe his claims to divinity.

^41 Then Jesus said to them, “How is it that they say the Christ^a is the Son of David? ^42 David himself declares in the Book of Psalms:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ^43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.””

^44 David calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

Jesus’ question has to do with his claim to be the Messiah. Most people, especially the Bible scholars of his day, did not believe that he was the Christ. Just like he used the O.T. to prove the resurrection from the dead, this time he used the O.T. to prove the identity of the Messiah. Jesus’ logic is actually a slam dunk, but at first glance it may leave the reader confused.

Jesus is laying his own trap of sorts and he set the bait with this first question. “How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? This first question from Jesus was undisputed. Even those who did not believe he was the Messiah did believe that the Messiah would be born in the line of David—the “son of David.” There was no Handel’s Messiah in the first century, but I imagine this passage from Isaiah 9 was no less treasured by them as it is for us. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ^7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. We all know this part of Isaiah 9, but do you remember what comes next? He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Let me put his words into a diagram to help you understand.” It was clearly prophesied that the Messiah would be a direct descendant of the royal throne of King David—properly understood as the “son of David.”

Jesus first question is important in his argument because everyone can agree on this first point. It is kind of like saying, “Everyone agrees that the sun will rise tomorrow, right?” Jesus got everyone to agree about the Messiah being the son of David, now he is going to shock them by using an O.T. passage to shock them further. He quoted from Psalm 110 which was understood to be a psalm about the coming Messiah. David himself declares in the Book of Psalms: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ^43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”” First Jesus established that David is the one who wrote Psalm 110. When the passage reads, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand ^43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet,” this is the voice of David speaking these words. Is it perfectly clear to you now? Let me put it into a diagram to make it more plain.

Everyone agreed that the Messiah would be a son of David, but in this psalm, which is all about the Messiah, David refers to the Messiah as ‘my Lord”. This is extremely important because a father never refers to his son as ‘my Lord,” especially one so prominent as King David. David was the greatest and most loved of all the kings of Israel. He is on the same level with Abraham and Moses. King David was the mighty warrior, the slayer of giants and the writer of songs. He was the greatest king Israel had ever seen, that is why it is impossible that he should refer to his son as “my Lord” because it is implying that the Messiah was not to be a mere human king, but someone far greater than even David!

Therefore, in David’s own words, the long-awaited Messiah was to be “the Lord” and Master—a divine ruler far surpassing the great King David. But the unbelieving Jews surrounding Jesus, though they revered the 110^th Psalm, though they claimed to be waiting for the Messiah, had completely missed this prophecy.

As I studied this passage, I thought this would have been the perfect time for Jesus to have said, “This is me!” He went on the offensive with an airtight, logical argument which proved from the O.T. that the Messiah was to be a divine redeemer. All he had to do to complete the argument was to say, “I am the son of David. I am your Messiah!” But he did not do this. Imagine a prosecutor presenting months of irrefutable of evidence in a courtroom trial and just before he points to the defendant and yells, “Guilty as charged!”, he sits down and is silent. All of the evidence was here, so why didn’t Jesus “finish the job”? I believe he quit where he did because he had already given them all they needed to believe. Other than the resurrection, this was his final proof of his deity. His listeners had more than enough evidence to place their faith in Christ, but still they refused. Remember the parable of the rich man and Lazarus? The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to scare his brothers into repenting. But Abraham replied, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” Jesus had given more than enough proof of his claim to divinity, including the teachings of Moses and the Prophets, but, just as he predicted, most people rejected it.

As Christians, we have to remember that the Bible is full of evidence for our faith. Many of us have these long held beliefs, but how many of us could actually give a defense of our faith from the Bible? The Da Vinci code is a direct attack on the historical truth of everything we believe. We are preparing for the outreach, we are inviting friends and family, but are you able to explain your faith to another person? Do you really know what you believe and why? When asked this question, some Christians respond by quoting the old hymn, “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” Is that a powerful presentation of the historical evidence of our faith? Hardly! This week’s Broadcaster reported the news that a local man was recently ordained as a swami—kind of a hindu, new age priest. I have never met a swami, have you? But what do you guess a swami might say about their faith? Do you think he might say, “You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart.” I attended part of the Diversity Day event two weeks ago. I asked the Buddhist presenter this question. “Is there one core tenet of your faith, that if you removed it, you would cease to be a Buddhist?” How would you answer that question as a Christian? What could you remove from Christianity that would destroy it? If you remove the deity of Christ and his death and resurrection, our faith is dead. Dan Brown wants to remove the deity of Christ and his death and resurrection, and 60% of his readers agree. Can you prove otherwise?

As we approach the end of our study in the gospel of Luke, let me remind you of Luke’s purpose in writing the book. In the first verse of his book, Luke wrote, Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, ^2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. ^3 Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ^4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

Let’s break down several key points and as we do this, imagine yourself having a conversation with someone about the Da Vinci Code. Could you take these points, found at the beginning of Luke’s gospel and defend your faith?

Verse 1. Others were investigating and writing about Jesus. Scholars agree that Luke had a copy of the gospel of Mark when he wrote his own gospel.

Verse 2. His information was handed down to him by eye-witnesses. Eye-witness testimony is the best kind of evidence.

Verse 3. Luke carefully investigated everything. He didn’t just take a few loose reports and throw then together. Luke did his homework so that he would get the story right.

Verse 4. Luke worked so hard on his gospel so that we could be certain of our faith in Christ.

Could you take these first four verses and help another person to see the reliability of the Bible? We have been studying Luke for a year and a half now. What else would you use to make your case? If a person was willing to take 5-10 minutes, you could show them a multitude of proofs just using the book of Luke. After reading over this list, ask yourself—was Jesus a mere man or was he the divine Savior of the world?

1. Luke is a reliable, historical, eyewitness record of events (1:1-4)

2. The angels call Jesus the Messiah at his birth (2:11)

3. John the Baptist fulfills OT Scripture (3:4-6)

4. God confirmed Jesus through his baptism (3:21-22)

5. Jesus is linked to the history of humankind and the Creator (3:23-38)

6. Jesus demonstrated his authority over sickness and demons (various)

7. Jesus demonstrated his authority over sin (Luke 7:48)

8. Jesus raised two people from the dead (7:11-17; 8:49-56)

9. Jesus demonstrated his power over nature (8:22-25)

10. Jesus created something from nothing (fish & loaves 9:10-17)

11. Jesus received the title of Messiah from Peter (9:20)

12. Jesus was transfigured in glory (9:28-36)

13. Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected, all according to Scripture (ch. 23-24)

14. Jesus confirmed that he was the Messiah prior to his ascension (24:44-49)

15. Luke mentions many, many cities, government rulers, historical facts—all of which have been proven true by archeology and historical research.

Why did Luke write his gospel? It was written so that we can be certain of what we believe. Is your faith certain enough to stand up against Dan Brown and Co? Is your faith certain enough to stand up against skeptics and seekers at work? Is your faith certain enough to stand up against the trials and tribulations of life? One last question. If you had 20 seconds to prove the deity of Christ to someone, to which passage would you turn? I was giving Ethan a bath the other night and it became apparent that he was confused about the deity of Christ. He didn’t say, “Dad, I’m a little bit confused about the deity of Jesus Christ, could you help me out?” He was talking about God creating the world and he thought that Jesus wasn’t present at creation. When I explained that he was, Ethan became even more confused because he knew Jesus had been born as a baby, just like the rest of us. What’s a good verse for that dilemma? I used the best verse possible which also happened to be one of Ethan’s AWANA verses. John 1:1—“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” This verse defines Jesus as both God and Creator.

How certain is your faith? Gandalf thinks you’re a fool for believing in the Bible and the resurrection, but then why should I worry about what he thinks?

Rich Maurer

May 21, 2006