LIFE LESSONS
JESUS
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 14: 1-11
SEPTEMBER 12, 2004
In the year 532 AD, a brilliant monk had a brilliant plan. That monk’s name was Dionysius Exiguous, sometimes called Dionysius of Rome. His brilliant plan was to measure time and history around the person of Jesus Christ, so Dionysius calculated the date of Christ’s birth and everything prior to that he called “BC,” “before Christ.” Everything after the birth of Christ, he called “AD,” “Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord.” Of course, the BC years were reckoned backwards from the birth of Christ and the AD years were calculated forward from the birth of Christ. With regard to this new plan of Dionysius, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is he miscalculated the date of Christ’s birth. He missed it by about 5 years and today we’re left with a rather humorous reality that Jesus was born in 5 BC; that Christ was born 5 years before Christ. But of course, the good news is that Dionysius of Rome recognized that Jesus Christ is the focal point of history, and all history centers on Him. Of course, his method of reckoning the years is still practiced today as we measure the years in terms of BC and AD.
Now, there are some people in the world who would probably deny that Jesus Christ is the focal point of history. There’s no one in the world who can deny that Jesus Christ is the focus of the Bible. The whole Bible focuses on Him. All of the books of the New Testament focus on Jesus Christ so the Book of Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ, and the Book of Mark begins with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Book of Luke begins with the birth of Jesus Christ. The Book of John begins with the deity or the divinity of Jesus Christ. The Book of Acts begins with the ascension of Jesus Christ. It’s all about Christ. All of the books of the New Testament center on Christ. It is the New Testament of our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the Old Testament looks and points to Jesus Christ. It points to the promised Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. It’s all about Christ. And why? Why is Jesus Christ SO important?
This Sunday, as we begin Life Lessons from New Testament people, it’s appropriate that we begin with Christ because it’s all about Him. All the people we will examine in the weeks ahead, their lives will be evaluated in the light of Christ, in the light of Jesus. It’s ALL about Christ.
This morning we have three life lessons and these three life lessons all point to why Jesus is so important. The first life lesson is this. Through Jesus Christ alone, we can experience forgiveness. Only through Christ, through Jesus Christ alone, we can experience forgiveness of sin.
In the year 1590, a man named Zacharias Janssen invented the microscope. Of course, through the years others have improved on that invention including Galileo who improved the microscope in the year 1610. Today we have wonderful microscopes and they are very sophisticated and very complex. We have advanced optical microscopes that are able to magnify an object by 2,000 times in normal light and by 3,000 times in ultraviolet light. We have electron microscopes. Electron microscopes are able to magnify an object by 200,000 times. We have ion microscopes that are able to magnify, incredibly, by 2 million times. To give you an example, if you had a grain of sand—an average grain of sand—if it were magnified by 2 million times, it would be four times as large as Coors Field.
Of course, microscopes enable us to see what otherwise we could not see. With microscopes we can examine the world of interspace, the so-called microcosm. We can see atomic structure and sub-atomic structure. Of course, with microscopes we can examine the world of disease, see things that we wish were not there. We can examine bacteria. We can examine viruses. Microscopes are incredible and yet they can only examine the physical. You can’t put your soul in a microscope. There’s no way that a microscope can magnify the spiritual. Who is it that can put your soul under a microscope? Who is it that can examine your soul, see everything hidden, everything? It is God.
“Before God,” the Bible says, “no creature is hidden. Before Him all are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” God sees everything in my soul. God sees everything in your soul. Here’s what the Bible tells us. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” The Bible says, “There’s none righteous, no not one.” The Bible says that, “In the sight of God all of our righteousness is as filthy rags.” We are all sinners. Have you ever thoughts, “Well, maybe I need to do something about that?” I mean, is it of any concern to you that you are indeed a sinner?
You know, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, many people assume that throughout the Roman world Christianity was the big deal but that’s really not true. In those first few centuries, Christianity was growing but it was not the dominant religion throughout the Roman world. That didn’t happen until the 4th century. Some people think maybe it was the Roman pantheon of gods that dominated the religious scene in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries AD but no, they were already on their way out. The religion that was dominating the Roman world in those early centuries was the worship of Mithra. Mithra was the Persian God of Light and the worship is Mithra had spread in the 1st and 2nd centuries to Asia Minor and then across Europe and throughout the Roman world so that Mithra Temples were built everywhere, all through the Roman Empire. Archeologists today can find Mithra ruins of those temples everywhere throughout that Roman world.
Now, in the Hellenized world, in the Greek-speaking world, Mithra was given a title and that title was Soter. That title means, “savior.” Of course, that’s the title given to Jesus Christ in the New Testament. He is called Soter. He is called Savior. There was this battle in those early centuries between Mithraism and Christianity. These two religions struggled for domination, struggled to find supremacy.
Of course, the symbol of Mithra was the bull and the religion surrounding Mithra was all about sin and it was about forgiveness. Bulls were sacrificed in Mithra temples throughout the Roman world and their blood was placed in baptismals and then people would go into Mithra temples and they would get a blood bath. They would literally get a blood bath as they would bath or be baptized in the blood of the bull, hoping that they would find forgiveness of sins. It’s an amazing truth of history that virtually every Mithra temple ultimately became a Christian Church throughout the Roman world. Archeologists can prove that almost every Mithra Temple ultimately was converted to a Christian Church. You can go down to the area beneath the city of Rome and find old Mithra Temples, but in every case they ultimately became Christian Churches. Why? Because people are not forgiven by the blood of bulls. People are forgiven by the blood of Christ.
The Gospel went forth with power. The power of the Holy Spirit attended it and people were converted to Jesus Christ, finding forgiveness of sins. Have you ever come to Christ? He’s the only one who can forgive you of your sins. Buddha did not die for you. He did not die for your sins. Mohammed did not die for you. He did not die for your sins. Jesus died for your sins. He is Soter. He is the Savior. He is the hope of the world.
Did you know that today there are archeological teams searching for something very, very special? They’re searching for one very special object. They are searching in the region of the Dead Sea down by the area of Qumran where the Essene community once thrived. They are searching in the Negev, Southern Israel, the parched barren wilderness there which includes the Judean wilderness. They are searching down into Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula where the Children of Israel once wandered. They are searching in the region of the Tigris and the Euphrates in what was Mesopotamia, in other regions of the Middle East, and they are searching in Asia Minor or what once was Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. They are searching in Northern Africa for this object. They are even searching beneath the city of Rome.
What is it they’re searching for? They’re searching for the Ark of the Covenant. Just like in the movie, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” there are archeological teams searching today for the Ark of the Covenant. You can read about them in Archeological Digest and journals, and it has always been this way since the Ark disappeared in the 6th century before Christ when the Babylonians conquered the city of Jerusalem. The Ark of the Covenant disappeared and through all of the centuries, people have searched for it and they are searching for it today. And why? Why are they searching for the Ark of the Covenant?
Some people search for it because they believe it would be a kind of talisman, that it would have the powers of God attending it. Adolph Hitler once thought that. Others search for the Ark of the Covenant because they want to see what’s inside of it. They want to see the tablets of stone where the Ten Commandments were etched by the power or by the finger of God. Perhaps they’re still there in the Ark, those tablets of stone. Some want to find the staff of Aaron which the Bible tells us was placed into the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron was the founder of the priesthood and the first High Priest of Israel.
Some hope to find within the Ark of the Covenant the ashes of the Red Heifer. In accordance with Numbers, chapter 19, the ashes of the red heifer were critical to the Jewish sacrificial system and according to tradition, those ashes were placed within the Ark of the Covenant. There are some people who think if they can just find the Ark of the Covenant and the ashes of the Red Heifer, they can reinstitute the Jewish sacrificial system. With the Ark of the Covenant, they could reinstitute the Day of Atonement and Yom Kippur, and they could offer the blood of animals upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark, hoping to atone for the sin of the people.
What a tragedy that would be, because God no longer wants our sacrifices. Jesus Christ died once and for all time for all people. If you come to Him, your sin will be forgiven you. You don’t need to make sacrifices for your sin. You don’t need to sublimate sin. You don’t need to repress sin. You don’t need to compensate for sin. You don’t need to feel guilty about sin. You don’t need to punish yourself for sin. You just need to come to Jesus. You need to come to the cross. You need to come to Him and you need to confess your sin. You need to embrace Him as your Savior and your Lord. In that moment, you’ll experience the unbelievable joy of having sins forgiven. No one else can do that for you. The unbelievable joy of having that burden lifted and knowing that all your sin, past, present, future, it’s all forgiven you through Jesus Christ who died in substitutionary atonement, who died for you and who died for me. Why is He so important? Because through Him alone, we experience forgiveness of sin.
There’s a second life lesson and the second life lesson concerning Jesus is this: Through Him alone, we can experience friendship with God. Through Christ alone, through Jesus Christ alone, we can experience friendship with God. No one else can offer you friendship with God.
Down in Florida this past week, I was watching the national news, and they showed a home down in Florida. There was a sign in front of the home and the sign said, “One Charlie, two Francis, three Ivan, four for sale.” Of course, I’ve got to think that that would be true of a lot of homes in Florida, that they’re going to go up for sale. Some of them are going to be a little bit hard to sell. Of course, there’s a tendency for people to refer to hurricanes as acts of God. Sometimes people think of tornadoes as acts of God. They think of lightning strikes as acts of God. Of course, when people think of God that way, they’re not so sure they want to have friendship with God. Most people don’t want to have friendship with a hurricane. But of course, we misunderstand God because God longs to have friendship with us.
Some of you may have heard of Charles William Elliot. Charles William Elliot was the President of Harvard University for an incredible 40 years, from 1869 to 1909. It was during those years that Harvard University built Emerson Hall which became the home of the Philosophy Department. As President Elliot saw the completion of Emerson Hall, he wanted to choose an inscription for the lintel above the main door of this new building that would fit a philosophy department and so Charles William Elliot wrote a letter to William James. William James was of course the renowned and famous psychologist and philosopher. Elliot asked him for a suggestion with regard to this new inscription that would adorn the philosophy building. William James sent back his reply. It was a quote from Protagoras, and it was this: “Man is the measure of all things.” That’s what William James thought should go up on the lentil above the main doors of Emerson Hall. “Man is the measure of all things.”
William James never heard back from President Elliot. He waited weeks. He waited months and never heard back. He thought, “Wow! I wonder if he took my suggestion,” so he traveled to Harvard University to see Emerson Hall and to see what the inscription was above the main door. He was stunned to see that Charles William Elliot had chosen a verse from the Bible, Psalm, chapter 8: “What is man that Thou, oh Lord, are mindful of him.” Isn’t that wonderful? And of course, you think of that Psalm, Psalm 8: “Oh, Lord our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth, Thou whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouths of babes and infants. When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which You have established, what is man that You are mindful of him, mere man that You care for him.”
It is a wonder that God loves us so much, that He longs for friendship with us. It’s a wonder that God cares so much about this kind of messed up biological life form on a distant planet in an insignificant solar system, and one of billions of galaxies that God cares so much and yet God longs to have friendship with each and every one of us. When Jesus died on the cross, you remember the description in the Gospel how when he died… in that moment of His death… the veil, the curtain in the Temple that separated the Holy of Holies and the presence of God from the world, that curtain was torn in two supernaturally in the moment of Christ’s death. No one had been allowed in there but the High Priest and he but once a year but now God was saying, “I want the world to come in. I want friendship with humanity,” and that’s possibly through Christ, and only through Jesus Christ.
There are many names for God in the Bible. There’s El Gabor which means, “the Mighty God.” There’s El Shaddai, sometimes translated as “the Mighty God,” but of course etymologically it means, “God of the mountains.” There’s El Yoram, which means, “God the Exalted.” There are many names for God. Jehovah Jireh or Yahweh Jireh, “the Lord our Provider.” Jehovah M’Kaddesh, “The Lord our Sanctifier.” Jehovah Nissi, “The Lord our Victory, “The Lord our Banner.” There’s Jehovah Rohi, “The Lord our Shepherd” and Jehovah Rophe, “The Lord our Healer.” Jehovah Shalom, “The Lord our Peace.” Jehovah Shammah, “The Lord who is Present,” “The Lord who is There.” Jehovah Tsidkenu, “The Lord our Righteousness.” So, many different names for God and yet Jesus did not use any of them. When speaking of God or when praying to the Father, He never used any of those names. He never used any of those titles. In every case, Jesus just referred to God as “Father.”
In the Greek it is “pater” which means, “Father” or Ho Pater which means, “the Father,” or Pater Moou, which means, “My Father” and yet of course Jesus really didn’t say those Greek words because Jesus didn’t speak Greek. I mean He may have known Greek and the Bible comes to us in Greek but Jesus spoke Aramaic, so Jesus didn’t say “Pater or Ho Pater or Pater Moou. Jesus used an Aramaic word when addressing the Father. We know exactly what that word is because it’s revealed in Mark’s Gospel where it’s transliterated from Aramaic to Greek and it is the word “Abba.” Jesus called God “Abba” from the Aramaic word “Ab” which means, “Father.” Abba can be rendered father or the father or my father. That’s why we have all the different forms of pater. But, you see, linguists and scholars have discovered something else. They’ve discovered that Abba was really a nursery word. I think many of you know this. This was a word that came from the lips of babies and children, the first word that came as they looked up at their dad. It was like “Daddy,” “Abba.” This is the way Jesus referred to God as Abba, Father, Daddy.
The amazing thing when you come to the Bible is that we’re invited, if we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to do the same thing. Isn’t that incredible? If you come to Jesus Christ and you accept Him as your Savior from sin and the Lord of your life—if you will embrace Him, if you’ll make the commitment, He will send His Holy Spirit to reside in you. You will be born anew, “anagennao,” and you will become a child of God. Jesus will be your elder brother and His Father will become your Father and you will become a daughter of God or a Son of God. Abba, as you call Daddy, brought into the family of God. This is the mystery and the miracle of the Gospel and that’s why it goes forth to the nations. Only Jesus Christ offers this kind of intimacy, this kind of friendship with God.
Finally, we have this life lesson from Jesus, and that is that through Him alone, we can experience eternal community. Through Him alone. Only Jesus Christ offers eternal community. Through Christ we can experience forgiveness of sins. Through Christ we can experience friendship with God, and through Christ we can experience eternal community. This is why Jesus is so important. In this crazy world where everything is so volatile and where life seems so insecure… In the aftermath of 9/11 which we remembered yesterday… We look back and the world just doesn’t seem the same, doesn’t seem as safe. What can be more significant that eternal community? Jesus offers this.
I remember in 1973 Barb and I were blessed to go to Europe with my mom and dad and with my brothers and their wives. Our mom and dad paid and that was wonderful. I remember we came to Paris and what an awesome thing it was to see the Cathedral of Notre Dame. We saw it for the first time 31 years ago, the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Beautiful. It is an architectural masterpiece, a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. It is believed by historians that perhaps the Cathedral of Notre Dame contains the first example of flying buttresses. Of course, people from all over the world go just to see the architectural beauty of that structure. Of course, it’s famous historically.
The Cathedral of Notre Dame was built in the 12th century. They began to build it in the 12th century. It took over a hundred years to build it. Of course, so many historical events have taken place inside of that Cathedral. In the year 1430, Henry VI was crowned King of France right there in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. That was during the Hundred Years War when, apart from Joan of Arc, France would have become an English Dominion.
In the year 1558, Mary, Queen of Scots, was married to Francis II right there in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. Of course, in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte took the crown from Pope Pius VII and crowned himself Emperor right there in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. On that same day and in that same place, he put the crown on the head of Josephine and declared her Empress.
In 1944, Charles De Gaulle knelt in prayer right there in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, thanking God for the liberation of France, a liberation which America fought for and paid a great price. God cares about architecture. The Bible is very clear that God actually designed the architecture of the Temple and wanted it to manifest a particular glory. God cares about architecture. God cares about history. God cares greatly about history and of course the Bible I just filled with history. Many of the books of the Bible are books of history, historical narrative. God wants us to learn the lessons of history. But do you know what God cares most about? What God cares most about is His people. This shouldn’t shock you. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you. God cares most about His family. He cares most about this new community called The Church. This is what means more than anything to God. His people called into community.
The gospel is so often misunderstood. In our culture and our time, a lot of people think the Gospel just has to do with salvation and getting people saved. They think it’s all vertical; that it has to do with our relationship with God and it’s just between God and me, a misunderstanding of the Gospel because the Gospel does include those things but the Gospel has a horizontal dimension and it calls people into this new community called the Church. It’s eternal community with eternal relationships. This means everything to God, so He calls us into eternity and into relationship with one another.
A lot of people claim to be Christians but they don’t really come into the community. In many parts of Europe, many parts of Europe, the Christian church is more or less dead. Many Europeans only go to church three times in their lifetime. They go to be baptized or christened when they’re borne and they’re taken for that purpose. They go to church to be married and then they go to church when they want to be buried and have their memorial service. They want the church to hatch them. They want the church to match them. They want the church to dispatch them. They’re not really Christians, just nominal.
We have the same problem here in America where many people just go to church on Christmas and Easter. Most of them are not really Christians. It’s not that you become a Christian by going to church. It’s just that if you are a Christian, you want to go. If you are a Christian, you want to experience the new community. You want to come into this eternal community and experience all of the vitality of these relationships. You want everlasting friends and that’s what the church is called to provide. Only the churches, only through Jesus Christ…
So, at this church we have a small group ministry. Do you realize how core critical this is? It’s hard for big churches sometimes to create these relationships in community but thank God that Mark has such a wonderful ministry. Our small group ministry has 400 small groups and we invite you to come and experience eternal relationships. This is at the heart of the Gospel. This is what Christ calls us to, that you might come and experience this small group ministry.
A few weeks ago, we shared that little video about our dog, Barb’s and my dog, called Puddin’ who is a Yorkshire Terrier. Some of you were here and you saw that little video. Some people were kind of surprised that we had a dog. They say, “Is that your first dog?” The reality is Barb and I have had 20 dogs through the years, partly because we once had two toy poodles, one that was for our daughter Heather and one for our son Drew. They kind of got together. They had two different litters of puppies. Of course, we passed those puppies out to some of our missionaries and to some of you. We’ve had a variety of dogs through the years.
I remember in 1992, Barb and I went to the Dumb Friends League and we got a dog. In retrospect, we realized that we would have to be included in the League of Dumb Friends. This dog was not real good. This dog was a Golden Retriever. Golden Retrievers are generally really good dogs, but this Golden Retriever had an incredible chewing instinct and even liked to chew metal. Barb had some favorite earrings that she had acquired in Asia. They were pearls set in gold. She had set them on the coffee table. We had gone out to lunch. We came back and they were annihilated.
We weren’t there. I don’t know exactly what the Golden Retriever did, but I’d seen her do these kinds of things before and I knew she probably began by kind of sniffing the earrings. She couldn’t smell anything so she knew this required deeper investigation and so she decided to put them into her mouth. I’m sure the pearls just shot out scattered and then she began to just grind on the gold. Barb was kind of devastated because they were her favorite earrings, and yet she wasn’t devastated for very long and it didn’t take her long to get over it because, you know, through the years we’ve kind of learned what’s really important in life. As time goes by, as the years go by, we’re learning what’s really important in life and what really counts. What we’re learning is this. What really counts are our relationships. That’s what really counts. No relationships are more important than eternal ones.
Barb and I, just this last week, had the joy of getting together up in the mountains with some other couples. We got together with one of our inner-city pastors and his wife, one of our elders and his wife and some of our staff couples. The mountains are great but what was really awesome was just laughing together, praying together, fellowshipping and eating together, knowing that our friendships are eternal. That’s treasure. You can experience that in small groups. That’s why Christ has put this whole deal together that we might be able to experience this. And so, Mark has invited you to “The Taste of Small Groups.” I also want to invite you to come out to the Leadership Challenge and to consider leading a small group. We desperately need people who are willing to serve in that way.
A lot of people want to come into a small group and we don’t have enough leaders. This Thursday night at 6: 30 in the Fireside Room, we have a training session. Of course, that same night we also have a wonderful prayer and worship service here in the Worship Center. If you want to come to the prayer and worship service, you can still be a small group leader and go to the Saturday session in the Fireside Room. That begins at 8: 30 AM Saturday morning if you want to be a small group leader.
I know you’ve all read John, chapter 13. In John, chapter 13, we read how Jesus, near the end of His earthly life, girded Himself with a towel and began to wash His disciples’ feet. He began to wash the dirt and the grime, the soil from their feet one by one. As He came to Peter, Peter said, “Lord, you’ll never wash my feet.” Jesus said, “Peter, if I do not wash your feet, you have no part of Me.” Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my face.” Jesus washed all of their feet and then He said, “Do you realize what I’ve done for you? You call Me Master and Lord and you are right for so I am. If I, then, your Master and Lord, have washed your feet, how much more ought you to wash one another’s feet? I’ve given you an example that you should follow in My steps.”
That’s what we’re asking and inviting you to do. Follow in His steps that we might learn to wash one another’s feet and we do that through service. One way we serve is by leading a small group. This is core critical because this is at the heart of the Gospel. Why is Jesus Christ so important? Because He alone, through Him alone, we can experience forgiveness of sins and through Him alone we can experience friendship with God and through Him alone we can experience eternal community. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.