January 7, 2007

What They Believe

What They Believed

Matthew 2:1-12

Opening Words: Did you know five different cults advertise within the local AT&T Yellow Pages? They are the Jehovah’s Witness, the Seventh Day Adventism, Baha’i, the Christian Scientists and the Mormons. By definition they are cults because their theology runs contrary to orthodox Christian teachings. It does not mean they are bad people. They may have some admirable traits. It only means their theology is poor. Do you know what they believe? Perhaps, a better question is this one. Do you know what you believe? One of the reasons you come to church is to learn some basic Christian theology. How much theology have you learned lately?

This morning I begin a brand new sermon series. I have called it What They Believe. We begin this new series on this Epiphany Sunday with the traditional story for the day, the story of the Magi. It is found in the first twelve verses in the second chapter of Matthew. Let me call this message this morning What They Believed.

Matthew 2:1-12

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
⁶" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.

⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

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I take God the Father to be my chief end and highest good.

I take God the Son to be my prince and Savior.

I take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.

I take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions and the people of God to be my people under all conditions.

I do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all I am, all I have, and all I can do.

And this I do deliberately, freely, and forever.

Those words were originally written by Philip Henry. (His son Matthew wrote the great Bible commentary which carries his name.) I enjoy these words because his theology is so clear and accurate. If you were asked to write down your theological understanding of God what would you say? How clear and accurate would your words be?

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Theology is practical: especially now...If you do not learn theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones.” Perhaps, that quote is for our age? Our theology is extremely poor. The Biblical standard has been replaced by personal opinions and ideas, all in the name of political correctness. The end result is we live in a time of spiritual impotency. People who look nice and sincere can tell us anything and we believe it. Why? Because, we just don’t know any better. We don’t even know what we believe. I believe that is why cults are growing in our area and I have grown tired of it. The time has come to do something before one more soul is lost. But, what can be done?

In the next few weeks we are going to look at five cults that exist within our area. I am going to tell you what they believe and I am going to tell you why they are wrong. We are going to do this by looking at the truth. In other words, we are going to learn some basic Christian theology. These teachings did not originate with me. They have been taught by the church for generations. They are teachings that are rooted in the Bible, itself. These truths are eternal. So students if you are ready for your systematic theology class to begin say, “Amen!” So where do we begin?

Everyone open your textbook (the Bible) to the first twelve verses in the second chapter of Matthew. If you have read your assignment ahead of time you know it is the story of the Magi. We are comfortable with this story because we visit it annually on epiphany Sunday. Epiphany means “manifestation.” Epiphany is the liturgical season when we celebrate the fact Christ came for all people, not just the Hebrew people.

Throughout the ages the church has fallen in love with this story. Tradition tells us many things about the Magi. Tradition tells us there were three in their group, kings from modern day Iran. Tradition tells us their names, appearance and the gift the brought the Master. Melchior was old and grey. He gave Jesus the gold, a gift for a king. Caspar was young. He gave Jesus the frankincense, a gift for a priest. Balthasar was worldly. He gave Jesus the myrrh, a gift for one who was going to die. Tradition tells us so much but traditional teaching can only be trusted to a point. What does the Bible say?

The Bible says they had poor theology. What they believed was wrong. They were not Biblical scholars. They were astrologers. They knew the birth of Jesus was special but they were wrong about everything else. They thought Jesus came to be a political king. That is why they went to the capitol city of Jerusalem but Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Jesus wasn’t born in a palace. He was born in a barn. They should have talked to the commoners but they spoke to the king. I am sure the Magi were nice people but their theology was poor. They didn’t know their Bible. Verse four it was the people’s chief priest and teachers of the law that pointed them in the right direction. Beyond our reading in verse 16 we discover their Biblical ignorance caused the death of countless baby boys. Biblical ignorance is a serious matter.

However, this does not mean the Magi has nothing to say to us. What I respect most about the Magi is that they admitted they were wrong. They admitted they didn’t know. They admitted they had some things to learn. They fixed the whole in their theology and experienced Jesus for themselves. Are you able to admit when you are wrong? Perhaps, you will experience Jesus for yourself for the first time? And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”

I love the story of George Riddell. In the early 1900s he acquired the sensational London newspaper, The News of the World. One day he met the respected British journalist Frederick Greenwood. Riddell mentioned to Greenwood that he owned the newspaper, told Greenwood its name, and offered to send him a copy. The next time they met, Riddell asked Greenwood what he thought of The News. Fredrick Greenwood responded this way. "I looked at it and then I put it in the wastepaper basket, and then I thought, 'If I leave it there the cook may read it,' so I burned it." That wasn’t the answer that Riddell wanted to hear. He got his feelings hurt because he couldn’t handle the truth. Can you handle the truth?

God has entrusted your soul to me so let me tell you the truth. Your Biblical ignorance is shocking. This year we will celebrate forty years as a church. In the last four decades this congregation has spent a lot of time and money trying to grow mature Christians. We are in the disciple making business! Let me be honest. There is not a lot to show for your investment. They truth is we know very little Bible. We know about the history of this isolated congregation. We know church rules, how to borrow tables and chairs. We know people, friends and enemies. We know how to express our own opinions and ideas but what we really don’t know is Bible. That truth has frustrated our progress. Our Biblical ignorance is the reason we have not reached our full potential. We still have people who believe salvation comes from acknowledging that God exists. We still have people who are trying to earn salvation by doing good works. If that is your understanding of God then let me tell you the truth. You are wrong. It is time to get out of your spiritual diapers and grow up. It is time to fix your theology. The salvation of your soul depends on it. God has entrusted your soul to me so in the next few weeks we are going to learn some Biblical truths as we disarm the cults with our own community. And when we are all done I hope that Philip Henry’s words can become your words.

I take God the Father to be my chief end and highest good.

I take God the Son to be my prince and Savior.

I take God the Holy Spirit to be my sanctifier, teacher, guide, and comforter.

I take the Word of God to be my rule in all my actions and the people of God to be my people under all conditions.

I do hereby dedicate and devote to the Lord all I am, all I have, and all I can do.

And this I do deliberately, freely, and forever.

And all of God’s people said, “Amen!”