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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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First Sunday After Easter |
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April 15, 2007 Luke 24:36-49 Christ Interprets the Bible We can all read the Bible. That is no difficult task. And we all know what the Bible says. Our problems begin when we try to determine what the Bible means. The difficulty is made painfully obvious by the myriad of interpretations which prevail. And Christians divide over the interpretation of Scripture. That is why there are so many denominations, or churches, in the world today. Each one has separated from the other bodies over biblical interpretation. Even within denominations we can find a variety of interpretations, and some have made “diversity” of interpretation a badge of honor, almost a sacrament. One minister has said that when faced with a choice between heresy and division, choose heresy every time. That is almost always the view of denominational leaders facing division in their flocks. So, our issue for this morning is the burning question, what does the Bible mean? For the answer I turn to our Gospel Lesson for today, to find there Christ’s interpretation of the Bible. Allow me to preface the subject with a brief comment on the way we gain understanding of the Bible. We gain our understanding the same way the disciples gained theirs. We see it in Luke 24:45 where the Bible tells us Christ opened their understanding. Have you ever wondered why you can show people the plain teachings of Scripture, even quoting or reading the very words of it to them, yet they clearly do not get it? They may even openly reject it. The reason is simple, their understanding has not been opened. It takes a work of grace, a special work of the Holy Spirit of God to give understanding. Until that happens, the things of God, including the meaning of Scripture are foolishness to them. Remember that even the apostles had no understanding of the Messiah and His mission up to this very moment in Scripture. So pray for grace when reading the Bible. Pray that God will open your understanding so that you may know what the Bible means, and, thereby, know what you are to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of you. Now let us see what Jesus says the Bible means. First, the Bible teaches that Jesus had to die and rise from the dead on the third day (Lk. 24:46). It is so very important to take God on His terms instead of ours. Yet we are amazingly clever at convincing ourselves that our views of who God is and how He ought to act, really are who God is and how He ought to act. We get a certain notion in our minds, perhaps from our ideas of what we want from God, or some silly and shallow “religious book”, or just from what we wish life and the world and God would be like, and we convince ourselves our view is the truth. The problem with this is that when reality intrudes on us, and we find that God has not created the perfect home, or family, or church, or job, like we thought He was supposed to do, our faith is thrown into a crisis. I have seen the faith of many, many people crushed by reality because they expected God to build a perfect little private world for them, where pain and sacrifice and cross-bearing discipleship would not be required of them. Some of these people, if they have not left the faith, are living in despair and anger and defeat, and are only one short step away from complete apostacy. So it is very important that we understand what God says about Himself and His relationship to us, and that we accept him on His terms instead of ours. The apostles wanted a military messiah to lead a campaign against the Romans in particular, and Gentiles in general. That was their interpretation of the Bible. But Jesus said the Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches that the Messiah would suffer and die and rise from the dead, and they must take Christ as He really is, not as they think they want Him to be. Next, Jesus says the Bible teaches that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name (Lk. 24:47). This is so important because it means that the mission of the Messiah was to rescue sinners. That is the biblical teaching. He did not come to be a military leader, a politician, a revolutionary, a social worker, or a faith healer. He had many opportunities to become all of these things, and he rejected them every time. I know He often healed the sick and feed the hungry, but that was never His primary mission, and every time people tried to make Him a king or a healer or a food source He rejected it. His mission was to save His people from their sins through His vicarious suffering and death on the cross. This teaching of the Bible has two major implications for the Church. First, it means our primary task is not to be a military power, revolutionary force, social worker, healer, educator, or feeder of the poor and hungry. There are many who think the task of the church is to do these things. But Jesus did none of them primarily. They were always secondary to His real mission of saving His people. Therefore, His Church is to find its primary task, in our relationship to the world, preaching repentance and remission of sins in the name of Christ. In other words, we are to preach the Gospel. Notice I said this is our primary task in our relationship to the world. Of course the real purpose and work of the Church is first and foremost to be the people of God. We are to love, serve, and worship Him. Part of our service is preaching the Gospel. But as far as our relationship to the world goes, preaching the Gospel is first. We are not a social service organization, political action committee, school, hospital, or charity organization. We can use these things to share the love of Christ. We can use these things to open doors. But they can never become our primary focus. For we have done a person no good if we give him the world, but allow him to enter eternity without hearing the Gospel of the Son of God who came into the world to redeem sinners. There is a story about a young and popular minister from Virginia who was called to the ministry of a large and wealthy congregation in a northern city. It happened that the congregation was accustomed to “sermons” that dealt with social and political issues rather than the Gospel of Christ and the meaning of Scripture. It was the middle of the 1800s, and the nation was dividing over sectionalism, and the northern sentiments of his congregation called for him to speak out against the South, especially his native state. Yet he resisted, preferring instead to expound the message of the Bible passage for the day. One day the news reached his city that Virginia had seceded from the Union. “Now,” said the congregation, swelled with the seldom seen who gathered simply to hear what the parson would say on this day, “now he will leave off his Bible stories and talk politics.” They were disappointed. The Reverend Doctor led the congregation in the worship of God, and opened the Bible and preached a plain, old fashioned Gospel sermon. That is the message we preach. I do not say we should never address the situation in which we and the world live. I do say this should be done in a way that sheds the light of Scripture on our human situation, not as a sensational way to tickle the ears of people. We are ambassadors for Christ. Our eternal message is repentance and remission of sins in His name. God help us to be faithful. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Ghost. Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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