April 13, 2008

Lesson: Mark 12.29

(Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to Sermons for 2007-2008)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

INTRODUCTION:

We were thoroughly confused. While transcribing medical audiotapes, my co-worker came upon the following garbled diagnosis: "This man has pholenfrometry."

Knowing nothing about that particular condition, she double-checked with Doctor Mike Wilson. After listening to the tape, he shook his head.

"This man," he said, translating for her, "has fallen from a tree."

1. This is called Transcribing Confusion ⁽¹⁾

1. It is not uncommon.

2. It can only be corrected by someone who has the capacity to see the tree.

2. The same is true in the story titled: Giuseppe Spomdalucc ⁽²⁾

To impress his date, the young man took her to a very chick Italian restaurant. After sipping some fine wine, he picked up the menu and ordered. "We'll have the Giuseppe Spomdalucci," he said.

"Sorry, sir," said the waiter. "That's the owner."

1. It is necessary to be able to read.

2. Reading a foreign menu requires some prior training and skill.

(Top)  (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to Sermons for 2007-2008)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

MAIN BODY

1. This is also true with the scriptures.

   1. What does the Word say?

   2. Why does it say it?

   3. What do we gain from understanding and applying it?

2. To help sometimes we turn to the old creedal statements.

   1. We read for a Call to Worship the Nicene Creed.

   1. If you go to www.creeds.net/ancient/nicene you will be thrust into the center of the controversy that raged in the 4^th Century.

   2. In A.D. 312, Constantine won control of the Roman Empire in the battle of Milvian Bridge.

   1. Attributing his victory to the intervention of Jesus Christ, he elevated Christianity to favored status in the empire.

   2. "One God, one Lord, one faith, one church, one empire, one emperor" became his motto.

   3. The new emperor soon discovered that "one faith and one church" were fractured by theological disputes, especially conflicting understandings of the nature of Christ, long a point of controversy.

   1. Arius, a priest of the church in Alexandria, asserted that the divine Christ, the Word through whom all things have their existence, was created by God before the beginning of time.

   2. Therefore, the divinity of Christ was similar to the divinity of God, but not of the same essence.

   3. Arius was opposed by the bishop, Alexander, together with his associate and successor, Athanasius.

   1. They affirmed that the divinity of Christ, the Son, is of the same substance as the divinity of God, the Father.

   2. To hold otherwise, they said, was to open the possibility of polytheism, and to imply that knowledge of God in Christ was not final knowledge of God.

   4. To counter a widening rift within the church, Constantine convened a council in Nicaea in A.D. 325.

   1. A creed reflecting the position of Alexander and Athanasius was written and signed by a majority of the bishops.

   2. Nevertheless, the two parties continued to battle each other.

   3. In A.D. 381, a second council met in Constantinople.

   4. It adopted a revised and expanded form of the A.D. 325 creed, now known as the Nicene Creed.

   2. The Athanasian Creed

   1. The Athanasian Creed is named after St. Athanasius, a staunch defender of the Christian faith in the fourth century.

   2. It was prepared to assist the Church in combating two errors that undermined Bible teaching.

   1. One error denied that God's Son and the Holy Spirit are of one being or Godhead with the Father.

   2. The other error denied that Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person.

   3. The Athanasian Creed continues to serve the Christian Church as a standard of the truth.

   4. It declares that whoever rejects the doctrine of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ is without the saving faith.

   5. The Creed reads:

Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold to the true Christian Faith.

Whoever does not keep this faith pure in all points will certainly perish forever.

Now this is the true Christian faith:

We worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God,
without mixing the persons or dividing the divine being.

For each person--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--is distinct,

but the deity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one,
equal in glory and coeternal in majesty.

What the Father is, so is the Son, and so is the Holy Spirit.

The Father is uncreated, the Son uncreated, and the Holy Spirit uncreated;

The Father is eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal;

Any yet they are not three who are eternal, but there is one who is eternal,

just as they are not three who are uncreated, nor three who are infinite,

but there is one who is uncreated and one who is infinite.

In the same way the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit is almighty;

And yet they are not three who are almighty, but there is one who is almighty.

So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God;

And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.

So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord;

yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.

For just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually to be God and Lord,

so the true Christian faith forbids us to speak of three Gods or three Lords.

The Father is neither made not created, nor begotten of anyone.

The Son is neither made nor created, but is begotten of the Father alone.

The Holy Spirit is neither made nor created nor begotten,

but proceeds from the Father and the Son.

So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.

And within this Trinity none comes before or after; none is greater or inferior,

but all three persons are coequal and coeternal,

so that in every way, as stated before, all three persons are to be worshiped as one God

and one God worshiped as three persons.

Whoever wishes to be saved must have this conviction of the Trinity.

(Top)  (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to Sermons for 2007-2008)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

3. Christianity is accused of polytheism.

1. This is the belief in more than one God.

   1. Muslim: "Allah is the "One and Only."

   1. Muslims believe in one God.

   2. This is monotheism.

   2. Jews: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one."

   1. Jews believe in one God.

   2. This is monotheism.

   3. Christians believe in one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

   1. Some say that this is polytheism.

   2. Not one God, but three.

4. As Nicaea and Athanasius attempt to point out there is equality of personhood in the Trinity.

   1. This is biblical and is in the mind of Jesus as he answers the question of the scribe.

   1. The question is "What commandment is first of all?"

   2. Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one..," (Mark 12:29, NRSVA).

   2. God is three in one.

   1. The answer to the scribe's question is unity.

   2. The answer to the scribe's question is love.

   3. It is love that creates the unity in the Trinity.

5. Jesus revealed the thoughts, words and actions of God.

   1. One of the Questions of the Minister that was responded to on August 30, 1998 was:

"What's this all about--this thing called living... "What is God's purpose for mankind other than being a good steward to the creation?"

1. What is God's purpose?

   1. Design.

   2. Creation.

   3. Sustentation.

   4. Restoration.

2. What is the purpose of Christianity?

   1. The purpose of Christianity is to restore in men, woman, and children the image of God.

   2. How is this going to be done?

   3. We have the model of the Trinity.

   1. We are not monotheists.

   2. We are not polytheists.

   3. We are Trinitarians.

   4. We are not Unitarians.

   5. We are Trinitarians.

   6. We have a God given model of trust and cooperation and growth.

3. Jesus, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit are One.

2. The exercise of force is contrary to principles of God's government.

   1. Wednesday evening, during our Bible study we finished 1 John and read these words:

¹⁸We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. ¹⁹We know that we are God's children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. ²⁰And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life, (1 John 5:18-20, NRSVA).

2. Jesus Christ is true God and eternal life.

3. The whole world lies under the power of the evil one.

   1. We know who the evil one is.

   2. The evil one has many names that invoke a level of concern or anxiety.

4. Jesus and Peter in the Garden illustrate the exercise of love.

⁵¹Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. ⁵²Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?" (Matthew 26:51-54, NRSVA).

1. Jesus before Pilate demonstrates the exercise of love.

³³Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" ³⁴Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" ³⁵Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" ³⁶Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here," (John 18:33-36, NRSVA).

3. The exercise of love is the power of God for the transformation of all of life.

³⁴I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another," (John 13:34-35, NRSVA).

4. Jesus came to reveal the one we call Father

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried aloud: "Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. ⁴⁷I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸The one who rejects me and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have spoken will serve as judge, ⁴⁹for I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me," (John 12:44-50, NRSVA).

1. Jesus speaks for himself, the Father and the Spirit.

2. They are in accord.

5. The Holy Spirit speaks for the Father, for Jesus, and for himself.

¹³Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come. ¹⁴He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. ¹⁵All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you, (John 16:13-15, KJV).

(Top)  (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to Sermons for 2007-2008)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)

CONCLUSION:

1. The reason why we are reminded that the love is foundational is that it is.

   1. There is nothing greater than love.

   1. ²⁸One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

   2. ²⁹Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' ³¹The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'

   3. There is no other commandment greater than these," (Mark 12.28-31, NRSVA).

   2. You shall love the Lord your God.

Dan Johnson tells of studying with a well-known biblical scholar in Cambridge, England. ⁽³⁾

One day Dan asked him, "What is the rock-bottom essence of the Christian life?"

The scholar replied: "I think I have found it. It sounds much too simple, but I am convinced of its merit. It is found in an old song whose chorus goes like this: 'Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."

3. Love, trust and obey.

Amen!

1. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

2. Pastor Tim [posts@cybersaltlists.org]

3. --Neglected Treasure: Rediscovering the Old Testament
(Wilmore, Kentucky: Bristol Books, 1989), 53.

(Top)  (Back to Study Home Page)   (Back to Sermons for 2007-2008)
(Back to Sermons Home Page)   (Back to Shultz Home Page)