JESUS, BROTHER OF JAMES FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF GREENWOOD 22 AUGUST 2021 REV. GORDON TUBBS

There are quite a few blockbuster movies in the theaters right now that you may be aware of. For a big movie buff like me, it’s nice to have a bunch of options, but that just creates another problem: which one am I going to prioritize seeing over the other. You may be familiar with this problem, it’s known as analysis paralysis. And one proven strategy to solve this problem is to simplify and narrow down your choices to their essential features. In fact there are three ways we normally do this when it comes to movies. The first way is to read the synopsis, the second way is to see what genre the film is, and the third way is to check the critic ratings.

But if you’re on Twitter or social media, you’ve no doubt seen posts of people providing a short synopsis that’s so bad it’s actually good. Take these for example:

Lord of the Rings Trilogy Group spends 9 hours returning a ring to a volcano.

Titanic Rich girl lets a poor boy freeze to death.

Star Wars Saga One family’s dysfunction ruins the galaxy.

Beauty and the Beast Good girl meets a bad boy and thinks she can fix him up. Jaws Big shark bites a small boat. Then they get a bigger boat.

Casablanca Man is torn between a girl and the war-effort.

My Fair Lady Girl learns to speak in an accent to make it in a new town.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory A bunch of children participate in a lethal social experiment.

Now none of these synopses are entirely wrong, but they’re not entirely right either. And if you have your own bad yet good synopsis of a favorite movie, let me know after the service.

At any rate, I think the reason why we like reading the synopsis of a story is because we want to get a basic impression of it before we decide to invest any more time into it. And when I read the New Testament, all I see is one synopsis after another. Each book of the Bible is presenting a synopsis of who Jesus is, as each author is presenting what they think was the most important aspect of the life and teaching of Jesus.

This is why scholars refer to Matthew, Mark, and Luke as “the Synoptic Gospels” - because these gospels provide a proper synopsis of Jesus: biographical information on his background, the biggest events in his life, and the essential teachings that came out of his three years of public ministry. Every other book in the Bible is doing the same thing, just in the unique way the author related to Jesus. The sermon series we’re in right now featuring the Book of James is a great example of this. James is really focused on the practical aspects of following Jesus, not so much the theoretical like Paul focuses on, or the spiritual like John does. But the fact that the New Testament is a mosaic of different perspectives is why it can be difficult to make sense of all of it combined. I mean, you might say the reason why we have different denominations is because each tradition is going through the New Testament and highlighting different verses and passages that they think are really important. Even in our own private Bible studies we do this right? Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is speaking to each of us differently in the way we need to hear his words the most. Some days we need his grace, other days we need his rebuke, but every day we need to hear him.

And one thing I love about the Bible, is that in a few different places we’re given a synopsis of what it’s all about.

In Matthew 22, a Pharisee asks Jesus: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” [and then] 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In this response Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18. The Law and the Prophets spoke about our covenant with God and each other. And as I said the Bible is sprinkled with all sorts of summaries of these things.

Right before delivering the Ten Commandments, God spoke to Moses and said 4 “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Exodus 19:4-6a)

The prophet Micah said “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8, NIV)

In the book of James, he says 26 “If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:26-27, NASB)

I love these little nuggets in the Bible because oftentimes I need things broken down for me like I’m 5 years old. I need people to make a long story short, to be quick and snappy. To just give me the facts. The bottom line up front. The elevator sales pitch version. The abstract. The summary.

But for those of you who have been in a committee or are currently on one, I’m sure you know there’s a big difference between sitting in the meeting as opposed to simply reading the minutes report from that meeting. This always happens to me, because after the fact I think “my goodness how did we spend so much time talking about so few things?”

The opposite seems to be the case for school. For the parents in the room, I’m sure you’ve asked your child “what did you learn in school today?” And for the students in the room, the answer is always “stuff.” Oh yeah, what kind of stuff? Stupid stuff. There are just some things that you can’t condense into a summary. You had to have been there. There’s no way you can describe it to somebody else. If you know you know.

There’s no shortage of stuff like that in the Bible too. We can imagine what the parting of the Red Sea looked like, or how exactly Jesus walked on the water, but we were never there. The information provided in the Bible isn’t exactly descriptive either, but on some level I don’t think it could be. There are a million different ways you could document or describe what it is like to ride a roller coaster, but none of those ways are going to replicate the experience itself - what you feel.

I can imagine what this must have especially been like when discovering the empty tomb. There must have been so much amazement and bewilderment, that it was difficult to convey in writing. This is why perhaps in the Gospels, we have four different versions of the Resurrection narrative. In Matthew there’s two women and an angel sitting on top of the rock at the empty tomb, in Mark there’s three women and the angel is standing beside the rock, in Luke there’s a whole group of women and two angels show up inside the tomb, in John it’s just Mary Magdalene at first.

Each Gospel is providing a synopsis of what actually happened, which is why they all differ on the details. Each author is trying to focus on a different sequence of events or people at different moments. Bear also in mind, these books were written at different times, and so as Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were attempting to reconstruct the events from memory or by interviewing Mary and the other women, it’s likely that some things would’ve been remembered differently over time. But as interesting as that sort of stuff is, none of the Gospels left out the most important part of the story: the empty tomb itself. Paul provides his own synopsis of the story in his first letter to the Corinthian church, in chapter 15 he writes: 1 Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, in which you also stand, 2 by which you also are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas/Peter, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.

Notice here that Paul isn’t beginning his synopsis with his own personal experience of Christ on the road to Damascus, instead he’s beginning with the Resurrection. That’s what is of first importance. For as Paul said in verse 14 “…if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain…”.

And so I want to ask you where the Resurrection is in the synopsis of your faith journey. How would you summarize the Gospel? What would you say to somebody who wanted to know what the Gospel has done in your life? How has the Resurrected Christ made a difference?

I’m sure for many of us, when thinking about a simple version of the Gospel, we turn to the third chapter of John, where we read that “...no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (3:3) and that “...God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (3:16). And these verses are a good place to start, but how does it continue? I only ask because for me, for a very long time, Christianity was simply an intellectual exercise. I studied the scriptures. I sharpened my theology. But all of that gets put to the test when trials and tribulations come your way. It’s one thing to understand the Gospel, but it’s another to preach it during a storm.

And if you can permit me to take a detour for a moment, I think the reason why Christianity is declining in this country is because for too long our culture has reduced the Gospel to three points, which I call the “Churchianity” -- 1. Believe that God exists. 2. Don’t be a jerk. 3. Make it to church on time.

The problem with the Churchianity is that the Resurrection isn’t anywhere in it, and because of that, it will crumble under pressure. When the storms of life rock your boat, going to church loses its appeal because perhaps even for the right reasons you want to stay home and focus on your health and well-being. It’s so easy to lapse into selfish behaviors, and to be a jerk. If the storms of life consisted of somebody doing wrong by you, or mistreating you, or hurting you, then not being a jerk flies out the window.

In a previous relationship of mine that was emotionally and mentally abusive, I thought fighting fire with fire was the best way to get through to the other person. Because I was hurting, I thought the best course of action was to hurt back, so that the other person could feel hurt and realize that they needed to stop hurting me.

By the grace of God, I was able to get through that abusive season and later marry an incredible woman I’m proud to call my wife. And all of the blessings I have in life have not come from Churchianity, but by the real Gospel, which if I can state in three points goes something like this: 1. Christ is risen. 2. We have risen with Him. 3. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Yes, we’re sinners. Yes, Christ died for our sins. But we need to take a cue from Paul and remember what is of first importance, which is the Resurrection. Perhaps then we can remember that other verse in John chapter 3, which is verse 17: “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (NIV). When you reduce the Gospel to the atoning work of a crucified Christ, you miss out on the saving grace of the resurrected Christ.

Why does this matter?

When the storms of life surround you, and a lot of unfair things happen to you, and people hurt you, and you feel so bitter, the Resurrection is proof that none of that is going to hold you down, because it couldn’t hold Jesus down. And when you recognize that “...we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37, NIV) as Paul says, and that we can partake in the power of the Resurrection, there is NOTHING that’s going to prevent us from getting through even the worst seasons of life. No matter what you have done to somebody else in the past, or what they have done to you, or how badly you’ve hurt each other, or how reckless of a life you’ve lived making poor choices, there is a place in the Kingdom for everybody.

The late celebrity chef and travel show host Anthony Bourdain once said this of the food industry: "I love the sheer weirdness of the kitchen life: the dreamers, the crackpots, the refugees, and the sociopaths with whom I continue to work. The professional kitchen is the last refuge of the misfit. It's a place for people with bad pasts to find a new family." Let that and much more be said of the Kingdom of God too.

This congregation is just a small slice of that Kingdom, but since I’ve been here I’ve never known it to be a place where thieves, liars, cheaters, divorcees, college drop-outs, bad students, trouble-makers, narcissists, delinquents, and hypocrites weren’t welcome; yes it doesn’t even matter who you voted for in the last election, or if you’re an armchair expert, or if you drive a gas guzzling truck or an electric car, or if you’re a single parent, or if you’re just single, or if you’re really old or really young. It doesn’t matter who you are, because you’re welcome here.

You see Jesus had this habit of socializing with misfits and outcasts during his ministry, and I’d like to think that today his love would extend to Democrats, Republicans, Marxists, the Taliban, Muslim terrorists, transgender athletes, gay clergy, people who say “Black Lives Matter,” people who say “All Lives Matter,” atheists, skeptics, critics, agnostics, and doubters. The Kingdom of God, which is big enough for sinners like you and me, is also big enough for people that drive you crazy.

The reason why everybody is welcome here is because we believe the power of the Resurrection was not limited to a historical event over 2000 years ago, nor to the grave, but every day in each of our lives. If Jesus defeated death, he can defeat every other dead thing in this life. He can resurrect a dead relationship with a spouse or family member, He can resurrect a dead habit that you’ve fallen out of, He can resurrect a dead project, business idea, or ministry program, or a dead client list, He can resurrect a dead dream to do something big and bold, and most importantly, He can resurrect a dead faith. Remember what James said right? “Faith without works is dead.” But it’s a good thing his brother Jesus isn’t (dead). And because of that, Jesus can get to work in your life if you let him. Paul writes in Romans, chapter 9: 9If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (NIV)

If you profess “the Gospel of Churchianity” and just have a general belief in God, and you’re not trying to be a jerk to other people, and you’re showing up to church on time, then sure - those things can be beneficial to you - but with Churchianity, you’re the lord of your life, not Jesus. It’s only after you profess that Jesus is Lord does the loving power of the Resurrection start working in your life.

The past, current, or future White House administrations aren’t going to make your life better. The governor isn’t going to either. Nor our Congressmen. Nor mayors, nor city council, school superintendents, nor Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, NATO, Dave Ramsey, your therapist, doctor, coach, teacher, nor even your pastor, elder, or deacon.

Jesus is the only person that can and should be the Lord of your life. Your relationship with Him is the only one that’s going to work out, because everybody else is going to let you down, everybody else is going to get on your nerves sooner or later, or not show up when they’re supposed to, or send that text message, or e-mail, or encourage you, or give you a plan, or love you no matter what. I’ve professed that Jesus is Lord because I’ve come to the realization that in order to be the best man I can be, the best husband, and father, and pastor, then Jesus has to be the lord of my life. I’ve also learned from experience that the best kind of attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors to have are the Christ-like ones. The best way to overcome ‘cancel culture’ is with a culture of grace. The best way to lead somebody is to serve them. The best way to change a community is to make disciples. And the best way to process all the baggage in your life is to go to God in prayer.

Amen?