Sermon: "The Two Jesus' of Scripture"

3rd in the "Set Your Watch" series.
Delivered January 18, 2009 by Paul Borden.
Sermon Text: John 17:1-5

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[Rev. John Schmidt] Well, we have what's becoming a tradition at this church: about once a decade we invite Paul Borden to come and join us and to poke his nose into our business and give us a sense of what we ought to be doing actually. We did this first in 1990 when he came and gave some leadership to our session, then we asked him again in 2000, and again we found that the help God gave through him set us in some strong direction that we lived out for a period of about eight years.

And so we felt like we were at a time again that we needed to get a little bit of outside perspective, a little bit of expertise, somebody to shake our cage a little bit, and draw us back into what the core purpose of the church is. And we looked at all kinds of consultants, and again God lead us to Paul.

Now that's not his day job. He does a wonderful job of helping individual churches like this, but his actual title is "Executive Minister of Growing Healthy Churches for the American Baptist Churches of the West." Now that's equivalent to our General Presbyter in the Presbyterian system, but what I like about his title is that it talks about him being a minister whose calling is to help healthy churches grow. And I think that's what makes it uniquely helpful, is that sort of designation if you live into it.

And we feel like Paul has been that sort of person for us for this last week, helping us live into what it means to be a growing and healthy church. So Paul is going to be bringing the Word to us today, and I'd like to pray for him right now before he does.

Lord, we thank you for giving the gifts to Paul that he has. We thank you that you use him in so many ways in so many churches, and so now, Lord, we pray that you will give him wisdom as he opens the Word to us, that you'll open our ears so that we will hear what you want to say to us. For we ask it in Jesus' name, Amen.

[Paul Borden] Thank you. I've enjoyed coming back. It's been fun to watch what God is doing in your congregation over a period of 20 years, and it's a unique privilege that I have, and I just want to tell you what a great... you already know it... but what a great congregation this is, what great pastors you have, and it has been a joy for us to spend some time this weekend with your leadership.

Now the one thing I am sad about, I wasn't able to introduce to you my wife, Theresa. I'm married to a very beautiful woman. Now I know all husbands say that, but I can prove it. When we walk through an airport, a hotel, some place where there's a lot of public, they all walk up to her, at least some individual does and says this almost every time, "Has anyone told you that you look like Sophia Loren?"

Now looking at me you know I married up. Okay, I mean, that's the case. Now when we're going out for that special event, banquet, a date, whatever, something special, and as all women do she disappears to get ready. She comes out... the dress is perfect, the hair is awesome, the accessories just match perfectly, her eyes sparkle. I look at her and I say, "You know, image is everything." And she laughs, and I laugh because she knows that image without essence, truth, reality is hypocritical. But we also know that if you have the truth, the essence, the reality, and there's no image, it seldom accomplishes much.

That's why companies spend billions and billions of dollars if they believe they have a good product to communicate an image. So we are told if we buy a certain truck, it's Ram tough. We buy a golf ball that has a swoosh on it with the image that when it is hit it will fly higher and further and straighter, just like Tiger's does. Now that's not true, but that's an image. If we buy the right insurance we get a piece of the Rock.

Image, you see, is a way of picturing the future. It's a way of picturing hope. It's what the Bible calls vision, and God understands that vision is crucial. The Bible says there is three grand ideas in Scripture: love, faith, and hope. Of these three, Paul says that love is the most important because it talks about our relationship with God, his relationship with us, our relationship with each other. The writer of the book of Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please God.

But what's interesting is that people can live without love, people can live without faith, but people cannot live without hope, without an image of something that is better. We have learned that those who survived the Nazi death camps (obviously those who were killed had no choice in the matter), but those other prisoners who were part of that infrastructure who survived were the ones who still had an image of a concert that was yet to be played, a book that was yet to be written, a grandchild that was yet to be hugged. And it was that image, that picture, that vision that kept them going.

Last August, we all suffered through that orgy of athletics called the Olympics. And we heard story after story after story of people we had never heard of before, who for years have trained and gone through great hardship and disciplined themselves because there was an image that when they competed in Beijing and their event was over, they could stand on the platform and someone would put a gold, a silver, or a bronze medal around their neck. It was that image, it was that vision that kept them going.

Now as I work with churches, I find that Christians have different kinds of visions of what Jesus wants, of what the Church should be, of what God is demanding. When I'm working with a smaller congregation, often I'll go into a congregation of 40, 50, 60 people, the average age will be about 70 or 72. Their vision for their church is that when they die, the church will be viable enough that they can have their funeral there. Not a great vision. I do remind them it takes several to carry a casket. So who's going to turn the light out?

You come to a church like Central, however, a church where God is doing awesome things and here everybody has a vision. You've got about 700 different visions of what Central should be. We've heard a bunch of them. But there's something that the small church, and the healthy effective growing church have in common, and that's this: That often the vision, the image, the picture that God has for us, we see an incomplete one, and because it's incomplete, we don't often accomplish what God wants us to achieve.

And so what I want to share with you this morning is that vision. To do that I want to take you to what many call the real Lord's Prayer. The prayer that Jesus prayed the night he was in the garden before he was killed. It's found in John 17, and in that prayer, as Jesus not only prays for the disciples and he prays for us, he prays for himself. And he says of his father, will you do two things for me? Look at verse 1 of chapter 17 of the Gospel of John.

"After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: 'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you.'" Jesus' father? Will you glorify me?

Now the word he uses here for glorify means basically, will you cause people to know me? Will you cause people to love me? Will you enable people to respect me? Will you lift me up as a person? Theresa and I have five grandchildren, all of whom are exceptional. We have a first grader reading at the fifth-grade level. Now when I brag to you about my grandchildren I'm glorifying them.

Some of you have told me about the great defense the Ravens have. When you brag about your team you're glorifying it. When you say to someone, "That's a great book, you need to go to that concert, that's an awesome movie," you're bringing glory to that book or to that concert or to that movie. And that's what Jesus is saying, "Father, glorify me. Have people know me, love me, respect me."

I don't know if you've ever thought about it, but when Jesus was here on earth, lived for thirty-some years, dies on the cross, raises from the dead, goes back to heaven, when he goes back to heaven there's probably only about five to ten thousand people at the most who were some kind of a follower of Jesus Christ. But twenty-one centuries later, Christianity is still the largest faith in the world. If you could take all six billion people in the world and put them in one place, sociologists say if you say, "How many of you are followers of Jesus?" As opposed to Islam or Hinduism or whatever, two billion people would raise their hand more than any other group and say, "We're followers of Jesus."

Christianity is still the fastest growing faith in the world. Missiologists tell us that 70,000 people a day in Latin America become followers of Jesus Christ. In China, every three days two churches with two to five hundred people start. Missiologists now say that Africa, south of the Sahara, is considered a Christian continent. Do you realize that when you get to heaven, when I get to heaven, we're going to be in heaven with billions and billions of people who over now 21 centuries have been followers of Jesus Christ?

I often run into Christians who say, "I don't like large churches." So I say, "I guess you don't want to go to heaven, because heaven is one mega, mega church." Because Jesus said, "Father, will you glorify me?" And the Father answered that request.

Now the second thing Jesus asked of the Father is found in verse 5. Look with me at that. "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began." In essence what Jesus is saying is, "Father, give me back my glory." Very interesting request. Now again, I'm not sure if you've thought about it, but when we read the gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, John - we're never told what Jesus looks like. We don't know if he was short or tall. We don't know if his features were fine or coarse. We don't know the color of his eyes, his hair, or the size of his ears. We don't know what he looked like.

But you know, I know what Jesus looks like. I've seen the pictures. He was constantly posing. For example, look at this picture. Isn't it nice the way they all got behind the table? You can just hear the photographer, "Crowd in guys, we got to get you all in the frame."

Or look at this picture; oh we've all seen something like. I grew up in a church where behind the pastor every Sunday was this great big picture of Jesus, kind of had long, California, surfer hair. You know, well groomed sheep in his arms, a nice sheep around his feet. That was Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Or look at this one, I think this was a Polaroid that was just snapped.

Then we've all seen this picture of Jesus.

Now you know, and I know, that most of these pictures were painted by artists in the 14, 15, 16 hundreds. And they really weren't painting what Jesus looked like, what they were painting was their image of Jesus, their understanding of Jesus.

Now if you put all of these pictures together, I need that vision of Jesus. I need that image of Jesus. This morning we have sung about God Almighty, the great God, the glorious God, the God that is beyond comprehension and that's wonderful, but I have a hard time relating to that God. That's why God in the person of Jesus Christ is both human and God came to earth in human flesh. Somebody I could identify with, somebody I could think about, somebody I could see that was hungry, somebody that got tired, someone I could identify with. I need that image of Jesus.

The older you get the more you realize that life is unfair, that life is unjust. When the injustices of life hit me, I want that image of Jesus as my shepherd, who leads me beside still waters, who takes me into green pastures, who brings his arms of comfort around me. This picture of Jesus... I need, because this picture reminds me that Jesus, when he hung on that cross took my penalty, paid for my sins, provided me a way to have life with the eternal God. I need that image of Jesus. But if these are the only images of Jesus we have, that's an incomplete one.

Do you know the Bible does tell us what Jesus looks like? We're given a description. Follow along and look as I read from the book of Revelation. "I turned around to see that voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands and among the lampstands was someone "like a son of man," dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.

His head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance."

I seldom think of Jesus looking like this. I seldom think of Jesus with white hair. I seldom think of Jesus with a face that shines like the sun. I seldom think of Jesus with eyes that blaze like burning coals. I seldom think of Jesus with feet glowing like bronze out of a furnace. But Jesus said to his father, "Father, give me back my glory." Do you realize that now for close to 21 centuries Jesus hasn't looked like most of the pictures we have? Instead Jesus might look something like this.

Now, I seldom think of Jesus like this. I seldom think of this image. I seldom think of this vision, but Jesus said, "Father, give me back my glory." And just like the Father answered Jesus' first request, he answered the second one. Now, when John saw Jesus looking something like this, he was in the middle of a circle of seven candlesticks. Each candlestick had a candle in it and each candle was lit. And Jesus said to John, "Each one of those candles represents a local congregation." John had probably visited all those congregations. He had probably preached in all of those congregations.

He said, "John, I want you to write a letter to each and every one of those congregations, and here's what I want you to tell them: that as long as those congregations serve me, do what I want them to do, their candle will stay lit. But if they don't do what I want them to do, I will take their candle and I will blow their candle out." Very interesting.

Christianity is still the largest faith in the world. It's the fastest growing faith in the world, but there are three places where the Church of Jesus Christ is dying. And those three places are in the continents most touched by the Protestant Reformation: Europe, North America, and Australia and New Zealand. Do you know in our nation, on the weekend, less than 20% of the population goes to any church? Church attendance has been on the decline for thirty years. Three thousand congregations a year die in the United States.

You're in a main-line denomination that's dying. I belong to a main-line denomination that's dying. All the main-line denominations are dying. I believe the reason they're dying is that the Lord of the Church is saying to these churches, these denominations, "You're not doing what I want, and I will take your candle and I will [blow] it out." Because the glorified, resurrected Lord wants the Church to pursue his vision.

You see, this image of Jesus shows him as a judge, but this image of Jesus also shows something else, it shows him as the king of the universe. And I don't know about you, but I'll follow this Jesus anywhere, because this Jesus is turning countries upside down for his name. This Jesus is turning continents upside down for his name, because he did say, "I will build my church and I will build the kingdom."

Your church has a passion, a heart to change the city of Baltimore. I want to share with you another congregation somewhat like yours that has a similar passion. The First Baptist Church of San Francisco started in 1849, it's the true 49ers. If you'd gone there in 1943 you would have worshipped on a Sunday with over a thousand people, but by 1998 the church was in the process of dying, and God was getting ready to blow out its candle.

It was about 200 people, most of them didn't even live in the city. They would drive in every Sunday, worship God, lock the building, fill the moat with alligators so hopefully nobody would touch the building. And to their credit, these people were confronted with this. "You are running this church for you, which is very selfish, and if that's what you're doing, God is going to blow your candle out, but if you are willing to join the glorified, resurrected Lord and realize that he put this congregation here to take the city of San Francisco for Jesus Christ, God may again bless your congregation."

To their credit, these people said, "That's what we want." They repented, they got a pastor in who understood that he didn't come to be the pastor of First Baptist Church of San Francisco, he became the pastor to San Francisco. Within four years the church was running between five and six hundred people, and they were reaching out to the city. And on one Saturday, their church with... in conjunction with a whole bunch of other churches, hung door hangers on three-quarters of the residents' apartments in San Francisco that said, "The churches of San Francisco are praying for you." That night they had a big rally, thousands of Christians showed up.

They had invited the mayor of San Francisco to come. At that time the mayor of San Francisco was a very famous west coast politician called Willie Brown. When Willie Brown was invited to come, his advanced people said, "Mayor Brown will come to your event, and give whatever it is you want to give him, but when he walks into the building, if you're doing anything religious... stop it. He will come up to the platform; you will make your presentation, and then whatever you do, don't pray for him." They said, "Okay."

The meeting was going on, they were singing praise choruses, Mayor Brown and his entourage walked into the building, and they stopped. He came up to the platform and Phil Busby, the pastor at First Baptist San Francisco, said, "Mayor Brown, I'm here representing many of the churches of San Francisco. Over the years we have put the city down, we have talked badly about the city, and we have talked badly about the politicians." He said, "We want to ask your forgiveness for that. And we are here to tell you tonight we love the city."

"And one of the reasons why we love the city is because God loves this city, and we want to show you God's love. So we have something for you." And they handed Mayor Brown an envelope. When he opened the envelope, in it was a check for $50,000 for women and children affected with AIDS. When Mayor Brown looked at the check the first words out of his mouth were, "Praise God." And then he looked at the pastor standing there. He said, "Would you gather around and pray for me?" They prayed for him, and then Mayor Brown said this. He said, "I was driving into the city today, it was a bright sun-shiny day, but it was like there was a cloud over the city, and now it's like I see hope."

Who does that? It's the glorified, resurrected Lord who calls us to follow him, to reach out to our communities, to reach out to the world for which he died and say, "Follow me." You see, I need both images of Jesus, the one who saved me, the one who loves me, the one who cares for me, but I also need the image of the glorified, resurrected Lord that is calling Central Presbyterian Church to say, "Follow me, and let's take Baltimore for Jesus Christ." I need a complete image of Jesus Christ.

Will you bow with me in prayer? Our God, we are grateful today for Jesus Christ. Thank you for sending Jesus Christ to this earth as a human and still be God, and still pay for our sins and give us life, but thank you for giving him back his glory. And thank you for calling us to follow a Savior who is powerful, who is mighty, and who has a plan to defeat the forces of the evil one. Help us to have a complete vision of who Jesus Christ is. For I pray this in the name of the glorified, resurrected Lord. Amen.

© 2009, Paul Borden
c/o Central Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, MD 21204 410/823-6145
www.centralpc.org