Today we are beginning a 5
week sermon series on “The Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.” The term “Gospel” is simply translated as
“Good News;’ and the 4 Gospels reveal different aspects of Jesus, like different
facets on in a diamond. But, first, we begin today by exploring some back ground
information, because we have 2 thousand years of devotion to the Gospels; and
this background info reveals how Jesus’ followers have cherished His word
as a true treasure.
The Bible is a very controversial
book, as we can see going back to the 1500s, when the Reformation began. The Reformation was that period of time when
many churches, such as the Presbyterians, Lutheran, French Huguenot-Protestants, and the
Anglican/Episcopal Church left the Roman Catholic Church and the authority of
the Pope. You see, the Roman Catholic
Church found truth primarily in the church doctrines and traditions and
ecclesiology—all of which were human origin.
Well, the Protestant Churches, including the ones I just mentioned, believed
that the Word of God, of divine origin, should be the primary source of
truth.
· The Roman Catholic Church did not encourage regular,
unordained people. like you, to read the scriptures; for they were afraid that
you might make erroneous interpretations, contrary to the doctrine of the Roman
Catholic Church.
· But the Protestants had the Bible translated into the
vernacular languages of the people, and printed them up and distributed them
across the known world, encouraging all people to read the Bible.
Again,
what is our primary source of truth? Is
it human or divine. So, to understand
where the scriptures come from, we need to focus upon the meaning of the Word
of God. If you would look on your sermon
insert, I will read the question in # 1, and would you please read the answers.
SERMON NOTES
Q.1: What are the Holy
Scriptures? *
A.1: “The Holy
Scriptures, commonly called the Bible, are the Books of the Old and New
Testaments...”
· So the
scriptures are the small “w’ words of God, which we see written on the page.
Q.2: Why do we call the Holy
Scriptures the (Big “W”) Word of God?* A.2: We
call them the Word of God because God inspired their human authors and because
God still speaks to us through the Bible.”
· ‘The
Big”W” Word of God is above and beyond
the scriptures, which express the Big “W” Word of God through the written small
“w’ words of God.”
Q.3: Now, who or what is the
big “W” Word of God?
A.#: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full
of Grace & Truth.—from the Gospel of John
Q.4: Whom is the Gospel of John describing?
A.4:_____________________________________________
· Jesus is
God’s perfect communication of God. Jesus is the Word of God.
_________________________________________________________________
· Yes. You see, Jesus, the big “W’ word of God is
present among us, through the Holy Scriptures and the Church, to help us
interpret the scriptures as they apply to our ”lives today. Also, as Christians, we interpret some of the
confusing parts of the Old Testament
through the lens
of the person & teaching of Jesus. So, if you read some part of the
Hebrew scriptures, the Old Testament, which is confusing to you, compare and
contrast that to the Good News of Jesus;
which super cedes everything else in the written scriptures. Jesus is the the truth. Keep focused upon him,
then you can discover the truth.
· So, there are times in the Old Testament when God
tells his people to kill his enemies.
What does Jesus say that we are to do to our enemies?
The New testament, including
the 4 Gospels, began as stories told around the dinner table and the camp fire
by the 12 disciples, and later, then, after they died, their followers continued telling the stories,
and then writing them down on parchment.
There were many other oral
and written accounts of Jesus life, but over the period of years, the people of
the church rejected those. The written
Gospels that we have today were originally written in Greek, and then
Latin. A consensus across the early
world wide Christian community began to
develop around the Gospels Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John. These which were written
by two of the original disciples and 2 others who distinguished themselves in
the early church as being well known servants of the Lord. Finally, the 4 Gospels, the letters from
Paul, from James and Jude, Jesus brothers; and other letters were confirmed as
Holy Scripture by world wide Councils of the Church during the 4th
century AD.
The scriptures are a
treasure. The question for you is, are
they buried treasure that you never dig up, or have you open the treasure of
God’s Word to share in the abundance God intends for you. As always, during the next 4 weeks we will
explore the height, the depth and the wonder of God’s Word; and it in the fall,
we will be offering another another Small group series so that you can learn
more about God’s Word in the best way possible; which is through interacting in our popular small groups. More on that later.
Meanwhile, once there was a
wealthy man who had a son graduating from college. The son begged his father to give him a new
car as a graduation present. Finally, when the commencement exercises had been
completed, the son went home to speak to
his father. The man gave him a box,
which the young man quickly unwrapped.
Inside the box was a beautiful, leather bound bible.
“Is this all?” said yelled
the young man. Before his father could
answer, the boy threw down the Bible and left his father’s house—never to
return. The boy ran off from home, and never spoke to his father.
One day the boy received word
that his father had died, quite unexpectedly.
By the time the boy returned home, his father had already been buried.
Filled with grief, the boy walked around his late father’s house. He
walked into his father’s study, and there, on the desk, was the Bible that his
father had given him so long ago. He picked up the bible, and a note fell out.
Inside the note was a $50,000 check, dated the day of his graduation. The boy
read the attached note, also dated the day of his graduation. The note read,
“Dear Son, Happy graduation.
Use the attached note to buy the car of your dreams…and use the Bible to guide
you on your way. Love, Dad”
How ironic. How sad. The boy would have found his gift of
his father—if he had only opened the Bible.”
How about you? Have you opened your Bible to found the gift
of your Father in heaven? Are you
willing to do it on your own, or in a Small Group?
Or, are you like the
boy? Amen.
[With thanksgiving to The Rev. Ellen Donnelly for originally speaking about the "Little w" word of God and the "BIG W" Word of God.]
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