Sermon: The Bible's Big Picture: New Testament

Sermon 2: The New Testament

Good morning again. Last week, I started this two talk series about the whole Bible, looking at the Bible's major themes, and focusing on the Old Testament. I started off saying that obviously in only two sermons, there is a lot of detail of the Bible that I am going to miss, and giving four reasons why we should read the whole Bible and not just rely on big picture sermons like this one - because it is a collection of reliable and accurate historical documents that claims a divine heritage; it is the primary source material for knowing about God; it is the history of the people of God (that's us!); and it is a fundamental way of God speaking to us.

Today, we will be looking at the major themes of the New Testament. But I have a secret for you. Do you remember the six main themes of the Old Testament that I gave you last week, three about God, and three about humanity? Here they are again: God is powerful over everything, not just Israel; People are sinful, rebelling against God; God wants a people for himself, and wants a relationship with his people; People are to be holy, because God is holy; God's ultimate goal is to free people from sin, and exalt the righteous, and punish the wicked; People have a choice to make about where they stand with God. Well, when we come to the New Testament, surprise surprise, the themes are the same! It shouldn't really be that surprising – if we are going to treat the Bible as one complete book, and not a collection of disparate historical writings, then we should expect that it contains the same major themes throughout its pages, from Genesis all the way to Revelation.

And yet there is a reason we separate the Old Testament from the New Testament, because they are not exactly the same. And again, it is easiest to see this from our big picture view of the Bible. Like I said last week, if we hold the Bible at arm's length, we can tell that the two big topics of the Bible are God and humanity. We come to the Bible for what it tells us about God, and what it tells us about people. Now, in the Old Testament, those two elements are very strictly delineated – God is up there being powerful, and humanity are down here being sinful. God calls to people through prophets and leaders and kings, and people are to respond by being holy and doing what they're told. And God informs them of his great plans to get rid of sin, and to exalt the righteous and punish the wicked, meaning people need to make a choice about where they stand with God. The Old Testament covers about 1500 years of human history, following the story of the nation of Israel through its creation, its freedom from slavery, its journey into the promised land, the rule of its kings, its separation, its decline into exile, and its return to the promised land.

The New Testament is half as long as the Old Testament, but it covers much less time - a period of about 90 years – it is the product of one generation of people. The reason for that is rather than covering the history of a people group, it instead focuses on the life of just one man. But in the New Testament the big picture gets more complex, because there is a blurring of the line between God and humanity. How can this happen? Well, it certainly doesn't happen because humans somehow work out how to be God. It happens because God comes to the world as a human being. Jesus Christ, God coming to earth in the flesh as a human being, is the complete focus of the New Testament.

In the Old Testament we had these three nice, neat points about God, and these three nice, neat points about humanity, and there was a nice, neat dividing line between them. God coming as Jesus, as a human, serves to bring these points into startling and beautiful clarity, like the blossoming of a flower that has grown up from its roots in the Old Testament soil, but it also some blurring between God and humans when God appears on the scene as a human.

Look at the first point - God's power being over every person and thing is not just obvious in the New Testament, it is absolutely fundamental to our understanding of the message. When God enters the world as a human being, Jesus Christ, we see he has power over sickness, over storms, over demons, and even over death. Universal problems, not just tied to Israel's land and people – and Jesus shows his power over them all. Furthermore, God is not just the God of the Jews, he is God over the Romans who have conquered Judea, he is God over their next door neighbours in Samaria, and he is God over the rest of the world and its people. But now, this is not shown through invasions or plagues or fiery acts of judgment. Instead, it is shown through the miracles Jesus performed in his ministry on earth, through his resurrection from the dead, and through the spreading of the Holy Spirit from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria, and all the world.

The next theme is that people are sinful, and boy, does the New Testament make this clear. You need not turn any further than the gospels – who crucifies Jesus Christ, the Son of God entered into the world? It is people. It is Jews, and it is Roman authorities – no-one has clean hands. The great King of Kings enters the world, and humanity rises up in rebellion and attempts a coup, killing God. Surely I need go no further. But if we flip through the New Testament letters to churches, what do we find – groups of people who are well-grounded, highly spiritual and driven to serve God? Sometimes. But we also find these letters are written to lustful adulterers, prideful idolators, and greedy legalists, people who slip back into sin, or who cannot handle the freedom God offers, and rush back to throw themselves under the Law instead of rely on God's grace. Why is it we find the New Testament so useful? Well, partly it's written to people who are more like us, who even though they lived nearly 2,000 years ago, still thought in a very similar way to the way we do today. But it's also because we still struggle with the same problems of sin they did back then.

And yet, the coming of Jesus also brings our sin into stark contrast by the simple fact that Jesus is the exception to the rule. Here we see a human being, just like we are, but who is absolutely without sin. As a human who actually lives completely and totally for God, entirely in line with what God wants, because Jesus is God, he serves as a mirror to us where we can look at him, and see ourselves as sinful, and see how humanity is meant to be.

God still wants a people for himself, and this is assured to us by the fact that God chose to come to earth, to take on a human form and be just like us, to become one of us, so that he could reach out to us. He came to seek and save the lost, and I think sometimes we lose sight of that picture. God, the most powerful and important being in the universe, came to earth and held a little girl's hand, telling her to wake up from death. He came to earth and had dinner with prostitutes. That is how much God wants to be in relationship with people.

The fact that this extends beyond Jews becomes startlingly clear in the New Testament. The apostles begin to travel the world, planting churches, spreading the good news about Jesus Christ to everyone and anyone who will listen. The Jewish authorities try and stamp it out, going so far as to kill Christians like Stephen – but all that happens is one of the persecutors, Paul, gets converted, and the church grows even more. The Romans soon get sick of these people going around helping the sick and the orphaned and the widowed, and telling people that the only true God is the God of Israel and not the latest Roman emperor, so they start cracking down on Christians across their empire – and yet the church continues to grow even more. The book of Acts maps out this spread of the Spirit of God onto people of different nationalities – not just Jews.

Now this seems non-controversial to us as Christians – of course God's spirit rests on non-Jewish people. After all, in this church, and in most of the church across the world, Jews are a small minority of Christians. Clearly God's spirit can rest on us. But in the first century AD, this was a massive revelation – unbelievable for some. A good chunk of the New Testament letters to churches are devoted to this very subject – that God is the God of all people, not just Israel, and we don't all have to be born Jewish, or even live like Jews, to live as Christians. Something to be thankful for every time you have a piece of bacon. And we still see this church growth loud and clear today. In fact, the church is growing much faster in Africa and Asia than it is anywhere in the western world.

The fourth main theme is that people must be holy, because God is holy. The words of the Old Testament were exactly that – we looked at it last week repeated over and over in Leviticus, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” The New Testament's message can be summed up in a similarly short message, coming from the lips of Jesus himself, “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Matthew, Mark and Luke are full of this call to repentance. Turn away from your sin, and accept the good news that God comes seeking to save the lost. That is the message God brings to the world, and the one which is spread to the ends of the earth.

Quite often we focus on the 'believe' aspect, and that's not surprising, given that at the moment the most vocal opponent to Christianity in the west is Atheism, whose major argument with Christianity is the 'believe' step – they don't believe God exists, let alone that Jesus is God incarnate as a man. Moreover, most people today think that 'sin' is a relative term – that there is no inherent right or wrong, but it is a mixture of what culture says and what society says, and what you want to think. Many people care more about how much carbon dioxide is produced by the food they are eating than they do about what happens to people when they die and face eternity. More and more we are becoming a culture fixated on science as the only truth, and if something can't be scientifically proven, then people say there is no proof!

But that is a very convenient myth, and it can be dispelled just by looking at how you treat truth in your own life. You tend to trust your senses for those things you interact with yourself, but anyone who has seen a magic trick knows that your senses can be deceived, so you also rely on your own experience to give you caution. But for all those things you think to be true that aren't in your immediate experience – things that happen on the other side of the world, things that happened in the past, or things that you just can't verify for yourself because you don't own an electron microscope and you don't know particle physics or carbon chemistry or you don't have access to see what's inside Fort Knox or you can't go on the space station or whatever – you have to trust other people for their expertise in an area, their ability to accurately remember and record, and their willingness to tell the truth and not trick you.

The message of Christianity is fundamentally a trustworthy and reliable historical message. The New Testament that we are talking about today, that reports to us all about the events of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, that point to his being God in the form of a man, exists in over 5,000 existing ancient copies, many dating right back to the end of the first century – 30 or so years from when they were written. Just to put that in perspective, the next most widely attested ancient document is Homer's Illiad, written around 800BC. There are less than 650 copies available, and the earliest ones date from the 2^nd or 3^rd century AD – that's 1,000 years after it was written. Professional historians attest to the Bible's historical legitimacy and reliability. There is an unbroken chain of witnesses from Jesus' time to today – the church was started by eyewitnesses! The bottom line is that if you believe Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great or Aristotle existed and did what is reported about them, then you believe it based on less evidence than what is available for Jesus.

But as I say, that only relates to half of what Jesus says. The call Jesus makes to people has both a 'believe' and a 'repent' aspect. Repent means you have to put your sinful ways behind you, and face towards God and live a holy life of loving God and loving others – the same message of the Old Testament. Again, this focus is obvious in the New Testament letters. Taken as one unit, all the letters are a mix of theological thought on how to interpret the promises of the Old Testament through the words and actions of Jesus, and the practical realities of living these out as Christians in fellowship with each other, and living in a world that is essentially against God and his message - how to be holy, because our God is holy – and we actually now can see what a holy life looks like, because we can look at God living it in Jesus' life.

In the Old Testament, the last point about God, that God will free people from sin, exalt the righteous and punish the wicked, is described in vague and uncertain terms, described as the 'Day of the Lord' by the prophets, and usually using descriptive metaphors about war and destructive calamity upon the land. However, this too is brought into a much sharper focus in the New Testament. By the time of the first century, a far more developed theology about the end times and heaven and hell has arisen, and Jesus himself makes it clear that he has not come to be a king of some earthly realm - many were expecting the Messiah would come and defeat the Romans and start a new kingdom of Judah in accordance with the promises God made to David in the Old Testament – but rather, his throne is in heaven, and he will rule over God's people forever in a new heaven and a new earth. The rest of the New Testament picks this up as a strong and regular theme, and it is a major theme of the book of Revelation, which has a great deal to say about the glorious eternity awaiting God's people, and the fiery punishment set aside for those who remain enemies of God.

But by far and away the biggest focus is on that first part, God dealing with sin. Not only do we read in the New Testament that God, as Jesus, demonstrates his power, provides a counterpoint to human sinfulness, calls people to come into relationship with him, and gives us a clear example of what human holiness should look like, but Jesus on earth actually decisively and finally deals with sin. He does this by dying on a cross, suffering the penalty for sin that is due to all humanity – a feat that only he can achieve, we are told in the New Testament, because he has no sin to be punished for himself. This way, Jesus can offer anyone and everyone a repaired relationship with God, and a place in his people and in his heavenly kingdom. This free offer of grace becomes the crux of how God deals with people in the last days – those exalted by God are righteous because Jesus has dealt with their sins and taken them away, and those who are punished by God as wicked are those who have turned their back on the gracious gift. No longer is your membership of God's people measured by your birth into a specific national group, or your love of God based on adherence to Old Testament laws – it is now based upon your acceptance of the grace of God in forgiving your sin through Jesus Christ. And we are reminded that if you fall into sin again, you can confess that sin to God and repent of it, and he promises you forgiveness.

Now, I say that Jesus has dealt finally with sin – but when we look around, we see that sin is still in the world. We see people still being selfish, we see people doing bad things to each other, we see evil remain in the world. More importantly, we can still sin – we still do those things against God every day, still think selfish and disobedient thoughts every day, even if we are Christian and want to serve God. So has Jesus actually dealt with sin, if it's still all around us? The answer is yes: he has dealt with the most important part of sin – the punishment that follows for it. He does not stop the consequences that flow from doing sinful things – if you shoot someone, they still die. If you cheat on your taxes, you still get the dishonest gain in money. If you abuse your parents, you still hurt your relationship with them. But that is because God gives us all a choice in how we live our lives. He does not stop us from making those choices, even if they hurt us, even if they hurt others. We still have to live with the consequences of our actions, for good or for bad. But when the time comes, when God decides enough is enough, and he makes his final move to punish the wicked for all they have done, he has given us a choice to accept his forgiveness, and so to be free from the punishment that we deserve for our rebellion and disobedience. That punishment still takes effect – but not on us. If we accept God's forgiveness, then the punishment Jesus took for our sins is sufficient for us – it is sufficient for everyone, if only they will accept the free gift of forgiveness that he offers.

This focus on our individual sinful state, and the forgiveness offered to us by God, makes the last point about people very clear indeed. Humanity, humans as individuals, have a choice to make about God – whether to accept his gracious gift of forgiveness of their sin, and become one of his people, living holy lives and being exalted in the end of days to a place with him in a new heaven and a new earth; or to reject God's offer, deny either his existence or his right to choose how things get done, and so set ourselves up as an enemy of his kingdom and his purposes, and then be punished for our wickedness, and left to suffer an eternity without God in hell. This is a message that falls directly from the lips of Jesus, such as in John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” It is taken up by the gospel writers themselves, and is repeated throughout the entire New Testament again and again, all the way through to Revelation at the end of the Bible. Of course, mostly that message is being written to churches and believers, and it takes the form of an encouragement – spurring them on to remember the truth they have believed, and to stick to their faith, and find strength in God to continue with their holy lives, especially in the face of persecution and mistreatment.

And that message extends ever forward, remaining for us as God's people today, so we can read it, and take it to heart. Because the Christian life is hard. Christians are being persecuted for our beliefs by non-believing family or friends, or strangers that wish to attack our beliefs. British Parliament was recently told in a debate about worldwide Christian persecution that a Christian dies every 11 minutes for their faith (if everyone who lives in Hornsby was killed now, that would equal five months of worldwide Christian persecution). But even if we just have a pretty easy life, like we do here in Waitara, we still struggle against the temptation to think first about our own comfort and happiness, to do things our own way, enjoy our life as we please, and forget about living a holy life pleasing to God. For us as Christians, we have a collection of books in the New Testament that talk directly to our situation. We can read about churches just like ours, who struggle with sin like the Corinthian church, who puzzle through theological questions like the Roman church, who try to do their best to serve God and see Jesus' name be proclaimed throughout the world, like the Philippian church. We can read the message written to the seven churches in Revelation – a message that says do not forget Jesus, do not be afraid, do not be tempted by the lives of those around you, but rather hold on to the truth you have been given, work hard to be holy, loving and righteous, stick to what you have accepted as true, and accept the rebuke and correction of God so that you become holy and righteous.

But the New Testament is not just focused on existing churches, and those who already believe. You see, the gospel writers are somewhat unique in that they wrote their accounts not just for the edification and assistance of the church, but actually to reach people with the message of Jesus in a written form. We read in the gospel of John 20:31, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Luke tells us at the beginning of his gospel that he writes so that his readers might have certainty in the things they were taught about Jesus. These gospel authors were writing so that the message and meaning of Jesus' life could be preserved, and passed on through future generations - and now we have it today.

The message of the Bible comes to a sharp point in the New Testament – and it speaks to those who would not call themselves one of God's people. You have a choice to make. You can live your life the way you want to, but make sure you know what that life is - the life society tells you to live, the way your culture tells you, the way your wallet tells you, the way TV tells you. The life the rest of the world offers is a selfish life. Oh, don't be mistaken when I say selfish. You might help other people when you can, you might think that supporting your family is the most important thing, you might be doing your best to protect the environment. It's not a selfish life because you're stacking up a big pile of money to sleep on every night, or because you punch random strangers as you walk down the street or you steal candy from babies. It's selfish because it's focused on you - you want the power to decide what's good and what's bad, what's right and what's wrong for yourself, you want to make sure your life and the lives of people that you think are important are comfortable and secure. And the rest of the world tells you that's great! Do that! Be comfortable, enjoy life, squeeze every drop out of it, because when you die, that's it. There's no God, there's no heaven, there's no hell, so there is no repercussions for what you do. There is no ultimate importance to whether you live or die, so you might as well be happy while you can.

You can choose that life. God lets people choose that life. But it's the wrong choice. It's the wrong choice because God really does exist. Jesus really existed, not just as a man, but as God. God really walked around on this earth and revealed himself to people. He really died on a cross. He really was resurrected three days later. Hundreds of people saw him, and they started churches and spread the word and wrote books to make sure the truth would be passed on from generation to generation. And they didn't do it for glory, and they didn't do it for money – they were beaten and tortured and killed for doing this, but they went to their own crosses and beheadings and stonings knowing that they were speaking the truth they had seen and heard for themselves. We have that truth today, passed on by eyewitnesses, passed on to us. We really can live a life for God, we really can be exalted as his people, we really can live with him forever when that last day comes – and that last day is really coming.

You can choose to believe this truth, that God has made sure to pass from generation to generation, to end up here today in this church, in this sermon, for you to hear. It is the right choice. Don't just trust me. Don't just trust the other people who come to this church. Don't just trust the billions of people across the world who call Jesus God and Lord over their own lives. Trust God. He's the one who speaks to you today. Now if you've heard everything I've had to say, and you think I'm just lying, or I'm mistaken, or I've got my facts wrong, then that's fine – come tell me so afterwards, I'd love to hear your point of view. If you've heard what I've said today and you just aren't sure, and you have questions, because there are things you didn't quite understand or things you disagree with, that's fine – come tell me so afterwards, and we can talk about it. There's lunch after this talk, come and eat and have a chat, tell me your point of view or ask me your questions.

But if you have heard today the message of God from his Bible, and it has struck you, and it has convicted you, and you know that it is true, then I urge you, don't just sit there in silence and pretend you haven't heard it. If you have been touched by this message of truth, if you want to make that choice that God has given you to follow him, then I would ask you to do two things. First, when I pray to God at the end of this talk, pray along with me, silently in your mind. Then, after the talk, come up and talk to me here at the front of the church. Or if you'd rather talk to someone else at this church because you know them and you're more comfortable with that, then do that. But talk to somebody, tell them that you have made that decision, and you can find out more about what it means to decide to live your life for God. It's not easy, but it is right.

So let's pray together:

God, heavenly Father,

You are the only all-powerful God. Your power stretches over the whole world, over all peoples, kings, nations and things. You made it clear when you came to earth as Jesus that you have power over nature, over people, over sin, and over death. You have also made it clear that you want all people to treat you as their God, for them to be your people. You want to have a relationship with us on your terms. You have a plan to deal with sin, to exalt the those who do right in your eyes, and to punish those who do wrong in your eyes. I believe and accept your nature as revealed in the Bible.

I accept that I am a sinful human being. It is in my nature to want to rebel against your leadership, and to want to do things my own way. I know that you want me to live a holy life. You made that clear in Jesus' words, “Repent and believe the good news.” You have given me a choice to make, and I want to make that choice to be one of your people. I repent of my selfish life – I want to put my sinful ways behind me, and face towards you, God, and live a holy life of loving you and loving others. I know that's not always easy, but I also trust you when you say you will forgive me for my sins. I choose to follow your ways for my life, and to look to Jesus' life as an example for my own. I put my trust in you today.

By the authority and power of Jesus I pray these things, Amen.

Thank you for listening, and I hope you've enjoyed my two talks. There is coffee and tea and lunch to be served out the back. Remember, if you were convinced of the need to devote your life to God today, come up and tell me so.