Text: John 17:1-11
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one.
General Douglas MacArthur, who recalled a strategy he carried out while at West Point, in trying to understand a very difficult text said:
In studying the time-space relationship later formulated by Einstein as his Theory of Relativity, “The text was complex and, being unable to comprehend it, I committed the pages to memory. When I was called upon to recite, I solemnly reeled off almost word for word what the book said. Our instructor, Colonel Fieberger, looked at me somewhat quizzically and asked, "Do you understand this theory?"
It was a bad moment for me, but I did not hesitate in replying, "No, sir." You could have heard a pin drop. I braced myself and waited.
And then the slow words of the professor: "Neither do I, Mr. MacArthur. Section dismissed."
It is wonderful to note that with the things of faith and scripture and our understanding of Jesus, we have one, the Holy Spirit, given from Christ who makes clear what god would have us know.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Reminiscences recalling a strategy he carried out while at West Point.
To know Christ is to know God!
33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
These are the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples just before the reading in our Gospel for today where He says:
“Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
Knowing Christ is critical to eternal life. In my seminary class, Mission and Ministry in Today's Pluralistic Context, we studied many faiths, religions and cults. Some even use the name of Jesus in ways that sound Christian. However, upon a deeper inspection, they have a different Jesus. This was most evident in the study of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
God, in the LDS understanding, is not one divine essence and three distinct persons as confessed by the historical Christian church and the three Ecumenical Creeds - but is distinctly three Gods called Father, Son and the Holy Spirit and not one divine essence.
From their official publication, LDS Beliefs—A Doctrinal Reference, we read:
The Godhead consists of three personages: God the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ the Redeemer, and the Holy Ghost. [Joseph Smith] referred to these three as God the first, the Creator; God the second, the Redeemer; and God the third, the Witness or Testator.
So far it doesn’t sound too different but then it continues:
The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s…. These three are separate and distinct personages and beings. This understanding…stands in stark contrast to efforts on the part of traditional Christian thinkers to maintain the ontological oneness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (263)
Greg Koukl, "Is Mormonism Just Another Christian Denomination?" Stand to Reason (September/October 2012). http://www.str.org/Media/Default/Publications/DigitalSG_0912-1.pdf; Internet accessed 14, May. 2014
It can also be noted that Christian’s do not see the Father as having “a body of flesh as tangible as man’s.” This error also confuses the person and work of Jesus Christ, as the God/man begotten of the Father from eternity, who took on human flesh at the incarnation, was born of the Virgin Mary and became man as confessed in the third article of the Augsburg Confession that deals with the Son of God and His work. Mormons clearly have a different Jesus, one who is God the Father’s first born son in a godhead of three separate and unequal members.
This is important, not because, you’re planning on taking a world religions class, but because the name of Jesus means something very specific to the historic Christian faith, and to we as Lutheran Christians.
Jesus said:
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Jesus, here in speaking of the glory that He had before the world existed, He is speaking of his oneness with the Father and the Holy Spirit, before He was born of the Virgin Mary. He is speaking of the plurality of God that in the beginning … hovered over the surface of the deep and said “Let there be light.” The word made flesh that in the beginning was with God and was God! This is the Jesus that in lifting up His eyes to heaven and prays:
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one.
At the Doxology conference this past month we discussed the challenges facing the mission and ministry of the churches we serve and the purpose of continuing biblical education for those in the pews as well as those in the pulpit. And the importance of doctrine … which is the teaching of the faith, being the best way to achieve this. What was interesting was when the question was posed to the average church member of what they desired most to build their faith they said, “Teaching!” When asked what they wanted less of in the church … the answered, “Doctrine!”
When Jesus asked Peter in Matthew’s Gospel, “But, Who do you say that I am?” Peter replied, “You are the Christ the Son of the Living God!” Matt16:15-16
Many Mormons would agree with that statement that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God but that understanding in their view is that Jesus is God’s Son … the first born of His creation.
Today as we too have confessed, in the Nicene Creed, the Christ, the Son of the Living God, but our Christ is:
Begotten of the Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
Very God of very God,
Begotten not made,
Being of one substance with the father,
By whom all things were made
Ill.
Preacher and author, A. W. Tozer once said:
We have gotten accustomed to the blurred puffs of gray fog that pass for doctrine or teaching in churches and expect nothing better. From some previously reliable sources are now coming vague statements consisting of a mixture of Scripture, science, and human sentiment that is true to none of its ingredients because each one works to cancel the others out. Little by little Christians these days are being brainwashed.
One evidence, Tozer continues: is the increasing numbers of people who are becoming ashamed to be found absolutely and completely on the side of truth. They say they believe, but their beliefs have been so diluted or mixed with falsehood so as to be impossible to find a clear definition. Moral power has always followed definite beliefs and the great saints of the past have always followed the teachings and doctrines of the church. We need a return to a gentle but unwavering teaching that smiles while it stands stubborn and firm on the Word of God that lives and abides forever.
Tozer died over 50 years ago. His writing sounds very contemporary as we live within a society that has redefined marriage, embraces adultery, cohabitation and premarital sex, denied even the plausibility of who Jesus Christ claimed to be and has defined Truth as … whatever is true for you.
To know Christ is to know God!
Jesus says:
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
Jesus is praying for you … you are His. He has called you by the Gospel, washed your sins away, and by the Holy Spirit, has made you His.
Psalm 27:3-5
3 Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.
4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in the shelter of his pavilion
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will lift me high upon a rock.
That is the confidence that we all have in the name of great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gives us confidence when He says:
Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me that they may be one, even as we are one.
To know Christ is to know God! Blessed be His holy name!
May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be and abide with you all now and forever!
Amen
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