Jesus And The Postmodern Heart
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31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
John 5:
Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Jack Phillips
Introduction:
Jack Phillips is the Colorado baker Colorado couple who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same sex couple because of his Christian faith. This man was publicly maligned and suffered financial losses because of a lawsuit filed against him and his bakeshop, Masterpiece Cakeshop. He eventually won the fight in the Supreme Court but this Tuesday he filed a lawsuit against the governor of Colorado because of persecution against him. The state of Colorado allegedly informed Jack Phillips that he had violated state laws by “refusing to bake a cake” with a pink and white design requested by an attorney to celebrate what he calls “a gender transition”.
According to the new lawsuit, "Phillips declined to create the cake ... because it would have celebrated messages contrary to his religious belief that sex -- the status of being male or female -- is given by God, is biologically determined, is not determined by perceptions or feelings, and cannot be chosen or changed."
It goes on to say, "It is now clear that Colorado will not rest until Phillips either closes Masterpiece Cakeshop or agrees to violate his religious beliefs."
Sad as it sounds, and it is in the home front here in Colorado, the reality is that this case is just the beginning of many similar cases to come. This is because...
We live in a postmodern world.
What do I mean when I say “postmodern world”?
Postmodernism actually is hard to define because according to its definition, there are no absolute definitions.
To define it I have to talk about the...
Stages of Modernism:
Pre-Modernism - includes ancient belief systems, monarchies, unquestioning acceptance of religion or authority from the king.
Modernism- enlightenment of the 18th century, characterized by advancement in scientific knowledge, led to the industrial revolution
Postmodernism
To define Postmodernism -
It is a philosophy or worldview that believe that knowledge is subjective, biased, and socially constructed. Truth depends on what one’s culture regards as truth. Therefore truth as we know it is may not be true in another cultural context.
They believe that all truth, even to some extent scientific knowledge, is subjective, biased, and socially constructed. Truth depends on what one’s culture regards as truth. Therefore truth as we know it is not really true.
Postmodernism is an uprising against the standard norms of pre-modernism or modernism. They believe that both religion and science had failed society.
Postmodernism rejects the idea that there is absolute truth. Everything is relative. This is why postmodernism is also called relativism.
We seem to not see the progress of postmodernism here in the church. But the breeding ground of this philosophy are college campuses and universities. Young people of today are subjected to this philosophy and their beliefs are fomented by a raging anger against what they define as the status quo:
We seem to not see the progress of postmodernism here in the church. But the breeding ground of this philosophy are college campuses and universities. Young people of today are subjected to this philosophy and their beliefs are fomented by a raging anger against what they define as the status quo:
- Traditional Religion
- White privilege
- traditional or scientific views on gender and sexual orientation
capitalism
male-dominated corporate world
Seems to be harmless, the problem however is that those who hold postmodern worldviews have bumped up their belief system against against facts which seem to oppose their views and this can even lead to violence.
Opposition to traditional marriage like in the story I mentioned..
Because of the rise of postmodern worldview, the next generation is being groomed to stay away, reject and even oppose Christianity.
So if you are a parent with kids in their teen years and in college, watch out they are part of this new generation.
My big idea this morning is thisL
Big Idea: Jesus Christ and His Teachings Can Appeal to Postmodern People
Notice that the title of my message is not “Christianity in a Postmodern World” or “The Church in a Postmodern Society” but rather “Jesus and the Postmodern heart”.
Notice that the title of my message is not “Christianity in a Postmodern World” or “The Church in a Postmodern Society” but rather “Jesus and the Postmodern heart”.
As Christians, we have to face the kind of world we lived in with the Person of Jesus. In , Jesus stood against the religious leaders and spoke against them according to the prevailing thought of that time which was a distorted form of the Jewish Religion.
When He confronted them, He used a very wise and effective approach. He spoke like He was standing before a court of law. At that time, a matter or truth can only be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses in .
So Jesus’ approach to the religious leaders was, “hey, if I only bear witness of myself, then in your religious legalistic minds, my witness is not true. But I have three witnesses that testify about me.
In verse 33 He said John the baptist, you were only willing to believe him “for a time”
In verse 36 He said there is another greater witness, the works that the Father has given Me to finish-
In verse 39 He said the scriptures, which these religious leaders actually read also testify of Him!
And yet they do not believe.
Like He did with the religious leaders of that time, Jesus appeals to the present postmodern world with the same truth but the approach can be different. We now face a different worldview.
Remember these When Sharing Jesus to Postmodern people:
Don’t Antagonize.
Don’t Offer Organized Religion.
Meet The Need.
Because I believe that Jesus is the answer:
Don’t antagonize postmodern people.
We oppose the worldview, not the people who embrace the worldview.
Notice that in talking to the religious leaders He was not really antagonizing them as people, but rather their actions of rejecting Him.
In verse 34,
34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
In verse 34,
He said that in presenting this argument of the three witnesses, He does not really need to do so, His witness should be enough! But He chose to condescend and engage them at their level of thinking, why?
He said, “so that you may be saved”. Wow. At that point, Jesus still wanted to save them… His enemies!
He said that in presenting this argument of the three witnesses, He does not really need to do so.
In the same manner, Don’t treat postmodern people as enemies, let us not antagonize but rather engage them with the truth.
2. Don’t offer Organized Religion
You can intellectually level with these people. Talk to them about what they believe. Ask them: “What do you think about Christianity?”
You will hear a lot of falsehoods.
Common falsehood:
Christians are hypocrites
Talk to them why that is not true.
Christians hate gay people
Christianity is anti-science and progress (evolution, Big bang, gender views)
Confront them with the truth. Don’t compromise (tendencies) but here is the important thing. Love on them. They need to be saved, have that awareness that Jesus had even toward His enemies!
2. Don’t offer Organized Religion
If you approach a person with a postmodern mindset and offer religion, you have already set yourself up for failure. It is because remember these people, these kids have already rejected traditional religion. If we come to them with an offer of traditional religion you have already ended the conversation right there. Because in the postmodern mind, they have already progressed above the rules and rituals of traditional religion.
You have already lost them.
There is hope in reaching them spiritually.. reading from an article..
“When it comes to matters of faith, postmodern people embrace spirituality but largely reject traditional organized religion. They think of religion as being associated with the “public” realm of institutions, creeds, and rituals. They’ve latched onto the term “spirituality” as something separate, dealing with the “private” realm of personal experience, and representing for them a more genuine form of faith. A significant group now consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious.”
These people are seekers, but don’t offer them religion.. you can point them to the Bible but be aware that without the guidance and illumination of the Holy Spirit reading the Bible won’t lead to a seeker finding the truth.
In verse 39 Jesus said of the religious leaders..
39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
If you give someone a Bible, pray that the Holy Spirit guides the person but lead them in their reading. Otherwise, they will search the scriptures to justify their worldview.
The good news is that even Jesus did not offer religion. Actually He opposed organized religion of His time.
Even when we invite people to church, it;’s good that we are proud of many things about the church, the nice people, the good music, the good-looking pastor.. don’t push it.. it’s enough that everything else is nice
All these are nice, but at the center of our church, at the core of Who we are is that we are a Christ-centered and Christ-preaching church.
We don’t offer our church, we introduce people to our leader, Jesus Christ.
We don’t offer our church, we introduce people to our leader, Jesus Christ.
3. Meet the Need
This is the only positive action among this three, don’t antagonize postmodern people, don’t offer organized religion but rather meet the need.
Jesus walked the earth meeting needs:
36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
Jesus came doing great works to meet real needs. He healed the sick, He cast out demons. He met people’s needs. In fact. In John Chapter 6, right after this episode of confrontation with the religious leaders Jesus fed the five thousand. Jesus fed the hungry. Jesus fed the hungry but above all Jesus feeds the hungry heart.
Notice that I didn’t say meet “a” need but rather “the” need.
Notice that I didn’t say meet “a” need but rather “the” need.
The greatest need of postmodern people and the whole world for that matter is the need of the heart.
“The Heart of the Matter is the Matter of the Heart”
How is this true?
The Heart is deceitful
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
The Hebrew word here for heart is leb (slide here)
ל
which means “one’s inner self”, or a person’s disposition or inclination.
The postmodern person had chosen to incline to the postmodern worldview because of this natural disposition in his inner self is to be deceived.
A popular mantra among postmodern people is “follow your heart”. That is already disastrous if your philosophy in life is to follow your heart.. because it is deceitful.
Secondly...
The Heart is sick beyond cure
Jeremiah said the heart, one’s inner self is both deceitful and also desperately sick In another translation it says beyond cure.
The heart is only beyond cure by our own ways and methods, it is beyond cure by material things, it is beyond cure by worldly wisdom like the postmodern worldview.
There is only one cure, God has placed eternity in the heart of man..in Ecclesiastes
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
This sickness of the heart is a separation from God. A void, an empty space that only God can fill through Jesus Christ.
The French Mathematician Blaise Pascal said this:
“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?
This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself” - (Blaise Pascal 1623-1662)
This is the greatest need of the postmodern heart, for the void to be filled by God through His Son Jesus Christ.
Have this awareness as we witness for Christ.
We have heard from Mohammed about Allah
Don’t worry about the result, just be faithful and God will do the work of winning the postmodern heart.
In His defense against the religious leaders Jesus talked about the a) witness of John the Baptist, b) The witness of His works and c) The witness of the scriptures but there is a Higher witness using all these three, the witness of God the Father.
37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen,
Jesus said later that “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws Him.”
Draw - Affective
When You witness to a postmodern person, believe that the Father is the One Who will draw the person to Christ.
The postmodern man is not beyond the reach of the Hand of a loving God.