Christ Rules Over Cynics & Skeptics

Christ Rules! Gospel of Mark Series (Part 26)

A Sermon By Jim Hammond from Mark 12:13-44

TRUTH & SKEPTICISM

The following story has bounced back and forth across the country through the magic of email for over a decade. The prestigious, if not enigmatic, California Examiner is cited as the source.

Fire authorities in California found a corpse in a burned out section of forest while assessing the damage done by a forest fire. The deceased male was dressed in a full wetsuit, complete with SCUBA tanks on his back, flippers, and face-mask. It was revealed that, on the day of the fire, the person went for a diving trip off the coast some 20 miles away from the forest. The firefighters, seeking to control the fire as quickly as possible, called in a fleet of helicopters with very large dip buckets.

Water was dipped from the ocean then flown to the forest fire and emptied. You guessed it. One minute our diver was making like Flipper in the Pacific, the next he was doing the breaststroke in a fire dip bucket 300 feet in the air.

It's a great story, even though not one word of it is true. According to www.snopes2.com <http://www.snopes2.com/> , a web site dedicated to exposing urban myths, the water intake of firefighting dip buckets is less than one square foot. It is physically impossible for a swimmer to be caught up in the bucket. Moreover, a corpse in a wet suit has never been found in a burned out section of forest. Yet people continue to receive this story in their email box, read it, believe it, and send it on to others. They never stop and question whether it could possibly be true. Skepticism isn’t all bad. Perhaps we should be more skeptical over some matters. I have a growing skepticism over matters that seem shocking and urgent as they are passed along as forwarded Emails. Here’s another example:

READ & WEEP:

CBS will be forced to discontinue "Touched by an Angel" for using the word God in every program. Madeline Murray O'Hare, an atheist, successfully managed to eliminate the use of Bible reading from public schools a few years ago. Now her organization has been granted a Federal Hearing on the same subject by the Federal Communications Commission FCC) in Washington, DC Their petition, Number 2493, would ultimately pave the way to stop the reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America. They got 287,000 signatures to back their stand! If this attempt is successful, all Sunday worship services being broadcast on the radio or by television will be stopped.

This group is also campaigning to remove all Christmas programs and Christmas carols from public schools!! You as a Christian can help! We are praying for at least 1 million signatures. This would defeat their effort and show that there are many Christians alive, well and concerned about our country. As Christians we must unite on this.

Please don't take this lightly. We ignored this lady once and lost prayer in our school and in offices across the nation. Please stand up for your religious freedom and let your voice be heard. Together we can make a difference in our country while creating an opportunity for the lost to know the Lord.

Click "forward" and add your name to the bottom of the list, then forward this to everyone you know. Please do not sign jointly, such as Mr.& Mrs. Each person should sign his/her own name. Please help us defeat this organization and keep the right of our freedom of religion.

When you get to 1000 please email back to Lisa Norman at . . .

The problem is, the above is false. This is one of those urban legends and a hoax. One can go to the following url to see what the FCC has to say about this hoax.

http://www.fcc.gov/cib/consumerfacts/Religious.html

Sometimes we need to be more skeptical and check the sources.

But what about the skeptics that don’t believe what is true? What do you do when they don’t believe you? Or they don’t believe at all what you believe? How do you answer them when they get angry at what you believe about God, and Jesus Christ? Or morality. How do you like to be labeled “Right Wing Fundamentalist”? When they say it, they lump you together with doctor-shooting-Anti abortionists.

Skeptic or Cynic

Nathaniel [Nash] intuitively understood that there was a difference between skepticism and cynicism. ... Skepticism is about asking questions, being dubious, being wary, not being gullible. Cynicism is about already having the answers--or thinking you do--about a person or an event. The skeptic says: "I don't think that's true; I'm going to check it out." The cynic says: "I know that's not true, it couldn't be. I'm going to slam him." [i]

If you are an honest skeptic. Jesus welcomes your honest searching today. You don’t have to throw out your mind to decide to investigate faith. The fact, in the chapter we are about to read today, we learn that Jesus told us Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30). Jesus never asked us to put our mind on the shelf when it comes to matters of faith. The Christian faith is very reasonable. However, one can never prove matters of faith in such a way as to argue people into the faith.

Have you ever felt inadequate answering the challenges of an intelligent cynic or the skeptic? Just how do you give sound reasons for these people? It may not be as hard as you think.

Focus: Jesus faced the skeptic’s challenge with authority. By following Jesus, we also will face skeptics and cynics, but we can face them with confidence.

I. You Can Be Confident because

A. Skeptics Don’t Worry God

Skeptics and cynics and other self-proclaimed enemies of Christ may rail and roar, but they don’t worry God, so they shouldn’t worry you.

Paul Little said, “It is improbable that anyone thought up, last week, the question that will bring Christianity crashing down.” How’s that for an understatement?

We never need to fear truth. The hammers of the skeptics have been striking the anvil of God’s word for centuries. Many hammers have broken and worn out, but the anvil of God’s word still remains. Consider the case of Gen. Lew Wallace, the author of Ben-Hur, a tale of Christ. Did you know that Gen. Lew Wallace originally set out to disprove Christianity, but after several years of intense research, he became a Christian. He determined that it would be intellectually dishonest to do otherwise.

Another well known defender of the faith today is Josh McDowell. Did you know that as a college student he was not only skeptical, he also set out to disprove the claims of Christianity. He took a study leave specifically to refute the faith. “He thought the task would be simple. A slam dunk. A no-brainer. After a few weeks of intense study, he realized how wrong he was. He saw that the Christian faith is based on historical facts, available for anyone open-minded enough to discover them.”[ii] He too became a Christian.

You can be confident because skeptics don’t worry God. Have you ever seen the Roadrunner Show? In the show the roadrunner isn’t worried about Wiley coyote. In the section we are about to read it is like watching the roadrunner show. The coyote (or in this case the coyotes) carefully laid trap after trap after trap. The coyotes were frustrated every time. Of course, later, the one time they finally thought they would be satisfied, when Jesus was finally killed, Jesus escaped their trap again. This is better than the cartoons. This is real. There were many more than one coyote, there were many wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing, many wolves dressed as shepherds. Jesus beat them at their deadly game. Beep, Beep--he was gone, and they were trapped by their own traps!

B. Christians Have An Advantage

You have the advantage in every situation. Why? 1) We have the truth. And 2) we have the advantage of the Holy Spirit. While you may “agree to disagree” for a time, remember the Holy Spirit is on our side and he is in operation. He will be working to bring conviction. Jesus later tells the disciples,

Mark 13:11 (NIV) ¹¹Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit.

C. Prejudice against Christianity is rarely studied.

It almost always springs from personal dissatisfaction not from careful investigation. It is usually a knee jerk reaction. Even when they have supposed “hard facts” these are simply a compilation they have held onto to justify their resentment they formed for other reasons.

Typically, we feel at a loss when someone gives us the retort, “I don’t believe the Bible”. That doesn’t really change anything. The Bible is still powerful. When they say this, you might try as Dr. D. James Kennedy suggests in his book Skeptics Answered. “I respect your decision to reject belief in the Bible, in fact I would fight for your right to make such a decision. However, since you have rejected belief in the Bible, I assume you have read and understand the message of the Bible, that you have rejected. Could you summarize for me what the main message of the Bible is?”

Generally, you will hear some stammering reply at this point. They may say something to the effect of “Live by the Golden Rule, and Ten Commandments, do you best and you will go to heaven,” or something like that. To which you might reply.

“I asked you the question, because I thought your rejection might be based upon a misunderstanding, and it is. You see, you aren’t even close to understanding it’s main message. Not only have you missed the bulls-eye it is as if you were aiming in the opposite direction. I assume you already know that the Bible is the most read book of all of history. It is always the number one best seller. It has been translated into more languages, and has been produced in more editions than any other book in history. Because it is such an important book, I hope that you would like to know more accurately it’s main message. Would you allow me a few minutes to explain the main message to you?”

The door the skeptic attempted to slam might become an open door again. It doesn’t matter if he says “I don’t believe the Bible.” There are things that can be done to help him believe. Perhaps an analogy here will help us to understand this.

Imagine you are asleep in bed and you are awakened by a noise in your house. You look over to your clock and see that it is just past 2:00AM. You hear some footsteps in your hallway coming closer. You hear the intruder stop, you actually can hear his breathing. There’s someone in your room! You reach over and turn on the light, and standing there, is a prowler with a knife in his hand. You immediately pull a gun from the nightstand drawer and shout “Hold it right there!” Now what if the man smiles, and says “I don’t believe in guns,” and begins to come toward you. Oh no! He doesn’t believe in guns. What can I do now!? Can you think of anything you could do that would immediately convince him to believe in guns? Of course, just squeeze the trigger. (Shoot him in the shoulder so that you have a chance to continue to witness to him! <grin>)

If a person says he doesn’t believe the Bible, perhaps he has never seen the Bible’s power and needs to be shown. Perhaps the Bible’s message has never been clearly understood. Or perhaps the Bible’s amazing prophetic accuracy has never been discovered. Or perhaps the Gospel’s amazing power to change lives has never been demonstrated through someone he knows. This leads us to the next point.

D. Christianity Works!

Make sure it is working for you.

Understand and counter the mindset that defines Christians as nothing more than narrow-minded people who are against a lot of things. We are always characterized as people “against” abortion, pornography, euthanasia (and rightly so). But we stand for something not just against it. We stand for life, for family values, for what is right. Pro-life, pro-family. Our response can help untwist the twisted picture for Christians. Sometimes it helps to let people see who it is that does good. You may already be showing them who it is that has a happy marriage. Christians who stand for purity have happier marriages in this sexually perverse culture. Don’t keep God’s blessings a secret. Enjoy God! This is an incredibly important step. If you don’t enjoy God you won’t enjoy representing him. You’ll sound like the used car salesman trying to sell a clunker as a if it were a good deal if you don’t enjoy God. Your enthusiasm will be plastic. Enthusiasm means God in you! Think about it. Which Christians you know are the people you most enjoy hanging around? Most likely they were the ones who seemed like they really know God as if he were a best friend. And they also made you feel like you were important. Knowing God and enjoying him are more important than becoming a good talker, or Christian debater.

Establish your honesty, so that even if he believes you are wrong, he knows your convictions are honorable. It is no longer “those people” he’s blasting, but you. When you have been honest and honorable, it is more difficult for him to do this.

II. Consider the Power of A Question

Skeptics are skeptics because they have asked the hard questions and haven’t yet found a satisfying answer. Cynics are cynics because they think they know the answers and it isn’t your answer.

Skeptics believe in the power of their questions. We are going to read a section that seems to be the jockeying of power. Questions are used by the coyotes and counter questions are used by Jesus. Jesus comes out on top every time, frustrating the coyotes. I want you to notice the questions (some of them are bad questions, they aren’t really questions at all, but carefully laid traps), and I want you to notice the powerful use of questions that Jesus also uses.

We start our reading today with A Question of Taxes

¹³Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? ¹⁵Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

“Caesar’s,” they replied.

¹⁷Then Jesus said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”

And they were amazed at him.

Next we Read A Question about the Resurrection

¹⁸Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ¹⁹“Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁰Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. ²¹The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. ²²In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. ²³At the resurrection^£ whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

²⁴Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? ²⁵When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ²⁶Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’^£ ? ²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

Here’s the problem. The Sadducees only attempt to imagine resurrection on earthly terms. We may make the same mistake when we imagine what heaven will be like. Jesus does not correct them by giving them a more complete picture. He gives no description of the afterlife. The only way we would be able to comprehend it is in earthly images. How do you explain to someone who has only lived in the arctic tundra what a tropical beach is like. Only with difficulty can you describe palm trees, a sandy beach, colorful birds, fish, shells. Would they believe you even if you could describe it? It would be easier to describe what is not. The tropical beach has NO snow, No polar bears, No ice flows, No freezing winds. When you attempt to view heaven in an earthly way it will not make much sense. Jesus only tells them what it is not. And he urges us to know God and think in terms of having a connection with Heaven by having that connection with God.

Jesus appeals only to Scripture and our experience with God to answer the doubters. The same God who gave us life in the first place will miraculously give us life again. God made us and we are important to him. We are important enough that he sent his son to die and pay sin’s penalty for us. We are precious now to him. Twice paid for. Made, then purchased again. He isn’t going to scrap us.

Death is very much like birth. Before we were born we were completely surrounded in a safe and warm environment while we got all of our life from our mother. Yet, we could not see our mother, or even know our mother. We were simply in our mother. It wasn’t until we were born that we began to really know our own mothers. We left the warm, save mother’s womb and entered a harsh, bright, cold world. But only after birth were we able to see our mother and to be held and kissed. In life on earth we are totally surrounded by God, who sustains our lives. But God remains invisible to us. When death comes to each of us, it may be, like birth, a shock to our system, but then we will see the God who gave us life, nourished us, and gives us life again.[iii]

Notice Jesus’ Use of Questions

Jesus’ Question about Who was on the Coin

Jesus’ Question about Scripture and God’s Power

Next we read The Question About the Priority of commandments

²⁸One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

²⁹“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

³²“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. ³³To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

Jesus’ Question About David

³⁵While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, “How is it that the teachers of the law say that the Christ is the son of David? ³⁶David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared:

“‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

³⁷David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ How then can he be his son?”

The large crowd listened to him with delight.

³⁸As he taught, Jesus said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, ³⁹and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. ⁴⁰They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely.”

⁴¹Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. ⁴²But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

⁴³Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. ⁴⁴They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

A. 4 Questions:

The following 4 questions are simple to learn and very practical tools for leveling the field with cynics who believe they have the facts and you have only “blind faith” which they believe to be nothing but fantasies.

1. What do you mean by that?

“I don’t believe in God.”

“Oh really?, What do you mean by that?”

“I mean I don’t believe in a God who created us?”

“What do YOU mean by a ‘God who created us?”

It is very interesting to listen to someone who says they don’t believe in God define the God they don’t believe in. It can be helpful also to clarify a false picture of the God they don’t believe in. Generally they don’t think much about the God they don’t believe in. They spend most of their time thinking about how their own belief makes sense to them.

“I believe in Evolution.” They might say.

“What do you mean by that?” is the appropriate first question. If you keep asking the clarifying question the issues get defined and placed on the table.

“So you believe that everything we see, everything in its complex design “happened by chance” over millions and millions of years without any intelligent design? And that what you believe is true?

2. How do you know that’s true?

Or in other words, “why do you believe this?”

They may say, “I believe this because it is proven fact. Science has proved it.” Here they may have some supporting details. All of their supporting details will support micro evolution not macro evolution. But you don’t need to argue that. The next question is helpful for someone to note that it isn’t proven facts but theories to believe. Any views about origin are faith views.

3. Where did you get your information?

Children trained in these simple questions have been to museums asking these questions and stumping the learned. One woman was showing children dinosaur bones and explaining that millions and millions of years ago they roamed the earth. The children simply began asking the questions. Questions only mind you. What do you mean by millions of years? How do you know that’s true? She might go into the carbon dating tests, and they keep asking, “And how do you know that’s true?” She might be able to give another answer, then they ask and where did they get their information? Eventually, in one case the woman was exasperated and said, “Look, I don’t know, I just work here.” Exactly. Most people don’t know. They have just latched on to answers to questions. But they have latched on in Faith. That’s the point. The field is level again when it comes to what we believe.

Let me tell you where I get my information. The Bible. I believe the Bible is more reliable than the latest scientific theory. Here’s why. 1) Scientific theories are always changing. Why? Because older theories are proven wrong. They Bible has not been proven wrong yet for as long as I’ve studied it. In fact it is an incredible book. The prophecies alone should make one seriously consider Jesus’ claims.

Lee Strobel, former legal affairs editor for the Chicago Tribune and a former skeptic, looked into this matter and was shocked to see the compelling evidence of just forty-eight of the prophecies about Christ being fulfilled. He eventually became a Christian, and today he is an associate pastor of willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago in suburban Chicago [He’s also the author of the excellent book “A Case For Christ”]. In a recent book, Strobel wrote a chapter called “A Skeptic’s Surprise” in which he said: “I concluded that the odds of forty-eight Old Testament prophecies’ coming true in any one individual are the same as a person randomly finding a predetermined atom among all the atoms in a trillion trillion trillion trillion billion universes the size of our universe!” [iv]

4. What if you're wrong?

If the evolutionist is wrong he faces his Creator with all his bold face denials, while the creator tells him.

Romans 1:20-1:21 (NIV) ²⁰For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

If the cynic is wrong, God will tell him he had every chance and NO EXCUSES and he will show him these chances he missed.

If the sinner is wrong, he spends eternity separated from God, experiencing the wrath of his judgment.

If the believer is wrong, he has lived a good life believing he was forgiven, doing good because he believed God did good to him, living for something bigger than himself, living a life that is not self centered. Sure, if times are really tough Paul says, if we are wrong, of all men we should be pitied. The reason is that life will be made hard for believers. Why? Why does everyone try to squelch the belief in Jesus? Why are Christians the ones that are persecuted? Because it as Jesus predicted it for us. As for me, Jesus makes sense. I’m convinced I’ll be happier living for him, even if I become the persecuted minority in our society, I’m following Him. What about you?

[i] Thomas L. Friedman in memory of New York Times Frankfurt bureau chief Nathaniel Nash, killed with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown in a plane crash (New York Times, April 10, 1996). Christianity Today, Vol. 40, no. 7.

[ii] James D. Kennedy, Skeptics Answered (Multnomah Books 1997), p. 14.

[iii] David E. Garland, The NIV Application Commentary on the Gospel of Mark (Zondervan Publishing House 1996) p. 472.

[iv] James D. Kennedy, Skeptics Answered (Multnomah Books 1997), page 45