Greetings Redeemer family,

A couple of years ago, a critical scholar named Bart Ehrman wrote a book called “Misquoting Jesus,” claiming that the Bible had been doctored over the centuries and no longer accurately represented the historical Jesus. The author made the rounds of different media outlets, eagerly telling audiences that they should be scandalized by his newly-published findings. Yet none of those scholar’s claims were anything new. Once you begin studying critical scholarship, you quickly find that these same arguments have been proposed time and again over the years. Like clockwork, it seems that every 5 years there’s another new work claiming to prove Scripture unreliable.

A common theme among these critical treatments is the assumptions they make about first century culture, and Jesus in particular. Despite the fact that the Bible is the most well-preserved of documents from that time period, the critical scholars conclude that the Bible cannot be trusted because it does not agree with their conjectures about the events and persons depicted. In Ehrman’s case, the words of the Bible disagreed with his assumptions about who Jesus was, and so he rejected the Bible.

Ironically, the problem wasn’t that the Bible misquoted Jesus. The problem is that Ehrman misunderstood Jesus.

Again, this is nothing new. People have been misunderstanding Jesus (His person, His work, His Kingdom) since His ministry began. This Sunday we return to the Gospel of John in chapter 7, with the stories of 3 different groups that misunderstood Jesus. Our prayer is that our false assumptions about Christ would be exposed and corrected with the beautiful truth of His Good News – that we might be healed.

We begin our service on Sunday with a call to worship that comes from the Gospel of John. These words focus us on the person of Christ, and His life-changing Truth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now this is eternal life: that we may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. Sanctify us by the truth; Your word is truth. (John 1:1-4,14; 17:3,17)

Following these words from John, we sing two songs that express our calling to worship God. As I said last week, this is the reason that we were created. We were made in the image of God to reflect His glory. My prayer is that this truth would build anticipation for the opportunity we have on Sunday to participate in His joy.

Come, Christians, join to sing, Alleluia! Amen! Loud praise to Christ our King; Alleluia! Amen! Let all, with heart and voice, Before His throne rejoice; Praise is His gracious choice. Alleluia! Amen!

Come, lift your hearts on high, Alleluia! Amen! Let praises fill the sky; Alleluia! Amen! He is our Guide and Friend; To us He’ll condescend; His love shall never end. Alleluia! Amen!

I will worship (I will worship) With all of my heart (with all of my heart) I will praise You (I will praise You) With all of my strength (all my strength) I will seek You (I will seek You) For all of my days (all of my days) I will follow (I will follow) Follow all of Your ways (all Your ways)

I will give You all my worship I will give You all my praise You alone I long to worship You alone are worthy of my praise

As I said earlier, people have misunderstood Jesus and His Gospel since the beginning of His ministry. These misunderstandings do not only come up outside of the Church; sometimes they grow up within the Church as well. We celebrate Reformation Day at the end of October, remembering when brave men and women called the Roman church out of error and back to Biblical Christianity. The core beliefs of the Reformation can be summed up in five summary statements, called the Five Solas (“sola” being the Latin word for “only” or “alone”). For the next 3 weeks, we are going to use the Five Solas in our Confession of Faith. The first two statements focus on the importance of Scripture and the work of Christ, respectively.

Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation, which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.

Solus Christus – Christ Alone We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father. We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited

As we begin to see the many ways that we misunderstand the person of Christ and the significance of His Lordship in our lives, we realize our deep need to repent. We see that we have been wrong, and we need to be forgiven and cleansed by His grace. This prayer of repentance is a guide: it provides words to express to God our reliance upon His mercy.

Lord Jesus, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, and of neglect to seek You in my daily life. My sins and shortcomings present me with a list of accusations, but I thank You that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Deliver me from every evil habit, every interest of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Your grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in You. Amen.

After confessing our sin, we rejoice in the promise of God’s grace. Notice in the words of this hymn a reliance on “the covenant love of Thy crucified Son.” Only His blood could save us, and His goodness is freely given to us. This is great and glorious news that inspires our hearts to sing.

1. Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song, The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue; Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last, Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

2. Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here; Sin would reduce me to utter despair; But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive, And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

3. Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart, Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart; Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground, And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

4. Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own, And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son; All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

We close our service this week with a song that reminds us to live our whole life as a service of worship unto Christ, our Redeemer, until His kingdom comes in its fullness.

I will glory in my Redeemer Whose priceless blood has ransomed me Mine was the sin that drove the bitter nails And hung Him on that judgment tree I will glory in my Redeemer Who crushed the power of sin and death My only Savior before the holy Judge The Lamb Who is my righteousness The Lamb Who is my righteousness

I will glory in my Redeemer My life He bought my love He owns I have no longings for another I’m satisfied in Him alone I will glory in my Redeemer His faithfulness my standing place Though foes are mighty and rush upon me My feet are firm held by His grace My feet are firm held by His grace

I will glory in my Redeemer Who carries me on eagle’s wings He crowns my life with loving kindness His triumph song I’ll ever sing I will glory in my Redeemer Who waits for me at gates of gold And when He calls me it will be paradise His face forever to behold His face forever to behold

Living for That Day,

Tim Sharpe Worship Director Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg VA