Preached in Markham Baptist Church, June 4, 2006

This morning as we conclude our series entitled Unlocking the Da Vinci Code we are drawn to 2 Timothy 4:1-5.  Scholars tell us that this was written just before Paul was executed.  If you read verse 6 you get the idea that Paul is reviewing his life.  It sounds like a man who knows he is about to die.  

It is a wonderful passage written by a Christian who has been faithful to the end to a young pastor, Timothy, who is timid and hesitant. 

Verse 3: “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

For the time will come. Here’s a question for you: do you think that the time Paul speaks about here has arrived?  I don’t know when Paul thought this day would arrive but it surely has arrived.  Paul is describing our day.  Verse 4: “They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”  And indeed we see that in our own culture there are plenty of myths that are being believed. 

Perhaps one of the greatest myths that people are believing these days is the myth of gnosticism.  It is an important word for you to know because it is the myth around which the whole theology of the Da Vinci Code and books like it are built.  And gnosticism is not a new heresy - it is one of the first heresies that arose in early Christianity. 

Some brief background is needed at this point.  The gnostics were a group of thinkers who were highly influenced by the works of Plato.  They differed among themselves about many issues so it is hard to nail down exactly what they did believe. It is kind of like the new age movement – it has no ecclesiastical hierarchy, it has no body of recognized scriptures, no church, and the doctrines vary within the Gnostic writings. 

But essentially, they believed that everything material is evil.  Your body is evil. (You may have stepped on the scale this morning and agreed with that statement!) The material world is evil BUT everything spiritual is good.  Because of this belief, many beliefs followed.  They denied that that God could or would become flesh.  But as we learned last week Jesus Christ is indeed God in the flesh. John 1:14 says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

The Gnostics denied that there was one God.   They believed that the Bible revealed two gods - one who created the material world and therefore was evil, and another god who was spiritual and therefore good yet unknowable. 

But we know that this is untrue. Scripture tells us in Deuteronomy 6:4 - “Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” 

The Gnostics denied that humanity needs a Saviour, but the book of Romans teaches us the exact opposite.  Romans 3:10 and 11- “There is no one righteous not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Or Romans 7:24:25 – “What  a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Instead, the Gnostics taught that salvation comes from within. Humanity must free itself or rise above its material self through ever deepening spiritual knowledge in order to be saved.

The word Gnostic means knowledge.  “More precisely, the word is used to refer to hidden knowledge that is available only to the enlightened.  The Gnostics believed they were privy to spiritual experiences that gave them an inside track on religious interpretation of the world.”¹  

According to the Gnostics, humanity’s problem is not sin but ignorance.  What we need is more knowledge – of the spiritual kind.  When we have the knowledge we will experience our own enlightenment.  We essentially save ourselves and become like God.

So according to the Gnostics (in the Gnostic “gospel” of Thomas) when the disciples asked Jesus where they should go, he replied, “There is light within a man of light, and it lights up the whole world.  If he does not shine, he is in darkness.”  Thus, we are not directed to Christ who exists outside of us as a Saviour, but rather we must look to the light within to save ourselves.       

The Gnostics deny that Jesus’ death was an act of atonement.  But we learn in 1 John 2:2, “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins ….” Instead they believe that Jesus’ death is a means to awaken others to divine possibilities.

Finally, the Gnostics did not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Many taught that Jesus didn’t die on the cross but that a substitute died for Him. 

As you look through the history of the church you will discover Gnostic beliefs cropping up again and again.  In the 20^th century the cult by the name of Christian Science denies the existence of physical pain, and death and believes that the material world is evil.  

Other parts of Gnosticism are embraced by New Agers who believe that we need only the right spiritual experience in order to bring us to enlightenment and we will discover the god within.  Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, is of little or no value.  

Even Christians accept bits and pieces of this philosophy.  And I want to say to them, don’t you know that you are believing heresies that were condemned by the early church?  Don’t you know you have fallen for lies that are been proven wrong again and again and again since the time of the disciples??? 

Can you see the appeal of this teaching today?  Do you see why this old heresy is gaining new followers?  Because in the words of Paul to Timothy, “it suits their own desires … it’s what their itching ears want to hear.” Here comes Dan Brown and others saying, Jesus is not divine, the Bible should not be trusted as truth, there is a body of truth in Gnosticism that we should all embrace and everyone says, “Hurray! This is exactly what we have been looking for!” 

Now, the Gnostics, as the Da Vinci Code points out, were also pro-feminine.  In the Gnostic writings we read that, “God is sometimes described as androgynous, that is both male and female.”²  And the Da Vinci Code makes a big deal of this.  And it states that Christianity is pro-masculine and so anti-feminine that it sought to subdue and repress the everything feminine. We read in the Da Vinci Code:  

“… the early Christian church ‘conned’ the world by propagating lies that devalued the female and tipped the scales in favor of the masculine … Constantine and his male successors successfully converted the world from matriarchial paganism to patriarchal Christianity by waging a campaign of propaganda that demonized the sacred feminine, obliterated the goddess from modern religion for ever.”³

Dan Brown’s fictional character goes on to claim that the church was not to be established and overseen by Peter but by Mary Magdalene. Again, I quote:

“At this point in the gospels, Jesus suspects He will soon be captured and crucified.  So He gives Mary Magdalene instructions on how to carry on His church after He is gone … According to these unaltered gospels, it was not Peter to whom Christ gave directions with which to establish the Christian Church. It was Mary Magdalene.”⁴  

And after Jesus’ death there was a power struggle that existed between Mary Magdalene and Peter. 

If you believe all that it’s not a far jump for you to believe that Mary Magdalene was really a priestess and when she anointed Him at Bethany, it was really a sexual ritual. I’m not making this up - this is what is being published in the book stores.

Is it any wonder that Peter wrote about false teachers, saying, “Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.  In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up.” (2 Peter 2:2-3)

You can see why this appeals to many people today.  Those who believe that the church is pro-male and anti-female latch on this type of teaching and say – see –I told you that the church is anti-female.  It is exactly what their itching ears want to hear.

And we have to ask is this true, or is it a myth? Consider first the idea that the Gnostics elevated the place of women in the faith and honoured them and revered the feminine.  Is this true? 

No, it is not.  If you read the so-called “Gnostic gospels” - the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip or the Gospel of Mary - you will read statements such as this:

“Simon Peter said to them: Let Mary go forth from among us, for women are not worthy of the life.  Jesus said: Behold, I shall lead her, that I may make her male, in order that she also may become a living spirit like you males.  For every woman who makes herself male shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”⁵ 

The Gnostic gospels are far from empowering women.  If anything, they are the exact opposite.  In one of the Gnostic writings death itself is blamed on women: “When Eve was in Adam, there was no death; but when she was separated from him, death came into being.”⁶

The Gnostics are not as generous toward women as Dan Brown would have us believe.

Now consider the next question - do the Christian Scriptures repress the female side of our faith? Did Constantine and the church leaders of the day arrange the Scriptures to get rid of the sacred feminine and put men in charge? And the answer is no. 

As we have learned, the Bible was considered authoritative long before the time of Constantine. And we could say that while Christianity has had times when it has repressed women, if the whole history of the church is examined we discover that Christianity has indeed been a positive influence in seeking equal rights for women.

Consider, if the Bible were anti feminine we would no account of:

• Rahab’s bravery,

• Deborah’s leadership,

• Jael’s courage,

• Ruth’s loyalty,

• Abigails diplomacy,

• Esther’s heroism,

• or Phoebe’s service.

If the Bible were anti-female we would never have heard of:

• Philip’s prophesying daughters,

• Aquila’s wife Priscilla, or

• Paul’s coworker Junia. 

The early church acknowledged women as key leaders from the very beginning. For example:

• Phoebe (Romans 16:1-2)

• Nympha (Colossians 4:15)

• Priscilla (1 Corinthians 16:19).

If the Bible as we have it today, were anti-female, we would surely not know that Jesus’ band of disciples did include women – Mary Magdalene among them.  One of the first evangelists recorded in Scripture was a woman who ran into her Samaritan village and spread the news to the entire community.  Jesus’ first post-resurrection appearance was to Mary Magdalene, and the gospel writers honour her as not only the first person to see the resurrected Christ, but also the first person commissioned to spread the good news.

And in the earliest decades of church life, Paul, though raised and educated in a thoroughly patriarchal tradition, nonetheless enunciated a universal principle to the church: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ.”  That is Galatians 3:28.  Galatians is considered to be one of Paul’s earliest letters, written about 49 A.D., and here he exalts the female as equally “sacred” to the male on the basis of Christian unity in Jesus Christ, a revolutionary statement for that day and age.⁷

Do you see?  The Bible does not repress women or the divine feminine. 

One last thing before we return to our text.  Perhaps the most celebrated controversy of The Da Vinci Code is the claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married.  And of course they were not and could not be.  You say, how do I know?  Because the Bible tells me so, it makes no mention of it.  I mean, if Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene wouldn’t He have made provision for her at the cross as He did for Mary His mother?  Of course He would.  But Scripture is silent.

But you may persist and say why is it impossible for Mary and Jesus to be married?  And I answer further it is because Jesus Christ is already engaged to another.   Jesus cannot be married to Mary Magdalene or anyone else, because Jesus was already engaged.  And you say – He is? To whom??

Jesus Christ is engaged to His church which is called – His bride.  We are His bride, which He is preparing for Himself.  Read Ephesians 5:22-33 and the book of Revelation.  And the ultimate marriage feast of the lamb involves His union with that body, that bride. 

Well, this brings us full circle to our text in 2 Timothy and the question - in light of the day in which we live, in view of the fact that we live in an age that seeks teachers who say what their itching ears want to hear – what are we as Christians to do?  We could throw up our hands and say, “What a bunch of rubbish.”  We could ignore it and simply walk away.  But this would be a poor response.  We have seen how this same heresy continues to crop up again and again in the history of the world.  We cannot be silent, we cannot ignore it and hope it goes away. It won’t.  So what must we do? 

And the answer is in verse 2, “Preach the Word.”  It is the call of God to every pastor and preacher; it is the call to God’s church - to preach the Word.  Don’t preach A word, preach THE Word. 

It is described as sound doctrine in verse 3, and the truth in verse 4.  This would include the Old Testament which “is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (3:16).  And it would include the teaching of the apostle which Timothy has learned and become convinced of because he knows those from whom he learned it (3:14). 

We as a church must be committed to proclaiming the truth from this pulpit, in out Sunday School classes, in our small groups.  Let’s be finished with all these myths and manmade ideas.  We have the word of God let us proclaim it.

I sometimes think that I could do something else besides preach – I could go into motivational speaking.  I know I have relatives who do that very thing and they make thousands of dollars for one speech (the same speech that they have honed and memorized!)  And sometimes that looks attractive, but then – I think, what would I say?  And I come to the realization that I don’t have anything to say outside the Word of God.  I have nothing really worth proclaiming if I don’t proclaim the Word of God.  I believe that it is the Word that transforms and opens blind eyes to the reality of Jesus. 

Preach the Word.  It is the call to pastors, preachers and to the church.  It is the Word of God that we are to proclaim.  What greater invitation can we give to people than, “Come to Markham Baptist Church because you will hear the Word of God.”

How?  Verse 2 continues, “Be prepared.”  That word means to be ready with urgency.  So be ready – Christ is coming again, that’s what he says in verse 1 - so there is this sense of urgency. Don’t be lazy in this – preach the Word. 

How?  “In season and out of season.”  That means “At all times”, when it’s convenient and when it’s not convenient – when it’s acceptable and when it’s not acceptable by the culture in which we live. 

And we could, as Paul goes on to say, “Correct, rebuke, and encourage” – that is, be relevant.  You may have wondered why we have spent so much time on The Da Vinci Code. It is because it is what is on people’s mind.  And I have tried to use the Word to correct wrong thinking. We need to rebuke unholy doctrines and we need to encourage intelligent, truthful thinking about the Word and our faith.  Preach the Word.

Isn’t it wonderful that God’s Word is so multifaceted? You can read it one day and you are corrected, the next day you are rebuked, it’s like a knife cutting. And other times, O how it encourages and strengthens and helps. 

Preach the Word - how?  With readiness, urgency, relevancy, and then this – “with great patience and careful instruction.”  It is so tempting to become impatient and walk away from teaching the Word of God, but we must persist and patiently teach all the words of this life.

Verse 3 and 4 we have looked at. Then verse 5 picks up the whole question - how are we to react to times in which people buy into myths quicker than the truth?  We are to preach the Word.

But also this - we are to “keep our head, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge the duties of your ministry.”  We are to persist, and persevere until the task is completed.    

I had lunch the other day with David MacFarlane, who is the representative of outreach initiatives for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada.  He lamented how many churches are watering down the truth of the gospel in order to win people to Christ.  How many churches are preaching what people’s itching ears want to hear rather than the full truth of the Gospel. O, how we need to keep our heads and persistently proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ with perseverance. 

These are difficult days in which we live. It is hard to win a hearing for the gospel.  But don’t let that discourage you.  Don’t let that deter you. Don’t be tempted to trim the message, massage the message or change the message, but let the difficult days in which we live spur you on. 

In the words of John Stott, “the harder the times, the deafer the people, the clearer and more persuasive our proclamation must be.”

Sure, we live in a day when people want their ears itched with teaching that pleases them but we have a great truth because it meets the needs of the heart.  May we be a people who are committed to the truth and Preach the Word. 

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - June 2006

ENDNOTES:

1. Erwin W. Lutzer, The Da Vinci Deception, (Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), 27.

2. Ibid., 27.

3. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (New York: Doubleday, 2003), 124.

4. Ibid., 247-248.

5. Bart D. Ehrman, Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code (New York: Oxford Unitersity Press, 2004), 68.

6. Kenneth Boa & John Alan Turner, The Gospel According to the Da Vinci Code (Nashville Tennessee: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006), 149.

7. Josh McDowell, A Quest for Answers, The Da Vinci Code (Holiday, Florida: Green Key Books, 2006), 44.

8. John R.W. Stott, The Message of 2 Timothy (Downers Grove Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 112. 

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