2.20.25
Hey, Calvary Fremont –
I recently watched part of a YouTube film called “Caesar’s Messiah.” It made the claim that the Flavian dynasty of the Roman Empire invented Jesus for political purposes. What we call Christianity is in reality ‘Flavianity.’ What do I think of the film? Utter silliness!
What did make Christianity possible? Spoiler alert – it wasn’t the Flavians! The Apostle John says in 1 John 1:1-2 – ‘What was from the beginning…the Eternal Life which was with the Father…’ There is no Christianity without the CHRIST OF ETERNITY. Before He was among us, He was above us. Before He was down here, He was up there. Before He was made manifest as a man, He existed as God. Before He was revealed in time, He existed in eternity. But the CHRIST OF ETERNITY didn’t stay put!
John says in 1 John 1:1 that the CHRIST OF ETERNITY became the CHRIST OF HISTORY. John points to Jesus and declares, “We heard Him and saw Him and touched Him!’ The God who was in heaven, became the God who walked on earth. He entered the world of our senses. He was heard, seen, and looked at and touched. Jesus was no ghost! Mary held Him and Joseph touched Him; shepherds saw Him and wise men beheld Him; Thomas clung to Him.
But Jesus can no longer be heard, seen, looked at and touched – therefore He doesn’t matter. Materialists say: “If it’s not matter, it doesn’t matter.” (Materialism is a philosophical commitment stating that matter is the only reality in the world and everything else, such as mind and spirit and God, are either nonexistent or reducible to matter.)
My response is that if that’s true, then your thoughts don’t matter because they are not matter. How much does a thought weigh? How tall is it? How long is a thought? You can add 50 apps to your iPad, and it doesn’t weigh more than it did before. Information has no mass, weight, volume, or dimensions. If you share ½ a pie w someone, you have only ½ a pie left. After I write this blog and share it all with you – I’ll still have all of it. Matter matters and non-matter matters. Jesus matters. There is no Christianity without the CHRIST OF HISTORY.
Yet the CHRIST OF ETERNITY and the CHRIST OF HISTORY are not all that’s necessary for Christianity. John says in 1 John 1:3 ‘…our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ…’ There is no Christianity without the CHRIST OF EXPERIENCE. The CHRIST OF ETERNITY became the CHRIST OF HISTORY who became the CHRIST OF EXPERIENCE. The God who was heard, seen, looked at and touched in Jesus Christ, is the God who has heard, seen and touched me. The God who lives in heaven became the God who lived on the earth who became the God who lives in me! Note the progression – God up there became God down here who became God inside me. What a glorious truth – you can experience God! You can fellowship with God! Fellowship is friendship with God. And yet there’s one more step necessary for Christianity to flourish.
There is no Christianity without the CHRIST OF TESTIMONY. John writes in 1 John 1:3, ‘…what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you…” The CHRIST OF ETERNITY became the CHRIST OF HISTORY who became the CHRIST OF EXPERIENCE who became the CHRIST OF TESTIMONY. The God who was in heaven, became the God who walked the earth who became the God who fills my heart who became the God who flows from my tongue. John says in 1 John 1:4, ‘These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.’ You say that Jesus fills your heart, but until Jesus fills your mouth, your joy is not made complete. This complete cycle makes Christianity possible: from heaven to earth to heart to mouth.
No, Vespasian and Titus of the Flavian dynasty didn’t invent Christianity. The God who dwells in eternity entered time so that He could enter our hearts so that He could be the proclamation of our lips. The CHRIST OF ETERNITY became the CHRIST OF HISTORY who became the CHRIST OF EXPERIENCE who became THE CHRIST OF TESTIMONY. This is what John said made Christianity possible in 1 John 1:1-4.
Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim
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