Read the previous installation in this series!
In this post, I want to bring your attention to Duane Litfin’s sermon at Wheaton Chapel of October, 29, 2007.
The differences between the sides of the watershed
In his sermon, he was talking about the major watershed again. That is, the period of time between Jesus’ resurrection and Pentecost. Once again, he spends several minutes elaborating the metaphor of the watershed.
Watersheds can be significant enough that, in fact, they generate different climates. On this side of the watershed it tends to be dry almost desert-like on this side it leads almost to rain-forest conditions. You can live well on either side of the watershed but you had better know which side you’re on.
His point is that “there is the age that comes before him and the age that comes after him and there are some pretty dramatic differences.”
Today, his point is to draw out the differences between what he calls the “new age” and the old one.
He calls it a “theological watershed” this time. This is significant. This means that it is not only the way God relates to people that has completely changed but we also now have the freedom to ignore the theology of the pre-resurrection Jesus. Litfin admitted in his first sermon in this series what a relief he feels not having to deal with the pre-resurrection Jesus on this side of the watershed.
He then starts to explain what life is like on this side of the watershed. You would think that those of us living on this side would know what life is like here but it turns out that there is a lot of misunderstanding out there.
Sometimes I wonder whether we do [understand this age]. It is entirely possible to read the scriptures and just flatten it all out. ‘It’s all the same.’ No, it’s not all the same. It is Jesus himself who emphasized the difference.
You might ask, “Why is it so easy ‘to read the scriptures and just flatten it all out’? Are we supposed to consider the watershed important or stop drawing lines? If this watershed is as important as Litfin says it is, wouldn’t we hear more about it in the Bible? Why does Litfin have to search so hard to find verses that he can interpret in a way that backs up his claims? Why is it that the moments when he is making his main points are the moments when he is adding quite a bit to what the Bible actually says? Why is the scriptural evidence for this interpretation so scant that I’ve never heard this before?” You are confused because you are asking questions. Stop it and you’ll feel fine.
It’s not the same kingdom of God
Litfin then reads about the fact that on top of the watershed, between the resurrection and the ascension, Jesus spoke to the disciples about the kingdom of God. He stresses the differences between the kingdom of God that the pre-resurrection Jesus talked about and the kingdom of God on this side of the watershed.
Well the fact of the matter, he’s been speaking to them about the kingdom of God from the beginning of his ministry from the beginning of calling them to himself as disciples. He’s teaching them and everyone else about the kingdom of God. But having said that you see some rather dramatic differences. And what we discover about the kingdom of God in this “new age”. And first of all the first thing you have to recognize about the kingdom of God in this “new age” is that it’s—the kingdom is centered upon the king. And we are studying the things of Jesus Christ you see that all the way through, all the way through the book of Acts, in fact that’s the way the book of Acts ends.
Here he reads about Paul preaching “the kingdom of God” from jail.
He is the king! And we’re talking about the Lord Jesus Christ when in fact we study this age. What we discover here is that we’re in this overlap between the two advents of Christ. Jesus brings the kingdom near, we’re told in Mark. It is the very beginning of his ministry that the kingdom is “drawing near”. It is personified in the person of Christ. But in his death, his work on the cross, it’s all released into the world.
Here is where he begins to establish that there is a huge difference between what the phrase “kingdom of God” meant pre- and post-resurrection. The scriptural evidence that the kingdom of God is totally different now from what Jesus preached is this: Paul preached it from jail. True, not even the scriptures he reads say anything about Jesus being king or there being a difference between the kingdom then and now. But you are missing his point! His point is that they are very, very different.
Litfin goes on, “In the second advent, we’re taught in the scriptures, that kingdom will be completed.” Again, by “the scriptures” here he means Sunday school and seminary. But again, the conclusion is that even the totally different kingdom of God that Litfin says the post-resurrection Jesus talked about is not that important to us today since we’re still waiting for it to be completed.
For now, we live in this overlapping age. We still live in the old age and we live in the inaugurated “new age” this period between the two advents of Christ when he inaugurated the kingdom but it’s not yet been completed. One day it will be completed. We’re taught in the New Testament that one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord but we don’t live in that day today. We live in this interim period between the advents. The “already” and the “not yet”. That’s the period in which you and I live.
It’s so simple! Yet, since the Bible never talks about any difference between the kingdom of God then or now, it is so easy to miss it when reading the Bible!
So what do we make of this talk about the kingdom of God in the Bible?
- The pre-resurrection kingdom doesn’t matter to us on this side of the watershed.
- The post-resurrection kingdom will only apply to people who live on the other side of the next big watershed: the second coming.
So don’t worry about either one.
What was the point of the pre-resurrection Jesus?
Litfin doesn’t explain why the pre-resurrection Jesus had all these easy-to-understand teachings that don’t apply to us. Why are those teachings even in the Bible? I may be rejecting my earlier theory on this because I have two new ones.
My first new theory is this: we all agree that Jesus had to come to earth to die in order to satisfy the loving God’s demand for a blood sacrifice. Otherwise, the loving God would have to torture us all forever after our deaths. But since he was here and needed to make some sort of scene to get attention, he decided to go around agitating the rulers by helping those who were being exploited. Really, he was just killing time and trying to get attention.
But then I heard another theory that does a better job explaining why there are four books of the Bible devoted to teachings about social and economic justice (and that’s not counting the parts of the Epistles we don’t read and the Old Testament prophets and much of the Pentateuch). Those teachings are there for the people who will live after the next big watershed: the second coming of Christ.
Now the only surprising thing about the Bible is that it doesn’t ever come out and tell us to ignore the teachings of the prophets and the pre-resurrection Christ until after He comes again. Such an important thing and it is totally left out! Kind of weird.
But here is why it is left out: God had to leave something for the Holy Spirit to guide us into. The Holy Spirit would be pretty bored and useless if everything were explained in the Bible. Of course, everything is explained in the Bible, but you have to have the Holy Spirit to interpret it correctly. Going to conservative evangelical Sunday school and Dallas Theological Seminary helps, too.
The age of the Holy Spirit
Litfin goes on to describe the period we live in.
During that watershed, “the son leaves the world and is replaced by the Holy Spirit.”
Ours is the period of the Holy Spirit, Litfin teaches. He talks for a long time about how the Spirit is now in the world in a new way… “in a way he never was before.” Now, this is your standard dispensationalist doctrine that has been part of conservative orthodoxy for a hundred years. Litfin brings nothing really new here.
He talks about how the Spirit did show up now and then in the Old Testament and in the Gospels but, “it was not the same thing, it was not a permanent residence, it was not an indwelling of those individuals.”
But now, “you are the temple of the Holy Spirit! That is not figurative language! That’s literally the case! You and I and us corporately as the church, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.” It’s kind of amazing that anyone could think that the language in the Bible about our bodies being a temple is figurative. Apparently, liberals don’t take anything literally, though.
Ethical implications
Some of Litfin’s detractors say that he focuses too much on a certain theology that is drawn from just a few verses from Paul’s writings and ignores the ethical teachings of Paul and of the pre-resurrection Christ and even the ethical implications of his interpretation of Paul’s theology. Right at this moment, Litfin proves his detractors wrong:
That has all sorts of implications for us as to how we live, how we are to be, what we are to be doing as the church, His Body. All sorts of implications. But there is a central one here in this passage. In fact, it is a central one in the teaching of Christ, in the teaching of the apostles. That is, we are called to be empowered witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He goes on to talk about how we “go out and serve Christ as empowered witnesses.” Clearly he is talking about the post-resurrection Christ here because the pre-resurrection Christ ordered his followers not to serve him but to follow his example in serving the poor.
He goes on to spend about eleven seconds reading almost every passage in the New Testament that talks about witnessing to the Gospel and the kingdom of God. Again, clearly this is not the Gospel of the pre-resurrection Christ but the totally different Gospel of the post-resurrection Christ. It is not the pre-watershed kingdom of God that we are to preach, but the post-watershed kingdom of God that Litfin defines for us since the Bible doesn’t mention it.
This is the goal of the church: to go out and be His witnesses for Him. To speak a word for Him. To share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The goal of the community of Christ-followers before the resurrection was to help the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, etc. The goal of the new community of Christ followers is to talk about how other people should join us in talking to other people about joining us in this task of witnessing to others.
“That’s the mark of the age in which you and I live. We live on this side of the watershed.”
Hard to be humble and gracious
He then starts talking about how it is becoming harder to stand up for Christ in this country.
I’ll be honest with you: it’s harder and harder to be Wheaton College and to do it unapologetically, winsomely, lovingly, graciously, without a chip on our shoulder, without pride, without triumphalism, but unapologetically for Christ and His kingdom. That’s getting harder to do.
And it shows. He says, “It is no longer a congenial climate for the Gospel… You and I are living in an age in which it is more and more difficult to speak the name of Jesus Christ.”
It’s true that everyone is starting to talk about the pre-resurrection Jesus. But the True Jesus, the post-resurrection Jesus, annoys people when we talk about Him. But since the Bible says so little about Him and He speaks only through us who have the Holy Spirit, we must talk about Him. People don’t want to hear it because they don’t have the Holy Spirit and so they have to take our word for it. But all they have to do is join us! Then they will have everything we have: the congeniality, the love, the graciousness, the lack of pride, the lack of triumphalism, and so on.
Having a monopoly on Truth really is harder and harder to do without triumphalism. It’s hard to graciously tell people that they are going to Hell. It’s hard to be the mouth-piece of God without pride. But the fact is, as Litfin tells his audience, “your words are Gods words.”
Conclusion
I hope you will all follow me as I follow Litfin and he follows Paul following the post-resurrection Christ. And don’t forget the ethical implications: go around telling people how much you love the God you haven’t seen! That’s how the world recognizes the true disciples of Jesus. The post-resurrection Christ says almost those exact words in one of John’s Epistles.
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